As many, if not all, of us sat and watched the Presidential election on November 8th, a trend began to take place right in front of our very eyes. Donald Trump took an early lead over Hillary Clinton in electoral votes. Not many Clinton supporters were too worried because every poll EXCEPT one had Hillary winning the election in a landslide. As time passed, more and more states were being called for the Republican nominee. Then reality hit the Democratic Party: Trump could actually win this thing.
Just as everyone expected, Hillary won most of the state votes along the east and west coast, most importantly California, with 55 electoral votes. Even though there were plenty of more red states than blue, she was still hanging in there. Then, at around 2:30 A.M., the election was called with Donald Trump exceeding the 270 majority mark of electoral votes. So that's it. The election, the bickering, and the outrage was over. Right?
Even though votes were still being counted, it appeared that Clinton won the popular vote, which made the left pretty ticked. This wasn't the first time this happened. In 2000, George W. Bush was elected President even though his opponent, Al Gore, had more people vote for him. So liberals weren't too happy that their nominee lost again because of the Electoral College. So what did they do to show their disapproval? They flooded the streets of cities all over the country claiming Hillary Clinton was robbed of the presidency. I guess they just couldn't accept the results of the election. I'm sorry. The irony is just too perfect.
If you don't know how the Electoral College works, I'll give you the Cliff Notes version. Whenever a state is won by either party in the election, the nominee actually gets the certain number of electors from their party who will cast a vote for a candidate in December. For example: Tennessee has 11 electoral votes. Since Trump won Tennessee, 11 Republican electors will cast their votes for Trump next month. Pretty simple. Unless you're a little butthurt over the results.
Within days of the election results, a petition started going around social media calling for state electors to change their states' vote from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. Over 4.2 million people have signed to show support for the abolishment of the Electoral College. Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Amanda Seyfried, Sia, and Jeffery Wright are even reaching out to their fans to join in their effort.The petition writer, Elijah Berg, states that "Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President." Well America doesn't work that way, and for good reason.
There's a misunderstanding that the United States is a pure democracy. It's not. Rather, it's a constitutional republic. What that means is the power derives from the people. You may be thinking that's what democracy is, but..well you saw the picture up top.
In a pure democracy, majority rules. Always. Why is this a problem? Because America is so much more than the big cities.
Half of United States' population lives in the counties shaded blue. All those grey counties, they wouldn't stand a chance to have a say in government if the US was a pure democracy. And that's why our Founding Fathers created the Electoral College so every voice could be heard. Here are the election results by county.
Given the data, Donald Trump was able to relate to the average working men and women more than Hillary Clinton. And it turns out, that has more pull than more votes. The Democratic Party is not satisfied with the results in the slightest. Throughout the party, there's growing support for the nullification of the Electoral College. Democratic senator Barbara Boxer has even gone so far to write and introduce a bill in Congress to get rid of America's original voting policy. The abolishment of the Electoral College is the worst form of bigotry I think I have ever known. These people are demanding to squelch the voices of the voters nobody even thinks about. There's another name for this. It's called fascism.
So the election didn't go your way. I'm sorry. But to protest and demand that the fabric of American government that's been functioning perfectly for 240 years be destroyed because you say so is absolute lunacy.
