At page 6 of “How Democracies Die” we find this: “Those who denounce government abuse may be dismissed as exaggerating or crying wolf. Democracy’s erosion is, for many, almost imperceptible.”

The presidential selection system’s defenders, however, never have claimed that it is democratic. They celebrate its anti-democratic character. It did not erode from a democratic ideal toward anti-democracy. Instead it was born in sin, as a means to assure that the slave states would not have to deal with an abolitionist president. And until 1860 they rested comfortably with the result.

Indeed, this system has continually been attacked, with impeccable logic, in the spirit of democracy. Nothing in the Constitution has drawn so many attempts at reform by amendment, and states continually are presented with ways to make the system democratic.