A Constitutional Solution
A Constitutional Solution
Don’t like Wallbuilder Donny or Lying Hillary? There’s a way out. It’s called the Electoral College.
The Democrat Machine got its way and, Democrats are left standing at the altar, staring at a bride most of them don’t want, in spite of her gender.
The brick (and punch) throwers got their way and, Republicans are left standing at the altar, staring at a groom most of them don’t want, in spite of his vast knowledge and quiet eloquence.
If you’re less than thrilled about the choice you’re facing, there may still be time to avoid your vows. It depends on a seriously flawed third party which has fielded an accomplished and acceptable candidate who, even if he doesn’t receive many votes could, if he plays his cards right, stop both Donny and Hillary from winning.
What? They can both lose?
Yes, they can both lose. Our Constitution requires a Presidential candidate receive a majority of Electoral College votes; not a plurality, a majority. The same straightforward, established Republican Party rule that Trumpites refused to acknowledge or understand in the primary process. To get the Party nomination a candidate had to receive more than half the available votes. To become President, a candidate has to receive more than half the 539 available Electoral College votes.
If neither Donny, nor Hillary receive 270 Electoral College votes, they both lose.
Feeling flushed? Pulse quickening? Wondering if this can really happen?
It’s happened twice, once in 1800, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr got exactly the same number of Electoral College votes, allowing the House of Representatives to select Jefferson as the next President.
It happened again in 1824 when, because there were four candidates running for President, none received a majority of the Electoral College votes. The Twelfth Amendment limits the House’s choices to the three candidates who received the most popular votes, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William Crawford. The Congress picked Adams, even though he’d received far fewer popular and Electoral College votes than had Jackson.
So, you see, it could happen, the House of Representatives, your Congressmen could pick someone besides Donny and Hillary, someone like Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party candidate and former governor of New Mexico...
…as long as neither Donny nor Hillary get 270 Electoral College votes. But, it will only happen if we make it happen. Here’s a possible scenario:
Sanders and Cruz between them took more than 60% of total primary votes cast in the following states: Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Main, Utah and Wyoming. That’s a lot of votes for someone besides the two front runners and, if they could be convinced to do it again, vote for someone besides the two front runners, like Gary Johnson, that would be 26 Electoral College votes neither Wallbuilder Donny nor Lying Hillary would get. If they roughly split the remaining Electoral College votes, they both come up short of 270.
The House could then choose “Neither Of The Above”, ending our electoral nightmare and, giving us a caretaker President, Libertarian Gary Johnson who remains popular in his home state, New Mexico, where he’s thought to have done a very good job. Instead of the usual wild-eyed, bomb-throwing Libertarian, Johnson takes a much more practical, evolutionary approach and appears to have none of the character flaws belonging to the front runners.
Just a thought, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Utah and Wyoming, you could save us. Just a thought.
Don’t like Wallbuilder Donny or Lying Hillary? There’s a way out. It’s called the Electoral College.
The Democrat Machine got its way and, Democrats are left standing at the altar, staring at a bride most of them don’t want, in spite of her gender.
The brick (and punch) throwers got their way and, Republicans are left standing at the altar, staring at a groom most of them don’t want, in spite of his vast knowledge and quiet eloquence.
If you’re less than thrilled about the choice you’re facing, there may still be time to avoid your vows. It depends on a seriously flawed third party which has fielded an accomplished and acceptable candidate who, even if he doesn’t receive many votes could, if he plays his cards right, stop both Donny and Hillary from winning.
What? They can both lose?
Yes, they can both lose. Our Constitution requires a Presidential candidate receive a majority of Electoral College votes; not a plurality, a majority. The same straightforward, established Republican Party rule that Trumpites refused to acknowledge or understand in the primary process. To get the Party nomination a candidate had to receive more than half the available votes. To become President, a candidate has to receive more than half the 539 available Electoral College votes.
If neither Donny, nor Hillary receive 270 Electoral College votes, they both lose.
Feeling flushed? Pulse quickening? Wondering if this can really happen?
It’s happened twice, once in 1800, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr got exactly the same number of Electoral College votes, allowing the House of Representatives to select Jefferson as the next President.
It happened again in 1824 when, because there were four candidates running for President, none received a majority of the Electoral College votes. The Twelfth Amendment limits the House’s choices to the three candidates who received the most popular votes, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William Crawford. The Congress picked Adams, even though he’d received far fewer popular and Electoral College votes than had Jackson.
So, you see, it could happen, the House of Representatives, your Congressmen could pick someone besides Donny and Hillary, someone like Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party candidate and former governor of New Mexico...
…as long as neither Donny nor Hillary get 270 Electoral College votes. But, it will only happen if we make it happen. Here’s a possible scenario:
Sanders and Cruz between them took more than 60% of total primary votes cast in the following states: Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Main, Utah and Wyoming. That’s a lot of votes for someone besides the two front runners and, if they could be convinced to do it again, vote for someone besides the two front runners, like Gary Johnson, that would be 26 Electoral College votes neither Wallbuilder Donny nor Lying Hillary would get. If they roughly split the remaining Electoral College votes, they both come up short of 270.
The House could then choose “Neither Of The Above”, ending our electoral nightmare and, giving us a caretaker President, Libertarian Gary Johnson who remains popular in his home state, New Mexico, where he’s thought to have done a very good job. Instead of the usual wild-eyed, bomb-throwing Libertarian, Johnson takes a much more practical, evolutionary approach and appears to have none of the character flaws belonging to the front runners.
Just a thought, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Utah and Wyoming, you could save us. Just a thought.
That makes the Freedom Caucus kingmakers. If they could talk the Democrats into voting for Johnson because of his liberal social policies, and they voted for him because of his attention to fiscal conservatism and the Constitution, then they could outvote the Republicans.
I think it depends on Trump's end game. If he pivots after a hung election and toes the liberal Democrat line then, I'd say he wins on a bipartisan vote. If he zigs right, to win over the Republicans I'd say Johnson has a chance.
would vote for a Libertarian, regardless of how
they regard the other two candidates. --(Also, I
have reservations. I understand that Ayn Rand
repudiated the Libertarian party. Although, if faced with this alternative, it's hard to tell
what she would say).
Every domestic decision he's made has weakened us as a nation and as a people.
Every international decision he's made has weakened us as a nation and the western world as a cultural unit.
He's supported the overthrow of every secular Middle East leader by violent Shias. He refused to support either of the popular uprisings in Iran against its Shia theocracy.
He purged all knowledgeable Muslim experts from the FBI and CIA and Defense Department. He refuses to acknowledge Islam as the source of terror, even though American Muslims are 35 times more likely to commit murder than are the rest of us. He maintains Islam is the religion of peace, no matter what Islam says.
Ocam's Razor says he's a Shia Muslim engaged in strategic war against we infidels and hiding it behind Islam's taqiiya veil.
"The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.
The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.
The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
It's all immaterial unless Johnson gets his act together and wins some states which, looks improbable because instead he's trying to win the election outright, which won't happen.
Read up on the election of 1824.
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