I have been reading in several publications, sources of Electoral College history, and Congress' attempts to rework the very awkward arrangement that we have inherited from our Constitution.

After reading about, for instance, about the Electoral College Act of 1887, I am still more confused than when I first undertook this attempt to figure it all out.

I am still confused.

I find myself returning to my original impression of the Electoral College--that it is a hodgepodge of half-baked attempt to form a republic out of a not-yet-mature collective impulse toward 18th-century democratic republicanism.

And those guys back there, the classic list. . . Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton etc etc. . . they were, emerging from monarchic history, not yet proficient in how-the-hell do we put this thing together in a way that will work.

So, long story short, they came up with the "Electors" because they were still too timid--especially with the slave-holding states gomming up the geaars--still too timid in their bold independence to actually construct a true democratic republic.

So what we ended up with is the impractical hybrid that we have now--a system that GOP authoritarians think they can manipulate, via state legislators, to re-iinstitute authoritarian governance where, formerly, we had. . .whatever is we have now.

But I digress.

To conclude with some common sense: your proposal, Andrew, is absolutely the best idea have come across in all my search to make sense of it all.

This idea for Liz to run in certain red states only--it is a genius idea. Send it to Liz now!