For nine years, the blue shell has mercilessly hunted innocent Mario Kart first-placers. It is a real problem. A menace. But then it hit me… We now face an even greater threat. A real life blue shell that is far worse. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. Believe me, it’s the Electoral College.
The problem of the Electoral College was last discussed in the previous issue of the Catalyst, and is widely acknowledged as both outdated and inherently undemocratic. Honestly, the fact of the matter is, whether you are at the front of the pack racing through Mushroom Gorge, or leading in the popular vote, you should be the racer – or candidate who emerges victorious. However, I’m pretty great at Mario Kart so it’s probably best that I be kept in check every once in a while to give the others a chance. The Electoral College, on the other hand, makes it harder for those who are more qualified (like myself in Mario Kart) to win the election.
Consider this, people of America: if people can turn items, including the blue shell, off in Mario Kart, why is it not possible to turn off items like the Electoral College in American presidential elections? Sure, Florida would still have to get its crap together, but at the very least the will of the majority could mean something more, such as in Mario Kart when the majority want the leading racer out of first place.
Ultimately, it’s completely fine when a blue shell appears on the track during a game of Mario Kart, or even if it appeared in real life. However, there is a difference between giving everyone a chance and taking the final decision away from the majority as a result of a system skewed towards smaller states due to a national disproportion of population size to Electoral College racers — I mean, voters.
That being said, when the blue shell hits everyone in the entire country, we as the American public need to draw the line and take a stand against such outdated and counterproductive mechanisms. Here’s hoping that whenever Nintendo next updates the American elections, they just leave the Electoral College out of it.