Amid political and economic chaos, one positive development for America went nearly unnoticed this week: With a stroke of the pen, California Gov. Jerry Brown moved the nation to the halfway point of having our president chosen by the national popular vote. No more parsing the obscure delegate allocations in the Electoral College.

The bill carried by San Mateo Assemblyman Jerry Hill put the state in the company of seven others and the District of Columbia that have agreed to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the popular vote. The plan will take effect only if states controlling a majority of electoral votes make this commitment. California's 55 votes bring the tally up to 132, or 49 percent of the 270 needed. A number of other states have passed similar bills in one house, so the plan seems viable.

It was a different world when the Electoral College was established. And it would be a different world today if, in 2000, the candidate who got the most votes nationwide, Al Gore, had become president instead of George W. Bush. It might have been better or it might have been worse, but surely we can stipulate "different."

And shouldn't the majority rule?