For half a century, various groups have been trying to rid our country of the bemoaned and sometimes reviled electoral college. There have been a few constitutional amendments but none have even been successful. Thanks to our current situation there is a way and I think that it is a realistic way. Trump won 47.2% of the popular vote and Clinton won 47.9%. So, let’s go ahead and get the “will of the American people” argument off the table. The will of the American people by almost a million was not for Trump. So now that we have eliminated that red herring, we can move on to reality.
Since Clinton will not win, it really does not matter how many votes she gets in the college. What if all delegates pledged to Clinton vote Romney? That would give him 232 votes. He only needs 38 more to win. There are multiple scenarios how this can happen. First off it is not unheard of for states to split their votes, for example Maine and Nebraska. There are a few states where the popular vote was very close, so why not just split the difference. For example, Florida could give 14 to Romney and 15 to Trump. This would roughly match the popular vote and be fair, since Trump did win the popular vote. I use the word “fair” because it is more equitable that giving all the state’s votes to someone who only won 50% of the vote. I really do not think that anyone can realistically call this unfair.
Now if a few electors in some states split their votes, it would not take much to bring Romney to the needed 270. Keep in mind that there is nothing illegal about this scenario or even immoral. If the founding fathers had wanted a popular vote system, they could have created one. They choose to create an elitist system that overrode the popular vote, so let us exercise that ability. There is zero credibility in making arguments about fairness, constitutionality, etc. This is the way that our republic was designed. I choose Romney for multiple reasons. First he is a Republican, so there might be less Republican push back on this plan. Second, he is a known quantity that establishment Republicans can get behind. Finally, he has not promised or insinuated to destroy America by leaving NATO and killing Medicare. As a bonus, he respects women and is not a bully.
Why not Clinton you ask? I do feel sorry for Clinton and know that she must be fuming as I would be, if I had won the popular vote, however you are never going to convince Republican delegates to flip for her. So, since delegates can vote their conscience and opinion, I say we give them something to mull over. Also, remember this, Romney won with 47.2% of the vote. This is exactly the percentage Trump received! I am sure that there some delegates conflicted about having to vote for an Internet troll. This is truly a choice that might sway them. To boot, Hillary should get behind this movement and support giving her votes to Romney. Then the pressure would be on 38 other people to do the same.
No matter the outcome this is a great idea! First let’s assume it works. Romney is the president and we can have a normal reaction with normal politicians promoting their constituent’s views. Romney is no firecracker. He will do to the best of his ability what he thinks is best for the country. As a plus there will be a whole segment of the population that is fired up mad that their guy (Trump) did not win. Now let’s assume it does not work. If 232 people vote for Romney, that would be a huge break from precedent. There again would be a lot of people fired up that the electoral college system can be manipulated to support someone that did not really get those votes in the general election. Either way it is great! You can imagine that no matter who is the president ultimately, there will be tremendous pressure to kill the electoral college. Every four years, we just look at Florida and Pennsylvania, like no other states matter. I say we get out of this cycle and have a real, popular-vote system, where every vote counts.
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