It happens again, all trying to convince you that one candidate above all the rest I have the experience has got the right mix of stuff, trying me to lead America.

又發生了，都想讓你相信一個候選人比其他所有的人都要強，我有經驗有正確的組合的東西，想讓我上司美國。

It's great, but no matter what name you're bubbling in, E, you're not actually voting for that person.

很好，但不管你冒的是什麼名字，E，你其實都沒有投給那個人。

And that's because of this thing in the U.

而這是因為美國的這個事情。

S.

S.

Called the Electoral College.

稱為選舉團。

And like many things in politics, you either love it where you really hate it.

就像政治中的許多事情一樣，你要麼喜歡它，要麼你真的討厭它。

The Electoral College is the device where each of the states select a certain number of electors equal to their representation in Congress.

選舉團是由各州選出一定數目的選舉人，其人數與他們在國會的代表人數相等。

If you ask the people involved, did you do a brilliant job in 17 87?

如果你問相關人員，17 87年的工作是否做得很出色？

The designers themselves would say, No, it didn't work.

設計師自己也會說，不，沒有用。

It had to be fixed.

它必須被修復。

We'll get back to that point in a minute, but here's how it works today.

我們一會兒再談這個問題，但今天的工作原理是這樣的。

Citizens of the state they cast their votes for candidate a candidate, be candidates.

國家的公民，他們投給候選人的票，是候選人。

See, they're not actually voting directly for the candidates.

你看，他們其實並沒有直接投給候選人。

They're voting for a slate of electors who gathered together and cast their state's votes.

他們正在投票給聚集在一起並投下他們國家選票的選民名單。

Right, But why do we have it at all?

對，但我們為什麼要有它呢？

Well, if we go back over 200 years, America had 13 states and less than four million people.

好吧，如果我們回到200多年前，美國有13個州，人口不到400萬。

It was way different.

這是不同的方式。

During the Revolutionary War, you had a somewhat informal government.

在革命戰爭期間，你有一個有點非正式的政府。

There was no Supreme Court, the presidency.

沒有最高法院、總統府。

There was not the Congress in no uncertain terms.

毫不含糊的有國會。

It was dysfunctional.

它是不正常的。

Theme articles of confederation were not functioning particularly well.

聯邦的主題條款運作得不是特別好。

That's worse.

那就更糟糕了

There is economic problems, possible unrest.

有經濟問題，可能會有動盪。

Barely a decade old America was pretty much, ah, hot mess.

勉強十年的美國還真是，啊，熱的一塌糊塗。

They decided we need to write a brand new constitution from scratch.

他們決定我們需要從頭開始寫一部全新的憲法。

But there were a ton of issues, and no one could agree what a new government should even look like.

但有一大堆問題，沒有人能夠同意新政府甚至應該是什麼樣子。

Theologian of the president.

總統的神學家。

That was probably the single most difficult issue.

這可能是最困難的一個問題。

Whether you should have a committee, maybe three or four people serving is the chiefs of the executive branch or how they'll be chosen.

你是否應該有一個委員會，可能有三四個人任職，就是行政部門的負責人，或者說他們會如何選擇。

One plan was to let Congress elect the executive branch.

一個計劃是讓國會選舉行政部門。

Some liked it.

有人喜歡它。

Others didn't and one person who didn't James Wilson.

其他人沒有，有一個人沒有詹姆斯-威爾遜。

He had an unusual idea of his own.

他有自己不同尋常的想法。

A government led by a single person.

一個由一個人上司的政府；

The convention goes silent.

大會陷入沉默。

Everybody is looking very worried one another, because they say we just had a revolution to get rid of the king.

每個人都顯得非常擔心對方，因為他們說我們剛剛進行了一場革命，以擺脫國王。

Isn't that just going to be a monarch under a new name?

不就是要換個名字做君主嗎？

Wilson followed that up with an equally unpopular idea, but the people choose the president by popular vote.

威爾遜緊接著又提出了一個同樣不受歡迎的想法，但人民通過普選來選擇總統。

There were numerous objections, and because national campaign wasn't really a thing yet, no one was convinced the public would even know who to vote for.

反對的聲音很多，而且因為當時還沒有真正的全國性競選，沒有人相信公眾會知道該投給誰。

In the 18th century, you had primitive roads.

在18世紀，你有原始的道路。

Transportation was by horseback.

運輸工具是馬背。

Newspapers were primitive.

報紙是原始的。

So the question would be, how could somebody in Massachusetts judge a presidential candidate from North Carolina?

所以問題是，馬薩諸塞州的人怎麼能判斷一個來自北卡羅來納州的總統候選人？

And even if they were informed, direct popular election?

就算他們知情，直接民選？

That will just mean the big states are going to elect the president.

這就意味著大州要選總統了。

Others said.

其他人說。

Let the state legislatures pick the president.

讓州立法機構挑選總統。

Wilson wanted it all costs to keep that selection out of the hands of Congress out of the hands of states came and said, Okay, if you don't like direct popular election, what would do indirect election And like that?

威爾遜想不惜一切代價，讓選拔不在國會的手中，不在各州的手中，他說："好吧，如果你不喜歡直接的民選，那間接的選舉會怎麼樣呢？"就像這樣？

Wilson's plan?

威爾遜的計劃？

It gained some lights, So after months of arguing, they had a plan for brand new government and the Electoral College.

它獲得了一些燈光，所以經過幾個月的爭論，他們有了一個全新的政府和選舉團的計劃。

The Constitution was signed and everyone went home happy, right?

簽署了憲法，大家就高高興興地回家了吧？

Yeah, there's plenty of private correspondence where figures like James Madison, Alexander Hamilton are saying, This whole document is a compromise.

是啊，有很多私人信件中，像詹姆斯・麥迪遜，亞歷山大・漢密爾頓這樣的人物說，這整個文件是一個妥協。

We don't really like it.

我們真的不喜歡它。

It's probably not gonna last more than five or 10 years.

它可能不會持續超過5年或10年。

We'll be back at the drawing board pretty soon.

我們很快就會回到繪圖板。

And they were right.

他們是對的。

The first two elections went okay, but some of the early ones were absolute chaos.

前兩次選舉還算順利，但早期的一些選舉絕對是混亂的。

Theo Electoral College It was designed to balance the powers of the government and protect the rights of the people.

Theo選舉團 它是為了平衡政府的權力，保護人民的權利。

But there are a lot of holes in it.

但其中有很多漏洞。

They expected the electors to come together and to deliberate among themselves.

他們期待著選民們聚在一起，互相商議。

They were supposed to be exercising independent political judgment.

他們應該是在進行獨立的政治判斷。

When you got the growth of political parties very quickly, people began to pledge, saying, If you vote for me, I will vote for the Federalist or I will vote for the Jeffersonian Republican.

當你得到了政黨的增長非常快，人們開始承諾，說，如果你投票給我，我將投票給聯邦黨人，或者我將投票給傑斐遜共和黨人。

At that point, they had to go back to the drawing board.

這時，他們不得不回到原點。

And so that Electoral College it's been changed, tweaked, amended and now most states, they have the winner take all system.

所以，選舉團... ...它已經被改變，調整，修正... ...現在大多數州，他們有贏家通吃的制度。

Early on, they figured out a winner take all system is the one that you want to adopt.

早期，他們就想出了一個贏家通吃的制度，就是你要採用的制度。

If you're going to maximize your state's influence.

如果你要最大限度地發揮你的國家影響力。

If you split your votes, then people aren't gonna pay as much attention to you as if you say, Look here, Here's this great big pile of electoral votes.

如果你把選票分了，那麼人們就不會像你說的那樣關注你，看這裡，這裡有一大堆選舉人票。

They're all going to go to one candidate or another.

他們都會去找一個或另一個候選人。

Our founders couldn't see the future.

我們的創始人看不到未來。

And today, the Electoral College.

而今天，選舉團。

Yeah, it's still controversial, but there are lessons to be learned from its creation.

是啊，雖然還存在爭議，但從它的誕生中，我們可以吸取教訓。

History tends to outrun the plans of even the founding generation.

歷史往往比開國一代的計劃還要快。

What would they think if they came back and they looked?

如果他們回來，他們看了會怎麼想？

System.

體系。

Today it's anybody's guess.

今天誰也不知道。

The only one that I can say with any confidence that would be James Wilson, he would say, for Heavens say you need a system of direct popular election in this country.

唯一一個我可以有信心的說是詹姆斯-威爾遜，他會說，天啊，你需要一個直接的民選制度在這個國家。

I was right, Thea.

我是對的 Thea

Other delegates were wrong.

其他代表都錯了。