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photo by Sheri Dixon

Monday, November 28, 2016

Wishful Thinking

OK. I'ma get this off my chest first thing.

What the hell, America? I cannot fathom how we could elect Donald Trump as our president. Cannot. Fathom.

Set aside the obvious for a sec. The horrible things he says on a daily basis, the absolute horrors he's looking at to put in his administration, the blatant nepotism and general disregard for the office he said he wanted. Set that aside. Oh, and set aside the hellacious violence-instigating campaign he just ran. Just...set that all aside.

Here were our choices, and think, for a sec, that you are interviewing candidates for an actual job. Because that's what a campaign is, ya'll. The world's longest and most mind-numbingly expensive job interview.

On the one hand you have a woman who has roughly four decades of experience. During that time she racked up an impressive amount of accomplishments, but she also had some blunders. Because we're talking FORTY YEARS and she's, yanno, human. The only person who's done that much time in community service without any blunders would be Bernie Sanders but we can't have a SOCIALIST NOW, CAN WE?

Ahem.

On the other hand, there's this guy with zero experience. He says he has plans but won't tell you what they are. He says he's a great businessman but won't show us his financial records. So, weighing all this...you chose this guy. Well done, America. You should never ever be in charge of human resources EVER.

But that's why we have the electoral college, right? To make damn sure a blithering idiot never makes it into office, right? How did THAT work out for us?

We need to get rid of the electoral college, and I'm not just saying that because "my side" lost. It's archaic and not necessary. We have the world of information at our fingertips and YES, the states that have the most people absolutely should have more say in who is our POTUS if we are really one person/one vote. The rural states should NOT have untoward advantages in this, because frankly, they have no clue what the urban areas NEED, just like the urban areas shouldn't ignore and ridicule what rural areas need. We already have one branch of government that's skewed to give all states "equal weight" and that's the freaking Senate where Utah gets 2 senators and California gets...2 senators. See? There's your "equal treatment".

So, ditch the electoral college and let the people actually choose who they want for POTUS since
a) unless the electoral college does something unheard of (but this entire election cycle has been rife with that shit), we are stuck with Agent Orange as our POTUS so they aren't going to even do what they are supposed to do this time around
b) a big reason we even have the electoral college was so that the less populous states at the time (insert SLAVE-OWNING states because slaves couldn't vote) were able to toss their weight around and keep their way of life which was wrong then and even more wrong now

And here's how to fix some of our seemingly terminal division in this nation. Used to be that actual moderates from both sides would run for office and say crazy things like, "And if elected, I will do my best to work with the (other side) for the good of all the American people" and people would ELECT them instead of calling them RINO's, DINO's and traitors. WEIRD, HUH?

So we're totally divided now and there may as well be alligator-infested moats in that aisle they used to cross all the time.

We need to tweak our leadership just a smidge.

Both sides still choose a candidate for POTUS and a running mate.

Whoever wins the popular vote gets to be POTUS.

Whoever gets the 2nd most votes gets to be VP.

If something happens and the POTUS or VP can't fulfill their duties, their running mate steps up, keeping the party representation in place.

That's it. Simple.

Because MOST of the time, the election isn't 90% voting for one guy and 10% voting for the other guy. This time it's like 2% difference. It was less than 10% difference when it was Obama/Romney. So you have literally almost half your voters all pissed off after the election and the other half screaming, "HA! IN YOUR FACE! GET TO THE BACK OF THE BUS!" which is not helpful for a harmonious national attitude.

MAKE 'em work together. Right at the top of the heap. THAT'S one "trickle-down" that actually has a chance in hell of working.

Seriously, ya'll. Do I have to think of everything?





1 comment:

  1. I agree that the electoral college should be abolished. Unfortunately, I think any interest the public has in the subject will wane in the next few years.

    I was involved in a movement to abolish it in the wake of the fraudulent election of 2000, a good 16 years ago, and I watched it wither and die. Once the initial hubbub of the election was over, people simply forgot about the electoral college again. Perhaps it's too abstruse a subject for them to get interested in, no matter how it affects their futures.

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