After reviewing the course material, I would hold that Byron E. Schafer has the better position in electing the American President. I think the president should be elected through the electoral college because the American Presidency is not intended to be a popularity contest. The American President serves to execute their duty as designated by Congress. In this arrangement, Congress designates what the laws will be and the Executive executes those laws in a constitutional manner. In this way, it is almost irrelevant whom the people believe will be the best President and more prudent for representatives of the Congressional members, embodied in the Electoral College, to decide who will best lead the country and enforce its laws.

If we leave the decision of choosing the most capable President in the hands of the population with no filter in place between them and the final decision we will only receive popular individuals with polarized perspectives. Moving the masses to the polls does not require intellect or reason but rather emotional instigation. If politicians are instructed to move the masses they will do so with pleas to emotion rather than well-thought-out platforms. This will result in either a politician who is able to rouse the masses with emotional rhetoric or, worse yet, a politician who believes and practices emotional rhetoric. Neither individual would then be suited to working with Congress to operate the country nor effective at selecting responsible members of the Judiciary. We must use the Electoral College, not to override popular opinion, but to temper it with reason.