The Electoral College should be abolished
For the second time since the 2000 election, we get stuck with a president who didn't win the popular vote. He becomes our president thanks to the Electoral College. From a personal standpoint, I still cannot fathom why anyone would want to elect someone like Donald Trump for the presidency. Whether its voters or the electoral college, the thought is mind boggling. I did not vote for him. I proudly will say so. In fact I wasn't planning to even vote because I have become so tired of our flawed so called democratic system.
Where do I even start to voice my displeasure regarding that system? I guess there's no point getting into just one thing, but there are issues that are still important to me such as poverty, equality for women, homelessness, and now my son's struggle with Autism. My father's who just passed away from Alzheimer's disease this past January. All these things. Or really these few things for starters. Yet, we get stuck with Trump. How? Why? The Electoral College. Isn't it ironic? The same Electoral College that Trump himself accused of being a rigged system. And his voters agreed with him. It didn't sound as if he would have accepted the election results had Clinton won. In fairness to him we won't know that now, but it sure did sound that way.
In getting back to the Electoral College perhaps basing this on just opinion is not exactly right. However, I do know that they (EC) did not elect the most qualified individual for president in this election. To quote www.cns.news.com
"Alexander Hamilton defended the Electoral College in Federalist 68. He argued that it was important for the people as a whole to have a great deal of power in choosing their president, but it was also “desirable” that “the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”
Just reading this short quote, and I already feel as if my vote doesn't count, and didn't in this election either. Going by what Hamilton says here, it becomes even more mind boggling to me that Trump would have won. Why would they select him over a more qualified candidate in Hillary Clinton? Was it because she's a woman? Most would say no, but this reason may not be as far fetched as people think. Now, I am speaking here from a personal standpoint. I know many Trump voters voted for him because they wanted change for our country any change. They like me, are tired of the status quo, etc etc. However, they are failing to see that they could have voted against their own best interests by voting for someone like Trump. It's a nightmare.
And right now I still don't understand what qualifications the Electoral College chose to go with for Trump certainly doesn't have them. A president is supposed to be a leader, but have you seen anyone be more divisive than Trump? He creates more division just by opening his mouth. He's a buffoon. More frightening is his willingness to encourage the wide gap that already exists in this country. That's not leadership. And our country deserves much better than this. The Electoral college failed us here.
And I more than anything feel that it needs to be abolished. Let the voters really have their votes.