Paging Benjamin Harrison!

Riots.  Protests.  “Not my president!” they shout.  High school and college students are part of the noisy throng that is attacking the election of Donald Trump.  More than a few point to the belief that Hillary Clinton got more national popular votes than Trump and should therefore be president.  These youngsters are still under the myth that presidents are directly elected, as with Congress.  Not so.

And most of these students are too young to remember the last time (2000) an election was decided where the loser got more national popular votes than the winner.  In that race George W. Bush and Dick Cheney won the electoral votes of Florida (and the presidency) on a contested popular vote recount that went all the way to the US Supreme Court.  The Al Gore/Joe Lieberman campaign maintained that they were the real winners, a charge that gave rise to a new name for the ticket—Sore/Loserman!

This year’s results are not unprecedented.  Electoral winners on four previous occasions have lost the national popular vote: John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888) and George W. Bush (2000).  “But,” you cry, “democracy says that the majority rules!”

Welcome to the Republic! This Republic of ours is a representative constitutional government at the federal level.  We directly elect those representatives to act on our behalf in Congress.  So also for the Presidency. The Constitution (Article 2, Section 1, as amended by the 12^th Amendment) specifies that the President is elected by the Electoral College in each state, consisting of members equal to its number of representatives in Congress (House and Senate).

It was the electors we directly chose on November 8^th, not the presidential ticket.  The electors act on our behalf to pick the president and vice president. And every state gets to determine how it apportions its electoral votes.  With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, it is winner-take-all.  The state level is where the popular vote really counts; whoever takes the state’s popular votes, gets the state’s electoral votes.

Is this likely to change?  NO! When Democrats won control of the White House in 2008, they had majorities in both houses of Congress.  There was no bill enacted to change the method of electing the President.  Overall, Democrats accepted the method as valid.  And don’t expect Republicans to favor a change any time soon.  With the exception of John Quincy Adams, Republican presidents have been the beneficiaries of the electoral college votes whenever the loser got more popular votes.

So what’s a protester to do?  Lighten up, and give thanks for this Republic of ours where the transition of government takes place (relatively) peacefully and not at gun-point!

I wonder how this went back in 1888???

Best wishes for the holidays!