Faithless Resistance

Today is our democracy’s last shot to stop The Hate Pumpkin from becoming President of the United States of America. Granted, I have no expectations that a swath of pure partisans will suddenly find their long-lost consciences and become the Hamilton Electors our Founding Fathers envisioned. But, hey, let’s dream while we still can. Can he outlaw dreaming? Just in case, best to get yours in before Jan. 20.

The Electoral College has always been a point of controversy. Its creation is steeped in the hypocrisies of our democratic experiment. First, the Founding Fathers weren’t so sure the actual electorate would make the right choice – so they devised a fail safe. Hence, the electors. And second, the Founding Fathers had this whole ugly slavery thing happening. The Northern states had a larger voting population. So the Southern States wanted to count their slaves among their population – even though they were considered property and clearly not allowed to vote - so they could wield more political power. The result was the inhumane three-fifth compromise which decided state’s allocations in the Electoral College and House of Representatives.

Both these reasons seem to run contrary to our county’s ideals of freedom and democratic rule. We the people, not we the disenfranchised and/or we the hand-selected political elites.

And yet, here we are. Where it is a crazy pipe dream to believe faithless electors will do the right thing and save us from this unhinged, unqualified, hate-filled megalomaniac who is so petty he picks fights with people writing bad reviews about his restaurant. But the reality is, no one is coming to save us. Not the electors. Not Obama. Not Hillary (though, heavens knows, she deserves the down time and space to wander in the woods).

The only thing giving me any solace is the fact that America actually didn’t vote for this guy. He actually lost by 2.84 million votes. To put that in perspective that is more than the total populations of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota and South Dakota – combined. These are just the facts, no matter how hard the Deplorable try to conspiracy theory them away.

The truth is Trump didn’t win the vote. He won unevenly weighed geographical regions designed historically to help slave holders.

Keep saying that over and over. And out loud. And with pride - and more than a little anger. Because there are more of us than them. Really. So let’s not roll over and let them smash everything we hold dear. We must save ourselves. Resist.

p.s. Though there is also always this to consider. Because at Christmas you tell the truth. Just in cases.