Time to revoke Congress's power to pick the Prez

You can make some strong arguments both for or against the Electoral College. But as long as this peculiar body looms large in American presidential politics, here's one aspect of it that I think must be changed before it's too late.

Under the Twelfth Amendment, which was ratified in 1804, if no presidential candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives "elects" the winner from among the top 3 candidates - which in effect becomes the top 2, if only 2 candidates receive any electoral votes, and it's a tie. Similarly, if no vice-presidential candidate garners a majority of electoral votes, the Senate picks the winner from the top 2.

I know this won't be a problem this year, but the House has chosen the President once under the Twelfth Amendment - after the 1824 election. It can happen again someday, and we need to stop this crisis before it starts.

The Twelfth Amendment must have made some sense when it was passed. But not today. When the House picks the President, each state delegation gets one vote. Instead of giving one vote to each congressperson, who are allocated in proportion to a state's population, the Twelfth Amendment gives one vote to each state - regardless of how many people a state has. Although the District of Columbia has cast electoral votes since 1964, it does not get a single vote in this process.

In modern times, only 2 parties have even been competitive at the presidential level, so letting the House choose from among the top 2 or 3 candidates completely nullifies voters' wishes.

The House of Representatives is the more chronically corrupt half of the legislative branch - which is the most chronically corrupt branch of government. They can't be trusted to produce a budget, crack down on Wall Street, or defend civil liberties, so how can they be trusted to choose the President? If anything, the House's powers should be reduced - at least as long as the hecklers' veto by the 1% holds sway. The Senate is no model of progress either, but it's become more of a "people's house" than the House is.

Here's a sensible change we should all be able to agree on: We should amend the Constitution to say that if no candidate wins a majority of the Electoral College, then whoever wins the popular vote becomes President. Same for Vice-President. If the House is supposed to be the "people's house", wouldn't it make sense to give the people a greater voice in the presidential election, considering they would have already gone through the trouble of voting?

Good luck getting that through Congress. The crooked House doesn't like surrendering any of its power, because they think it's their birthright to control everything. The states, however, should love my proposed amendment.