Imagine if somewhere along the line, Americans had decided they were ready for real democracy and had chosen to get rid of the Electoral College, that relic bequeathed to us in the Constitution by the founders of this country who were unsure how far to take their new experiment in self-government.
Imagine, at least, that America’s strange method for choosing presidents had been eliminated by the year 2000. What a difference that would have made. Al Gore, the winner of the popular vote, would have moved into the White House instead of George W. Bush.
Assuming that a Gore administration would have been as lax as the Bush team in stringing together the clues that suggested a major terrorist attack was imminent (not necessarily a fair assumption), the horrific national tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, would still have happened. Gore likely would have sent American forces into Afghanistan to track Osama bin Laden, just as Bush did, but there would have been no concocted compulsion to invade Iraq and no lengthy, debilitating war. Even if Saddam Hussein were still in power today, he would be more of a threat to Iran than to the USA.
One can only speculate about how dramatically history would have been altered if the popular vote had prevailed 24 years ago, but it is reasonable to believe that, without a war in Iraq, the last couple of decades would have been brighter. Plus, Gore might have taken major steps to deal with climate change. Instead, eight years were wasted while Bush catered to the interests of oil companies.
Or consider 2016. Maybe Hillary Clinton, the popular vote winner, would have been a disappointment, but it is unimaginable that she would have been anywhere near as divisive, chaotic, destructive and self-serving as the winner of the electoral vote, Donald Trump.
If Trump had lost that first time, he may have simply used his heightened notoriety to increase the value of his brand, build a few more buildings, buy a couple more golf courses and harass a few more porn stars. Instead, the Electoral College made him president. And because he found it to be the best con game he had ever run, he now is going after the prize for a third time.
Trump is looking old. His rhetoric has become more nonsensical than ever. His one policy idea — imposing big tariffs — is economic insanity. Facing a vigorous new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, it seems very possible that he will lose the popular vote by a margin bigger than his losses to Clinton and to Joe Biden.
And, yet, Trump still can win, thanks to the perversities of the Electoral College.
The system has become tilted toward Republican presidential candidates because smaller, more rural states like Wyoming get extra electoral votes unjustified by their voting population and most of those states are solid for the GOP. And, since electoral votes are awarded in a winner-take-all manner, the votes of people in states such as Washington and California, or Alabama and South Dakota, are cheapened because everyone already knows who will win in those states. A small group of undecided voters (or should we say uninformed and uninterested?) in six swing states will pick the next president and the rest of us will feel like nervous spectators.
Sadly, the Electoral College will not disappear any time soon. Too many powerful people have a vested interest in making sure that some votes carry more weight than others — a voting distortion that may make Trump the most powerful man in the world, once again.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
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