How the Electoral College Could Save Us

Could rhetoric about a corrupt election set the stage for Republicans to challenge a November defeat? With enough confusion, the Presidential election could be thrown to a “contingent election” in the House of Representatives, where a state-by-state vote would favor Republicans. 

However, this seems like an unlikely scenario. Indeed, this is an area where the much-maligned Electoral College helps, by acting like compartments on a ship: if one compartment is compromised, the others can still keep the whole thing afloat.

                     —Princeton Election Consortium

Vice-Presidential Ruminations

At the risk of offending, I find I must comment on the Democratic Vice-Presidential selection process.

Setting COVID concerns aside momentarily, I find myself troubled by a process -- any process -- which would automatically eliminate a person of either gender from serving as either President or Vice-President.  While Mr. Biden's intentions appear admirable, I am less sure about the soundness of his decision to pick a woman and only a woman.

No matter how chivalrous his position may seem, no matter how just the cause, his approach could be seen as the 2020 version of the special-interest politics Hillary Clinton was criticized for in 2016.

In the past, the first criterion for Presidential candidates' choice of a Vice-Presidential candidate has always been to find the best person who was qualified to be President..

Now, though, an additional requirement has been added.  The candidate must be qualified to be President and a woman.  No man need even apply.  There is something about this that smacks of -- well -- special-interest politics. 

Again, I am all for women being given a real shot at being elected to any office.  And I can even go along with some sort of gender version of affirmative action.  But when it comes to being a heart-beat away from the Presidency, something as petty as gender or special-interest politics seems beneath the dignity of the office.

What the Country Is Looking for in 2020

Why do Democratic presidential candidates keep talking about "beating" Trump in 2020?  There is a reason, but it is not obvious.  Please stay with me.

I just heard another Democratic presidential candidate saying he was the best one to defeat Donald Trump.  The man (Trump) has just been impeached.  As such he could be removed from office.  Why, then, does a presidential candidate feel it pertinent to talk about "beating" Trump?

The reason lies in our media set-up.  We have a corporatized media, one which is more interested ultimately in the bottom line than they are in the country.  That means it is essential to be able to work with the "winner," even if he or she wins illegitimately. 

With gigantic amounts of money corrupting the political process in 2016, D. Trump certainly did not win fair and square.  Imagine if Hillary Clinton had lost the vote by some three million votes, yet was announced the winner.  Can you imagine the howls of protest coming from the Trump Twitter feed and all the Republican minions?!  The sound would have been deafening!  And yet Trump was declared the winner. 

So here we are.  The media, more interested in its bottom line, is okay with corruption -- as long as they can stay in business and tell "the story."   But at what price?  What price are we prepared to pay for maintaining the media status quo? 

We must remember that the media is part of the profit system.  This is the way big business is done in America, we say.  And yet it has not always been so, though the foundations were laid centuries ago.

Now, however, the survival of democracy and of the human race are at stake.  With rising population and global warming we must act quickly in any event.  If the profit system must be set aside in order to secure our future, so be it.  There is no mention of it in the Constitution, and surely America needs foundational change -- now more than ever.