Let's be clear: the American public chose Hillary Clinton to be the 45th President of the United States by a close but unambiguous margin. While it’s not really being discussed, we are currently in the midst of what might be one of the most important and precarious constitutional crises in the history of the United States.
In each of the five Presidential elections we've held in this young century, the American public has made a clear choice. All of us experienced at least one election in which our fellow citizens made a different choice, and that's part of any democracy. I was heartbroken when the American people selected George W. Bush over John Kerry in the 2004 election. But the American people spoke, and it was clear and it was fair on a basic, constitutional level.
However, in two of the five elections we've held this century, the will of the American public was circumvented by the antidemocratic construct that is the electoral college. The first time, we eventually found a way to laugh it off, to blame "Crazy Florida," invent cute little hanging chad costumes, to say that Jeb Bush must have done something illegal. And for a while on Tuesday, we were able to blame our fellow Americans and say that they just weren't smart enough, or informed enough, or they were racists, or any number of excuses.
But now? Now we know that the American people's democratically-elected President is being denied the office yet again, and a pattern has emerged that must be confronted now or the perceived legitimacy of our democratic institutions might not ever recover.
Challenging this result, loudly and publicly, is not about Hillary Clinton, or Al Gore, or George W. Bush, or even Donald Trump. It's about the fact that 40% of this century's Presidential elections have been disrupted by a relic of the early 19th century that was designed, in part, to ensure that the Three-Fifths Compromise (slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person in the census, and that extra three-fifths turbo-weighted the votes of the white men who “owned” them) didn't negatively impact the electoral clout of slave-owning states. If not for that, free states would have had enough electoral clout to use the mechanisms of government to end slavery, which would have upset the delicate balance maintained all the way to the Civil War and the unimaginable carnage it wrought.
There's a sort of eerie resonance, too, in our current moment: if the electorate is ignored again this year, the ratio of elections in this century wherein the American public's vote for President was honored? Three-fifths.
Perhaps it shouldn't surprise us that America's "original sin" of slavery is at the root of yet another subversion of freedom and self-determination. The blood and the sorrow of the men and women who suffered under that tyranny were part of the very foundation of the American experiment. America's struggle to erase that stain of evil on our collective soul has persisted all along our journey--through lynchings, through Jim Crow, down to Watts, and Selma, through poll tests, the back of the bus, and even into the use of voter identification laws to stifle African-American turnout on Tuesday of this week. It's too soon to tell for sure if the suppression of black Democratic votes is the reason that the electoral college tallies run against the will of the American people, this time. However, it is interesting to note that of the 14 states that had new restrictions in place for the first time on Tuesday, only two of them (Virginia and Rhode Island) have ended up awarding their electoral votes to Clinton.
It would be different, of course, if the electorate had chosen Donald Trump to be their President. Many of us would still be devastated, but it would have been valid, and we would be able to once again put off dealing with the fact that the slave owners behind the Three-Fifths Compromise are still depriving people of the right to determine their own tomorrow.
See, that searing anguish that swept New York City and much of the United States Tuesday night--that wasn't just your normal case of folks being sad about not getting their way. It was a collective loss of faith in the fundamental contract we thought we had with one another as citizens. It was the gut-level “realization” that the vote doesn't actually matter, after all, because the slave masters of the past reached out across the centuries, and selected our leader FOR us, in absolute opposition to the will of the public, in the 21th century--again.
In a sense, the American experiment died, or felt like it did. But with civic engagement and peaceful action, maybe—just maybe—it’s only on life support, and can be revived.
Tuesday marked the beginning of a constitutional crisis that needs to be resolved before the men and women who make up the 2016 electoral college cast their votes in opposition to the express will of their countrymen yet again.
Would you just shrug your shoulders, cross your fingers, and keep driving a car that veered left into oncoming traffic 40% of the time when you tried to make a right-hand turn? Would you look at your fellow drivers and point your fingers and not say or do anything?
I am appalled at the swiftness with which nearly everyone in this alleged representative democracy has accepted the concept that Hillary Clinton “lost” this election, or that Donald Trump “won.” I’m appalled at our leaders in Washington for doing nothing to defend the will of the American electorate, and I’m disgusted by the pliability of an American press corps and pubic that is simply shrugging between bouts of sobbing, and pretending as though it’s in any way acceptable that this is anything other than the illegitimate subversion of democratic principles, couched in “tradition” and foisted on us only because the other mechanisms of self-governance are so broken we couldn’t get rid of this procedural monstrosity after the last time it wrecked the country.
The month between now and the moment when the slave owners’ representatives in the 21st century vote is an opportunity to stop with the charade. It might not change anything, but for the love of all that’s good, take to the streets and demand the resolution of the current constitutional crisis in favor of the will of the American people! Go after work, go over the weekend, just go! Speak out, and help focus these protests on the issue that really matters—the pattern of subversion that has tried to upend democracy one too many times.
You know, we’re so used to seeing everything happen on our televisions, beamed back to us from places most of us have never been, that we are probably having a difficult time coming to grips with the demands history has placed upon us this week. The fact that a part of me is terribly frightened to publish my opinion--that the looming Trump presidency is illegitimate on a basic, democratic level--is indicative of precisely how anti-democratic this whole crisis is.
One person who could quickly resolve our largely unacknowledged constitutional crisis is, of course, Donald Trump. He could look around, realize that he is not the choice of the American people and that the office is beyond his abilities, and end the crisis by simply telling his electors to vote for Hillary Clinton. That shocking turn of events would be the noblest thing he ever did in his life, and would actually be an act of great statesmanship that would earn my respect.
Or, since that’s an… unlikely, to say the least, scenario… Surely there must be some brilliant legal scholar in some office somewhere who can successfully argue in favor of our democratic principles before the Supreme Court. As we saw in 2000, there isn’t much precedent for how they would justify accepting such a case, so they can justify it via almost any means they like. Enough people were disenfranchised this time, both on a state level and a national level, that it is thoroughly justified for them to intervene. Perhaps some mind out there can find that tenuous excuse to get this case there, and our highest court can give democracy a helping hand. It’s only fair that they repay the favor from 2000.
If this subversion of the electorate goes forward... well, perhaps we will not only be handed yet another President not elected by the people. Perhaps we will find ourselves forever in possession of about 3/5ths of a democracy.
In the meanwhile... there are ongoing protests. Don’t just sit home and despair, if you value your vote and your democracy. Get out there every, single day. History came calling, and it needs you. The people who built this flawed experiment, the people who struggled to expand liberty, and yes the people who died for your freedom in the past—they’re looking at you and me. And the ghosts of our potential, better tomorrows aren’t yet faded from view. This moment might just be the most important one any of us have ever encountered as Americans. If you haven’t already, why not go exercise that freedom you’ve heard so much about, and earn it for tomorrow--and be counted among those who at least spoke up before it was too late?
In protesting, stay focused on what the problem is: don't get bogged down in the ancillary arguments of a campaign that is already over—emails, sexual harassment, bankruptcies, taxes. None of that matters, because the American people spoke and they elected Hillary Clinton and that’s over. The struggle, now, is to create a mandate for our political and judicial leaders to defend and implement the clear mandate issued by the American people when they chose her to be President.
And, and for those of you who are so damn certain that it’s pointless to stand up together and say “no.” Well, we were certain of a lot of things on Tuesday afternoon, too. And here we are. So be an American and start yelling, calling your representatives, and at least making some First Amendment noise in opposition to the nightmare bearing down on us and every other living thing on this planet.
NOTE: I have struggled to find my words since Tuesday, and I keep rewriting and rewriting and finally just decided to put what I’ve got out into the universe. I might not have the energy to engage with too many comments right away, but I will do so once I’ve gone and cried some more. And maybe I’ll see you in Union Square tonight.