No One Asked Me But… (June 12, 2024)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… I am back to walking in the summer heat. I take my faithful bottle of water and I sit more than I used to. Unless you see me the lying on the ground gasping like a fish out of water, just wave as you go by.

My family and friends believe I must be mentally unbalanced to love the Southern Nevada heat as much as I do. I had a friend ask me if anyone in my family suffered from mental illness. I told him “No, we all seem to enjoy it.”

Walking alone in the heat gives me a chance to think about things. It is amazing what the heat does to one’s thought process.

One thing I realized is that becoming an adult is one of the dumbest things I ever did. I really thought growing old would take much longer. But while I was walking in 100 degrees I became aware that I have grown into a multi-tasker: I can listen, ignore, and forget all at the same time.

As I walked today I was thinking about America’s process for electing it’s leader. Every four years, the American people believe they vote for a President of the United States. Every four years, the American people are wrong.

The American citizenry has never voted for a President. They vote for electors who vote for the President of the United States. This is done through a structure called the Electoral College.

In early America, the average American had no idea who the Presidential candidates were. They were too busy just surviving to take the time to find out. They willingly allowed a local person they selected to make that decision for them.

Today in the era of mass media, cell phones, and computers, that is no longer the case. Everyone who wishes can be an informed voter. However, we have maintained this antiquated method of electing our national leaders.

When they realize it would take a Constitutional Amendment to change the method of electing a President, the average American’s attention span is taxed beyond their ability to act. So we are living with an antiquated election system governed by political party hacks.

This is the very thing that our first President warned us about as he finished his second term and became just a regular American citizen again.

In each State, political parties and independent candidates that qualify for ballot access nominate a slate of candidates for the office of Presidential Electors. The number of Electors nominated by each party or group is equal to the number of Senators and Congressmen representing the State. There are 538 Electors selected by party committees at the party’s state convention. This includes three representatives from the District of Columbia. Most of those nominated tend to be a mixture of state and local officials, party activists, celebrities and ordinary citizens. No Senator, United States Representative, or anyone who holds “an office of trust or profit” under the United States is eligible to be an Elector.

An interesting term associated with Electors has been developed (Faithless Electors). These are Electors who are selected to vote for one party’s candidate – but since there is no Constitutional requirement that they do so, they vote contrary to the wishes of the party that selected them. This is a rare occurrence and has never happened to a level that it affected the election, But it has happened. Thirty-three states have laws on the books that requires an Elector to vote for the people’s choice in the state.

On July 6, 2020, in Chiafolo v. Washington, the Supreme Court ruled that state laws that penalized Faithless Electors were Constitutionally valid. Which is another example of the Supreme Court usurping legislative powers. However, since there is no Constitutional basis for the Supreme Court to rule a law’s Constitutionality, it only seems fair that they can rule a law valid that has no basis in the Constitution.

You may be saying, “Wait a minute. When I voted I marked a vote for a President and his vice-President.” Nope! You actually voted for the Electors who have been committed to support the candidates of the party you favor. In actuality, a majority of these 538 people (270) elect the President of the United States.

When you vote in the general election, you are not actually voting for a person to fill the role of President. You are telling your State which candidate you want your Electors to vote for at the meeting of the Electors. The winning candidate’s State political parties selects the individuals who will vote for the President.

If we really want the people of America to elect our national leaders, we should hold a real primary election rather than the sham political show we call a primary. Someone smarter than meneeds to set the criteria for those who are eligible for the office and have a primary narrowing the field down to the top two candidates. We can then have a runoff election and may the best man win.

Your first reaction may be: Wait! If we did that, the large states would select the President, because that is where all the votes are. Let me suggest that is already true. If you live in California, your selection gives the winner, who may have one more vote than his opponent, all of California’s fifty-four electoral votes. In the State of Nevada, no matter what the winning margin may be, the winner can only pick up six votes. Only in Nebraska and Maine do they split the electoral vote based on percentages. That is why we hear the term battle ground states.

This is why Presidential candidates spend time in large states. If you take the 15 smallest states, you can make up for the fifty-four electoral votes in California. Where would you most likely spend your time and efforts if you were running for President?

You may well have five or six candidates rather than just two. Yes! I know there are always one or two individuals who have not had any media support nor party organization, but if we went with a purely popular vote requiring an equal amount of time for all candidates to present themselves, we might well end up with greater leadership attuned to the public rather the political hacks. People could still have support organizations but two major parties would no longer have an unfair advantage.

Thought of the week…Common sense is not a gift. It’s a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.