I do not feel it was hypocritical of me to have cast my ballot for Nader and now demand that the plurality of popular votes cast for Gore be recognized as the ultimate mandate by which he should be granted the presidency.

While I admit that fellow Nader-backers in New Hampshire, Oregon, and most importantly, Florida tipped the electoral balance to Bush, I do not apologize for our collective support of Nader since the true fault lies with the archaic electoral procedure, which I find to be a disgrace to our democratic tradition.

Not only does Bush lack a plurality of popular support, but the 2.7 million leftward-leaning Nader votes tip the mandate of the American people even further away from Bush’s center-right positioning on the political spectrum.

The Constitution and all the laws of a democratic society are not written in stone; they are works in progress. It is up to us, as citizens, to subject our laws to revision when any inconsistency appears contrary to our aspirations of a democratic mandate.

In many ways, the abolition of the electoral college should have been one of the South’s conditions of surrender to the North.

The election of the Supreme National Office should be the product of national unity, not of an assembly of 50 confederated states.

What is most urgent now is that all Americans unite in a call to end the anti-democratic protocol of the electoral college.

The electors’ votes are not legally bound, neither are the electors sequestered from the influence of public opinion.

We have the power to correct the system without having to sacrifice the next four years to a president with a non-democratic mandate.

But most importantly, we have the power to implement the will of the people peacefully and within the parameters of the existing law.

The several hundred electors who will convene in mid-December to elect the nation’s president are ordinary citizens. We must make them understand that the fate of our nation’s legacy is in their hands, and this legacy is cherished by their fellow citizens.

It was reported in the media before the election that if Bush won the popular vote and lost the electoral, his campaign would lobby the electors to implement the will of the people.

Now, with the reverse scenario, he claims victory on the assumption that the Electoral College should be the final determiner, not the people.

Many options remain open for the popular will to be expressed via the Electoral College in an orderly and civil manor.

For example, electors from such states as Florida and Missouri could be assigned a certain congressional district and cast their ballots according to who won that particular congressional district.

The electors do not assemble until December 18. We have over a month to come up with a practical solution.

If we squander this opportunity, we will long regret our betrayal of democracy.

Ed Snook

Alumnus