6/7 A Deliberative Convention
Once the elector convention assembles, this large deliberative body it will prevent designing men from attaining the presidency. The rules are simple. Electors first choose an arbitrator to manage debates and votes, then the assembly will vote by multiple ballots until one elector from that body achieve a 270-vote majority.
In this environment, the skills need to become the next president are the opposite of electoral politics. Yes, the ultimate goal of winning is the same, but the means to win will require compromise, negotiation, and a penchant for coalition building. Populist rhetoric does not apply in a deliberative college.
Government by consensus is one of the strongest talking points for a deliberative college. Not only it is an environment of conciliation, but every elector potentially has a seat at the bargaining table. Known as free agency, with the right skills, the smallest minority groups of electors may pitch their interests to larger coalitions or even form a bridge between larger coalitions.
Another crucial practice that will prevent tyrannically-minded candidates is peer review. Given the reduced time commitment of elector duties, a broader spectrum of people with different backgrounds may attend. Surely politicians will attend, but the professional campaigner types will be joined by state legislators, business owners, non-profit managers, community organizers, veterans, and so on. An assembly of leaders will vet the country’s next potential leader. Knowledge of any candidate through real-world interactions may prove more valuable than well-crafted but vacuous media commercials. Shysters and demagogues will have difficulty tricking community leaders as opposed to slick populist rhetoric in the current candidate-centered elections.
Not all electors will actually desire the presidency. It’s suspected three types of electors will emerge at a convention. Candidate electors will seek to be president. Administration electors will pursue a position in the executive branch, for example, Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense. Interest group electors simply want to ensure one or a few policies will be the priority in the next president’s agenda.
All of these negotiation and coalition-building skills needed to win will result in the type of president needed for the actual job, managing the vast federal government in time of need. When a hurricane strikes, a war breaks out, or financial markets collapse we need a president to have the relationship skills needed to manage the various department and agency heads and other political interests.
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For more details on how a deliberative elector convention may function to choose a president, see Chapter 9 of the book, On the Framers’ Method: How the Electoral College Can Defeat Populism and Tyranny.
