Recently there have been posts on social media, mainly from those aligned with the left, calling for the abolition of the electoral college. This, in my own opinion, is not accepting the election result that was given on November 8th. By doing this it is becoming exactly what we are fighting against.

6 months ago if anyone had suggested that we should have a president elected by popular vote they would have been laughed at. After the laughter had subsided, they would have been told that they were crazy and should go read a civics book. Whether the president should be elected by popular vote is up in the air, and should be an argument for the future, but currently in the state that our country is in it would be a bad idea.

Doing such a thing now would only play into Donald Trump’s platitude that the election is ‘rigged.’ As of right now he has been chosen to be the next president-elect, and Hillary Clinton has already conceded. Paul Ryan, Barack Obama, and countless other governmental officials have already promised a peaceful transition of power for the president elect. To flip it all on its head now would be to incite unrest among those who voted for Trump, or worse.

Secondly, to make the presidency a direct election is to invite more populism and shatter political strategy. Campaigns for president, and the strategy involved, revolve around the golden number: 270. They plan and execute their strategies around states, which would otherwise not be bothered with, that they believe would give them enough electoral votes. Not to mention, if it was switched to popular vote then states with smaller populations would not get any attention, people in rural areas’ votes would not matter to politicians running to be elected for president.

Making it a direct election will incentivize a more populist approach to presidential elections, and this is precisely why the electoral college was create-granted we just saw that get obliterated, but this election cycle is an anomaly and I don’t think we will see one like it again. Candidates will continue to radicalize and say and do things that are detrimental to society-again this election is an anomaly…I hope.

Malcolm X said in his Autobiography:  “…choose, which one to be eaten by, the ‘liberal’ fox or the ‘conservative’ wolf – because both of them would eat him. [At least] in a wolf’s den, I’d always known exactly where I stood; I’d watch the dangerous wolf closer than I would the smooth, sly fox. The wolf’s very growling would keep me alert and fighting him to survive, whereas I might be lulled and fooled by the tricky fox.”(Autobiography of Malcolm X pg. 380). The way I see the result of the election is that we have an opportunity. We now have a “wolf” in office that arrived there based off of blatant racism, sexism and xenophobia. The curtain has been raised and we can now see in plain view America’s true colors. A structural revision to our nations way of electing the president is not going to fix the issues that got Donald Trump to where he is today. Instead, we can now identify and actively fight, out in the open the racism, sexism, and xenophobia that for far too long has been swept under the rug.

No longer covert, it is now overt, and we now can attach a face and a name to the arch-enemy of progressivism and liberty and justice for all-a tenant that at a young age I was force to stand and recite daily. Our work is cut out for us, so let us start the fight for a free world a decent world.

“To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”-Charlie Chaplin in The Dictator

Signed,

V