Nick,
You are absolutely correct that the founding fathers were not infallible and I think, as you pointed out, the many amendments to the constitution stand as stark testimony to that fact. And their stand on slavery even better illustrates your point. But when it came to creating a system of government that would best represent the diverse peoples of a large nation, their end product is a work of genius.
What you are proposing is nothing more than an indirect popular election of the president. While this sounds very democratic, we were set up as a representative republic--not a democracy. And while the Electoral College may seem antiquated, it still serves to ensure that ALL the people of the country are given consideration in how we are governed.
Just look at a map of the breakdown of the last election by county instead of by states. All you will see in blue are specks here and there around the big cities for the most part. If the president were elected by popular vote, all a candidate need do to get elected is concentrate his campaign efforts in those areas while ignoring the rest of us. All he need do to remain in office is to pander to those areas at our expense. Thus my little tail/big dog analogy.
By lesser of two evils, I guess I was referring to the now disproven belief that the Republicans are more closely aligned with Libertarians on matters of fiscal responsibilty and smaller government. In a way, I kinda wished Kerry would have won and the Republicans retained control of Congress thus resulting in gridlock. Gridlock is good. Just think back to the halcyon days of the Clinton administration.
So my desires that Bush win was more of an in-your-face thing, I guess. The Dems and the urban, northern libs can arrogantly continue to write off the south at their own political expense.
While I was opposed to the war at the onset, we're there now and Bush has more political incentive to see it through to ultimate victory. No more half-stepping, like in Vietnam. Kick-ass, take names and collect dog-tags!
Ohh--the basic premise of the Libertarian Party is individual rights and freedoms, limited government, personal responsibility, blah, blah. Check out their website if you are interested. I think it is
www.lp.org .
They have a thing called the world's smallest political quiz. Fun. Try it.