To the Editor:

In his guest column in the Jan. 17 edition, Martin Dyckman proposes to “eliminate the power of the Electoral College.” I submit that his proposal about how to do that virtually eliminates the need for it altogether and might as well be seen as the last stage in the ongoing reduction of the states from sovereign entities in a sovereign union to dependent provinces of an all-powerful federal leviathan.

Mr. Dyckman proposes that each state should enter a compact to cast all that state’s electoral votes for the winner of the nationwide popular vote, no matter who wins the state’s popular vote. This would result in further conversion of this country’s political system into a virtual direct democracy, which means that it would be only a matter of time before it became a tyranny, possibly after passage through a period of rank anarchy and civil strife.

This is not to say that the Electoral College system could not stand some serious reformation: Even when one clears away the vestiges of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) that called forth this particular column, there is a need for such reform, so long as it preserves the republican nature of the American Constitutional order.

Accordingly, I would propose that states enter into a compact to cast their electoral votes according to which candidate receives the most votes in each Congressional District, with the two that correspond with the Senate seats being given to the statewide winner. In 2016, that would probably have meant that Mrs. Clinton would have garnered one or two of North Carolina’s 15 votes instead of the zero with which she finished.

This is a system that at least two states — Maine and Nebraska — already use and which another — Virginia — has been considering in a modified form. Like Mr. Dyckman’s proposal, it requires no federal amendment. All that is necessary is the willingness of the state legislatures to enact it.

Such a plan would accomplish one of the objectives that Mr. Dyckman says he wants much more efficiently than his own proposal, in that it would impel candidates for the presidency to allocate their campaign resources more generally than they do at present.

Certainly, the ideal would be to incorporate the Congressional District method into the federal Constitution, but I suspect that Mr. Dyckman is correct in his assessment that such an effort, at least for the moment, is futile. It will be difficult enough in this state, given the bipartisan willingness to rise above principle when political power is at stake. However, it is worth a try, and I strongly encourage our Reps. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, Rep. Keith Corbin, R-Franklin, and Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, and Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, to submit and support a bill to make it happen.

Samuel Edwards

Waynesville

One of Zeb Smathers’ earliest memories is sitting in the cereal aisle of his grandfather’s downtown Canton grocery store, which wasn’t open on Sundays and didn’t sell booze.

“When the movie Ghostbusters came out there was a Ghostbusters cereal and I remember pleading with granddad,” Smathers said. “Mom would never allow us sugary cereal.”

Downtown Sylva looks quite a bit different these days than this time last year.

After paying for several engineering studies over the years, the town of Franklin is moving forward with a plan to try out some different parking designs on Main Street.

With its grand opening last Friday, Balsam Falls Brewing Company becomes the third business of its kind in Sylva.

Waynesville’s popular Main Street shopping district has seen some changes over the years, and as time goes by, everyone from retailers to restaurateurs have moved in, moved out and moved about the strip.

When the Town of Canton relaunched its Labor Day Festival a couple years ago, it was in a crucial move to reinvent the century-old event — and also the downtown itself.

Richard Miller may have received the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce for 2017, but he’s been a driving force behind economic development in Waynesville for more than 30 years.

It was weird.

Driving around downtown Canton this past weekend, it was weird to have a hard time finding a parking space. In most Western North Carolina communities during the busy summer tourist season, this is the norm. But, for the blue-collar paper mill town of Canton, finding a parking spot has never been an issue. 

A plan to turn two-lane Mill Street in Sylva into a one-lane road will soon move forward if town commissioners vote to fund the project during their next meeting, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13.