The Most Important Six Minutes You'll Ever Spend Reading about America

Have you ever wondered why we had the following as presidents, instead of their opponents:

Donald J. Trump, instead of Hillary Clinton (2016)

George W. Bush, instead of Al Gore (2000)

Benjamin Harrison, instead of Grover Cleveland in 1888

Rutherford B. Hayes (who ended Reconstruction and set the stage for Jim Crow), instead of Samuel J. Tilden (1876) and

John Quincy Adams, instead of Andrew Jackson in 1824?

In every case, the “instead off” won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College, or, in Adams’ case, lost in the House after an Electoral College tie.

But why do we have the Electoral College?  On its face, it’s an obvious affront to democracy, like scratching your left ear with your right hand.

I’ve always suspected that it had to do with slavery.  But suspecting and knowing are two different things.

Spend just six minutes reading this summary by a distinguished constitutional scholar at Yale, and you’ll know.  You’ll also know how, for our entire history, this chromosomal defect in our national constitution has let our South dominate the rest of us because “the North caved to the South by refusing to insist on direct national election.”