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THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
  December 17, 2016

The United States, like a number of other nations, uses an Electoral College to elect the President and Vice President. There is considerable debate on the subject, and a lot of misleading statements about why the Electoral College was adopted. As an example, one author suggested the framers "distrusted the ability of average voters to choose a president in a national election.” 

While that opinion may suit a partisan news media and the author because of their dislike for a particular candidate, it is not true and taken out of the context of the checks and balances approach the founding fathers created to run America.

"The people...are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787.

Regardless of the national popular vote totals, its each state's popular vote and its electors who vote for the candidate the people of their state selected. There is contention that smaller rural states are over represented, which is another topic, but regardless, that is the system.

The Electoral College was one of a number of steps taken to prevent any self-interested group (a faction) having a majority in an election from defeating the purposes of a nation that represents the interests of everyone. The one person everyone should read to understand why the Electoral College became part of America’s checks and balances political system is James Madison, and this link documents what James Madison said about majorities turning into self-interested groups who would force their will on others. It is a short read and you do have to think carefully about what Madison is saying.

Some like to assume that the poor unwashed populous, the deplorables cannot be trusted in this process, however globally every nation on earth that has dictators and corrupt governments are controlled not by the poor, but the wealthy and supposedly better educated people. Using that criteria, the highly washed and polished rich and educated can claim sole responsibility for putting the world in the state it is in. Congratulations.

To prove how effective the Electoral College can be consider the impact of ignoring workers in those communities who may not have the same advantages as those living in major cities. Imagine what would happen to the nation if the citizens of California and their disproportionate number of educated high tech workers with their unique culture and seeming willingness to replace everyone and everything with intelligent software and machines were allowed to make decisions for all of the people living in the poorer communities of Louisiana or Kentucky. And why should anyone with a good job and high pay have any more right than a poor and unemployed person to vote for someone representing their interests?

In another example, consider the lengths pro and anti abortion groups, both self interested factions, have to go to try and force their will on everyone else in the nation. The State of Texas passed a law requiring hospitals providing abortions to provide burials for fetal remains, increasing their cost and to complicate and interfere in the provision of abortions. In this case Texas is using a scheme and partisanship to exercise their will against members of society who are pro abortion, an approach that will not fly across the entire nation. Look what is happening with marijuana legislation.

A majority vote does not represent everyone even if the vote is 10,000 for and 1 against. 10,001 is everyone. Some may lament that this is one of the more difficult aspects of managing a republic, however you simply cannot dismiss the rights  of a minority, no matter how much you may dislike, dismiss or disagree with them.  And the union cannot run roughshod over the states.

People with grease on their hands, mud on their boots and a house full of kids to feed are just as important as those in $250 sneakers who can program computers, and moms staying at home and bringing up the kids with dinner at the table are every bit and perhaps more important to the nation that moms who park their kids in daycare so they can work in industry.  That is not to demean anyone, but family upbringing is critical to a nation, and lives based on toil and the states that honor it are every bit as important as California despite this highly offensive portrayal of the nation.

Rural

While I do not want to be critical of a 19 year old girl and the Hamilton electors becoming faithless, the idea that they “have a moral responsibility to prevent demagogues from entering the White House” is nonsense.  If electors really want to understand their obligations they need to study in great detail what is happening in their political system, corporate influence over it and the judiciary, and then make informed decisions that they explain at great length to the public first. While you are at it you should seriously consider how electors are selected and determine if these people are actually up to the task. 

If the electors really want to show American values they should reject every call to diminish the Republican majority the citizens of their state voted in across the nation and the President elect that came out of that vote, and compel the Democrats to get back to work to represent everyone in the nation and not simply those who they think of more favorably. Especially those they consider deplorable and who have nothing to invest with Goldman Sachs, perhaps because Goldman and its cronies have already stolen it.

Moreover,"An 1887 law holds that if states send in multiple conflicting sets of Electoral College votes, Congress gets to vote on which ones to recognize. The Republican-controlled Congress would obviously not go along with an attempt by electors to steal the presidency for Hillary Clinton." Even the Electoral College is held in check by the representatives from other states which make up Congress!

There are those that would suggest this election was a version of American Idol, to somehow denigrate those who supported Trump. Again, that is not the case. No matter what polls say, no matter how hard everyone intellectualizes, lies and bullshits, the simple fact is in a republic you cannot leave anyone behind for very long.

Several statisticians actuarially determined the Democrats would lose well before Trump came on the scene, based on themouth Democrats performance over the past 8 years. The Democrats squandered their 8 years in power, failing most Americans economically and growing farther apart from their concerns.  If an election was reality TV alone, Clinton did a credible job of presenting the Democratic position and Trump constantly stepped in it. What determined the outcome of the election was not WWE tactics, it was eight years that taught the American public how poorly their Democratic government was performing.  

The worse Trump behaved and the more he put his foot in his mouth, the more the public realized he was not a politician. That appeal of that reality has been more than 200 years in the making and is now part of America's behavioral DNA. The future portends even greater upheaval, and no Orwellian brainwashing will change that, nor will brutality and suppression deny it. The only thing that will fix the problem is solutions to improve the plight of everyone. 

At this point, electors have stark choices. One is a member of the slimiest, corrupt political family in recent memory whose husband is a sexual deviant who used the police as pimps to procure women and in his swan song after being impeached started hanging around with a convicted pedophile who diddled 12 years olds. His wife covered it up so that as Secretary of State she could brag about murdering a world leader and fill their pockets with graft selling political favors and influence to the highest bidder. The other choice is a New York businessman who who thinks grabbing a little pussy is OK (although bush league when compared to big Bill) and wings it like a wild man disrupting hopefully everything. 

In a recent article I documented the fact that it reportedly took $2.5 billion to elect a president in 2016. I do not care who you are, to raise that kind of money to run for office is not going to happen without huge strings attached to it, which means no one without hugely deep pockets can run and keep their principles intact. Money corrupts everything. 

To even think the Clintons were a great choice shows how poorly informed people are. Will Trump be better? I can’t say, some of his choices for roles in his administration are certainly generating a lot of noise, but he was less beholden to outside interests than most people who run, and he is a wild card. Everyone seems to think that a wild card in office is bad.  I don’t see it. Ralph Waldo Emerson said "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." The consistent path the world was on is definitely not where I want to go. At least 60,000,000 people agree. 

No matter what, if Trump turns out to be terrible, and everyone rises up and fights it, that is great. As citizens you are responsible for inspecting what you expect and raising hell when the people in office do differently than what they promised. You are in the situation you are in today not because the people you elect failed you, they are simply acting like politicians who have figured out what they can get away with, you are in this situation because you failed to manage the politicians you hired with your tax dollars and the graft corporate donors flooded them with to run the country. Now get off your ass and do your job.

The Electoral College is not a job interview. If you read James Madison and understand what he is saying, you will see that is the case. Expecting to hire one guy and fix an immensely complex process is delusional.

Why The Electoral College Exists