Keep Calm and Carry On

First let's acknowledge the elephant in the room, that includes Republicans, my posts have been infrequent of late due to an illness which surgeons will soon cut out of me. Rest assured I remain engaged and stimulated by the bizarre election unfolding before our eyes but the concentration needed to write is stretched a bit thin.

Today's missive focuses on the substantial ignorance being displayed by  many citizens and egged on by the equally ignorant Donald Trump. He says the Republican Party is trying to steal the nomination from him. He says repeatedly that this is not democracy.

Trump is a candidate for President, he should have taken a brief tutorial on how the system works before throwing his hat in the ring. As for the average voter, it's no mystery why they are experiencing confusion. History and civics courses do not teach the reality of political parties. They are private entities and can write their rules any way they want and always have. Political parties are governed by those who are the activists of that party who are willing to give their time and by those with connections who get appointed. It's up to candidates to understand the rules and how to exploit them, most have no trouble with this. In spite of Trump's complaining I still believe he is the most likely nominee and most likely on the first ballot. The person with the most votes does not automatically win, you must have the the number of delegates specified by the party. If you go to the Convention without that number, the Convention delegates must begin voting. On the first ballot the pledged delegates will cast their votes for their states chosen candidate but if the required number is still not met subsequent ballots must be held until someone emerges with the required number. On those other ballots the delegates don't have to follow their states votes. Those are the rules choosing a candidate.

The illusion of one man one vote is just that. A Presidential candidate can win the popular vote and lose in the Electoral College. This was created by the founding fathers because they feared that heavily populated states would drown out the will of the least populated areas. The Electoral College has always been controversial and many believe it should be abolished in favor of that one man one vote and the argument for abolishing has merit. However, this could mean that a small number of states could become the dominant power if and I stress if, everyone who could vote did vote.

It's unlikely the Electoral College will go away anytime soon and it is up to those affiliated with a party to actually inform themselves of what that means and how it works. Yelling foul play when you don't even understand the basics is foolish and dangerous when exploited by those who would call themselves a leader.