A ‘disaster for a democracy’ helped get Trump elected
Nov 17, 2016, 6:17 AM | Updated: 8:53 am
Believe it or not, Hillary Clinton is now about a million votes ahead in the popular vote. Here in America, we hate to hurt anyone’s feelings so when a candidate loses the popular vote we give him a consolation prize. We let him be president.
But some people seem to be having misgivings this year.
Under the Constitution, our votes are merely the marching orders for members of the Electoral College from our home states. They cast the official vote on Dec. 19.
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CBS’s Tony Dokoupil talked with one of them.
“I’m a party guy,” Republican elector Alex Triantafilou said.
Triantafilou, of Ohio, is looking forward to a vote for Trump. But he says hundreds of people have asked him to reconsider.
“They’re wasting their time, and they’re only making me stronger in my resolve to go and cast my electoral vote with the voters of Ohio.”
Ohio is one of 29 states with rules preventing electors from switching votes, Dokoupil reports. But there’s nothing in the Federal law or the Constitution to stop them from going rogue.
In fact, Prof. John Rakove of Stanford University says the Founders considered the independence of the electors to be a safety measure.
“They were doubtful about the idea of popular election,” Rakove said. “They were doubtful about the idea of having election by Congress. The Electoral College emerged as the best alternative.”
The idea was to ensure that only a person with the “faculties necessary to be a president “ would get the job. You know who wrote those words? Alexander Hamilton.
“Talents for … the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union…” Federalist No. 28 states.
Of course, President-elect Donald Trump attacked the process as “a disaster for a democracy” four years ago. He has since softened his tone, but should he change his mind, the Democrats would be happy to put a bill on his desk.
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