Our undemocracy
As you may have heard, the United States had a presidential election last Tuesday. One of the candidates, a uniquely qualified woman, received over 60 million votes, approximately 1.2 million votes more than her opponent.
So, naturally, her opponent, a misogynist, racist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, anti-science, admitted sexual predator, who seems incapable of moving his lips without lying, will become our next president.
This travesty is imposed on us by our anachronistic, profoundly undemocratic way of selecting our president and vice-president. These officers are not elected by the direct vote of citizens; the majority does not rule. Instead, they are selected by an outdated mechanism called the Electoral College, a product of our slave-holding beginnings as a nation. We are still paying the price of that original sin.
And so, for the second time in sixteen years, the candidate who received fewer votes in the election will become president. The will of the people is once again thwarted. But as long as this system continues to benefit the minority who hold power (now almost absolute power), we cannot expect it to be changed. There is no legal redress for aggrieved citizens.
I wish I could end this on some positive note, but frankly, I can't think of one. However, I can refer you to two excellent posts by two of my blogging friends. I hope you will take the time to visit them and read them.
On the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Alana of Ramblin' with AM, wrote of the need to not stand silent in the face of evil.
On Thursday, Judy of Keep the Wisdom, gave us her wise thoughts and reflections on the election and how she plans to deal with her disappointment.
As for me, I plan to spend a lot of time in the garden and I will continue to boycott the talking heads on television and radio. At least, I can look myself in the mirror and look in the eyes of my daughters and honestly say that I did everything I could do to prevent this result.
~~~
Today is Veterans Day. Cue the platitudes.
I come from a family for whom military service was considered an honorable profession. My husband, too, served in the army during the Vietnam War. Several of my cousins were career soldiers/airmen/sailors. Some were injured in battle. Some lost their lives. I honor all of them today.
Here is my father who is no longer with us, except in spirit. He served in the infantry in World War II and walked all over Europe with Patton's Third Army.
So, naturally, her opponent, a misogynist, racist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, anti-science, admitted sexual predator, who seems incapable of moving his lips without lying, will become our next president.
This travesty is imposed on us by our anachronistic, profoundly undemocratic way of selecting our president and vice-president. These officers are not elected by the direct vote of citizens; the majority does not rule. Instead, they are selected by an outdated mechanism called the Electoral College, a product of our slave-holding beginnings as a nation. We are still paying the price of that original sin.
And so, for the second time in sixteen years, the candidate who received fewer votes in the election will become president. The will of the people is once again thwarted. But as long as this system continues to benefit the minority who hold power (now almost absolute power), we cannot expect it to be changed. There is no legal redress for aggrieved citizens.
I wish I could end this on some positive note, but frankly, I can't think of one. However, I can refer you to two excellent posts by two of my blogging friends. I hope you will take the time to visit them and read them.
On the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Alana of Ramblin' with AM, wrote of the need to not stand silent in the face of evil.
On Thursday, Judy of Keep the Wisdom, gave us her wise thoughts and reflections on the election and how she plans to deal with her disappointment.
As for me, I plan to spend a lot of time in the garden and I will continue to boycott the talking heads on television and radio. At least, I can look myself in the mirror and look in the eyes of my daughters and honestly say that I did everything I could do to prevent this result.
~~~
Today is Veterans Day. Cue the platitudes.
I come from a family for whom military service was considered an honorable profession. My husband, too, served in the army during the Vietnam War. Several of my cousins were career soldiers/airmen/sailors. Some were injured in battle. Some lost their lives. I honor all of them today.
Here is my father who is no longer with us, except in spirit. He served in the infantry in World War II and walked all over Europe with Patton's Third Army.
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| He fought the Nazis in Europe. The irony is not lost on me. |
Oh my. I have made a resolution to study up on the Electoral College and find out what it would take to either abolish it or make it a more true reflection of the popular vote. One of the things I have learned so far is that it is the product of the landed gentry of the early years of our country and of course a long time before women got the vote. I bogged down when I learned that it came about through a constitutional amendment. Now I have to learn what it takes to change one of those. Thank you so much for the shout out and link to my post. It brought me some new traffic and made me even happier to be your blogger friend! I join you in honoring the soldiers in your family. We have not had many and I am so grateful that my sons fell between wars. I do honor soldiers for their service though I would be glad if we evolved as a species into not needing wars to solve our problems.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we will ever evolve that far. Sadly, it often seems that we are regressing instead of evolving.
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