Tuesday, December 6, 2016

While we're burning the system to the ground...

Yesterday, the New York Times posted an op-ed by a Dallas elector who stated why he was going to refuse to cast his electoral vote for... well, you know the guy. The orange one with the alleged "hair." I wrote on the facebooks that I wasn't sure how I felt about this: I would be happy with the result, but this would basically further erode trust in an elections system that is already as frayed as one's gym underwear (come on -- don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about).

But then I got to thinking, and I realized that this is a situation that has some merit to it. Here's my fantasy of how it plays out (and yes, I know this is a fantasy. But let me have it for a few hours):

  1. Dallas elector's example is followed by others who are not willing to go public, but who know that the future of the country rest in their hands: Will they turn the country over to a dangerously ignorant narcissist? Okay, I think most of them will. Because most people hate confrontation. Most people are rule-followers. Hell, I'm mostly a rule-follower. But some people will see a crisis. Maybe some. Maybe enough.
  2. Agent Orange loses the electoral college vote, and is not president. Who becomes president? Honestly, who cares at this point. Because other than some of the cabinet appointees and their backers, there is no one less qualified or more dangerous. 
  3. The GOP members of congress express vociferous outrage! And (here's the key bit) respond by moving through legislation to do away with the electoral college altogether and have presidents elected by popular vote. And the democrats, in a gentleperson's agreement, tactfully do not mention how secretly relieved their GOP colleagues are.
See? This way, everybody wins. Well, everybody except one person. But I could live with that.

2 comments:

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

I read that op-ed and thought "Is this an age where people have the moral courage to do the right thing?" And by "right thing" I mean not elect Trump. I hope it may be, but I am not confident. If it happened, it would save us. I'd take almost any of the other republicans over Trump, but of course, I'd prefer a democrat.

Contingent Cassandra said...

There's some movement in that direction, by people calling themselves "Hamilton electors" and trying to persuade enough electors from both parties to agree on a moderate Republican candidate (Romney and Kasich seem to be the top choices) to keep Trump out of office. There's also some fundraising for anticipated legal bills and fines by people calling themselves "Hamilton defenders." If it's working, it's doing so very, very quietly (which is presumably how it would need to work to work at all, but I very much doubt they can can get the numbers they need).