NEITHER MAJORITIES, NOR EXECUTIVES IN GOVERNMENT… NECESSARILY RULE!! (Part 1 – ELECTIONS)

This may come as a shock to many, especially to Donald Trump and those that are seemingly rabid Trump supporters, who I refer to as “Trumpkins,” but we do not live in a country governed by “majority rule”.  I can hear the gasps from the greater populace.

The United States was founded on the principle of ‘majority rule AND minority rights.  If you would like a supporting example of this, you have but to refer to the election of Donald Trump as president for an example.  Donnie was “selected” president by the Electoral College after losing the popular vote.  This is a fact that many find that galling, myself among them, but it is a fact nonetheless.  I take great pleasure in reminding the greater world of this fact every chance I get, especially when “The Donald” claims he has this “incredible”, “yuge”, “fantastic” mandate, the fact is that none of these are true, regardless of his tantrums, and those of his supporters, to the contrary, but now for the civics lesson.

The Electoral College was established to protect the minority in the election process.  The smaller, less-populated states, wanted to make sure that the more-populated states would not just elect the president using their overwhelming large populations.  If you look at the process in the case of The Donald that is what happened.  He lost the popular vote by some 3 million votes and still became president. In fact The Donald lost the popular election by 2.1%.  The only president to be elected by a lesser percentage of the popular vote was John Quincy Adams in 1824.  He lost by 10.44% (He actually never got a majority of the electoral college, causing the vote to be forced into the House of Representatives, but that is a lesson for another day).  So while The Donald claims he has a mandate, the only mandate this guy has is the one he had with Mitt Romney over candlelight. A majority of the people of the United States of America voted against him, period, end of story! 

I suggest you look at Part 2 – The Judiciary, to see why this minority rights thing is so very important.  It is really one of the main reasons we have Courts as a co-equal branch of government.