Alexander Hamilton.
The name is Alexander Hamilton.
Can’t place the face?
You’ve seen it grace the ten
And now his face is in the news again.
[MUSIC]
Who would have thought?
Alexander Hamilton,
first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
(He died
in 1804)
Who would have thought
he’d be hot news in 2016?
And I’m not talking about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s
brilliant
broadway show
where Mike Pence
heard directly
from the stage
from the actor playing Aaron Burr.
(although that was
pretty cool)
Brandon Victor Dixon
did not throw away his shot
Cool.
But I’m _not_ TALKING about the PLAY.
I’m talking about
the man himself.
The actual
bastard,
orphan,
son of a
whore
And a
Scotsman.
This guy.
Why is he in the news?
Because
People appalled
at the prospect of a President Trump
—And that prospect gets more appalling
with every lying and bullying Tweet
Every revelation of
business conflicts of interest
every embrace
of evidence-free conspiracy theories
dredged from the fever swamps
of Infowars and Breitbart
Every shakedown scheme that amounts
to turning the presidency
into a profit center for Trump’s businesses
in violation of the Constitution.
every intimidating threat to the media
in violation of the constitution
every gaslighting lie he tells
and from his supporters
every
bullying attack and threat by
hate groups that love him
every spray-painted swastika
every chant
every taunt
from some
pathetic
loser
who suddenly feels
authorized and encouraged to
make themselves feel bigger and better
by making some vulnerable minority feel worse
—people appalled at all that
and more
are latching onto an essay
Alexander Hamilton wrote
in 1788
just a few months
before we elected our first president
They are grasping at ANY straws
they think might
keep Trump
out of the White House.
Chief among them,
Professor Lawrence Lessig,
who cites Hamilton essay
in urging
the usually faceless electors
to
rise up
and become faithless electors
and vote against the people
who elected them to elect Donald J. Tump.
They won’t.
Maybe a tiny handful will
But
Not enough to matter
Not enough to swing the election.
Faithless electors have NEVER swung
an election in out country’s history.
All they ever manage
is to swing their
way into becoming footnotes
in American History books
And here’s why:
electors are not—
as the founders expected—
chosen because of their
wisdom and knowledge
(though they may
well be wise and knowledgeable).
They are chosen,
not for those qualities
but
as a reward for party loyalty.
So, who is Lessig talking to?
Republican electors?
Really?
if Lessig expects Republican
party electors to do
what the Republican voters wouldn’t do
what the Republican Chairman wouldn’t do
what the Republican national committee wouldn’t
do,
what the Republican National Convention
wouldn’t do
What the Republican Speaker of the House
wouldn’t do.
What the Republican leader of the Senate
would do.
If he expects Republican electors
to somehow somewhere some way
muster the courage
and integrity to say
no
to Trump,
I’d like to have a little of
what he’s smokin’.
(It's legal in my state)
Even Mitt Romney
who made a powerful,
principled speech denouncing Trump
last March
even mitt romney
made a pilgrimage
to Trump Tower for a job interview
And Romney got a callback.
He’s hopeful now
Lessig writes that the electors were meant
as a safety valve or filter to
to correct the vote of the people.
No they weren't.
That’s not how Hamilton saw them.
He didn’t view the electors
as a court of appeals
to pass judgment
on how the people voted.
Hamilton wanted the electors voting
INSTEAD of
the people.
For Hamilton, electors
weren’t plan B.
They were plan A.
They weren’t a safety valve.
They were a bypass
Irony alert:
Hamilton wanted to isolate
the selection
of president
from mob passions and pressures
The last thing he would want was
Lawrence Lessig ginning up
pressure on the electors.
Something Lessig never ever considers:
Maybe the Repulican electors actually
want Trump to be president.
Sorry, professor.
I like your Creative Commons,
I like it a lot.
In fact,
I’m using this photo of you
taken by Robert Scoble
through a Creative Commons license.
But on the Electoral College, you’re
wide of the mark.
Not only is it not going to work,
Not only is it not at all Hamiltonian
it wlll set
a terrible precedent.
It will make our electoral process
even uglier than it is
It will turn our elections from a
two stage shout-fest to a three-stage
rocket of repulsion.
The primaries
The general election
Followed by declaring
Open season on electors.
As prople trying to relitigate the election.
That was not what Hamilton expected.
You’re about two hundred years late
to begin turning the electoral college
into a deliberative committees that
the framers envisioned.
It just didn’t work out that way.
That ship
has sailed.
You wouldn’t happen to have
a Time Turner or a TARDIS, would you?
I desperately wish we could avoid the
awful ordeal
of having a
President Donald John.
Trump
in the White House.
I think it will be a disaster.
it’s already a disaster
But pressuring electors
won’t do anything to keep him out of office.
And it will leave a bigger mess for
future elections.
Any other ideas?
I’m listening.
Until Next Time I’m Mickeleh
Thanks everyone who welcomed me back
great hearing from you.
Keep those
comments coming.
This is not part two of my series on the
Electoral college.
Still working on that.
It will be here when it's done
Here's part one of that series.
See ya.
