The Electoral College as a Football Game

Imagine a college football game between two in-state rivals.

(In Oklahoma, it would be Bedlam between OSU and OU.)

One team, fill in name of your choice, played a great game.

They ran up over 700 total yards.

They dominated the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense.

They scored a safety and 6 field goals.

To top it off, officials and the media had picked, and clearly favored, this team to win.

The other team, pick a name, did not play very well at all.

They were not able to stop the other team on defense. In fact, it was only through luck that they were able to keep them from scoring a touchdown. The defense was clearly not very good.

On offense, they were even worse. They punted on almost every possession. They fumbled 3 times. They gained less than 150 yards. In fact, they had exactly three lucky plays

They ran back a punt for a touchdown.

They had one long run from scrimmage that went for a touchdown.

They recovered a fumble near the other team’s goal line and ran it in for a touchdown.

But…THEY WON THE GAME 21 - 20!!!

The first team played better. They scored more times. They gained many more yards. They had the edge in turnovers. They held the opposing offense to low yards gained.

It doesn’t seem fair that they did not win; however, no one complained after the game was over. They were disappointed but they didn’t riot or try to have the outcome changed.

Why?

Because, they knew the rules before the game started.

Should the rules be changed so this never happens again?

What do you think?

Playing with Fire

 

A recent Wall Street Journal article titled "An Electoral College Coup: The Clinton campaign now suggests the election was rigged," explores attempts by supporters of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid to persuade electors to abandon their duty and vote for Ms. Clinton. This would, indeed, amount to a coup and the fallout would be disastrous.

Consider the following.

Both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans.

All cabinet appointees and Supreme Court nominees must be ratified by the Senate. In the face of a coup, it is unlikely that any appointee or nominee put forward would receive approval. The United States would be without senior leadership for the foreseeable future and the Court would remain split with at least one vacancy.

All budget bills must originate in the House of Representatives. There is little reason to expect that the House, believing the Presidency is held illegitimately, would fund any function of government beyond the minimum required services.

The United States would be leaderless and essentially unfunded while political factions battled in court for at least two years.

Anyone believing this is a good thing is genuinely an enemy of the country. 

They are playing with fire.