Who's in the Back Seat, a Kristof Column, Reforming the Electoral College and Why Votes Take So Long to Count

 

In the Economy's Backseat

The blue collar worker, the ones being pushed into a backseat by the tecno-sharp, better educated workers of today, and less costly labor outside of the country, seek support somewhere. 

They feel that a government that cares for those on the bottom of the socio-econonic ladder is taking away the things they have worked hard for and giving them to those who, in their minds, do not deserve them.  They choose to side with the bigots who don’t like the recipients of such government aid to start with, often for racial reasons, dating back many years.

They buy into false arguments, are ignorant of the facts about the economy, government, and of course, the coronavirus pandemic, and are gullible enough to believe whatever someone desirous of their votes will say. 

Things will not get better for these folks until they change.  From the factory floor, they must move into the service part of our economy.  Even better, they should strive to become among the technosharp, better educated Americans who are not being pushed into the backseat.  It will be the government's role to help them accomplish this.

Until they do, they are an obstacle to the successful operation of democracy in America.  They support dangerous, un-American candidates such as outgoing President Donald Trump and those of his ilk who might follow him.  Their movement is not dead.  They don’t care about whether democracy works or not.  Some Americans do, but they do not, nor even think about such questions.

 

Why the Delay? 

In order to make it appear that Donald Trump was winning re-election on Election Day, Republican legislatures in some States did not allow counting of mailed-in ballots until Election Day.  That was why Trump started out appearing to be the winner, but very slowly became the loser as the massive number of those ballots were finally counted in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  This made gullible Trumpublicans susceptible to “trumped-up” charges that the election results were being messed with.

 

 

 

Who Sabotaged Trump's Campaign ?

Still interested in the election?  Then, Check out this column by Nicholas Kristof from Wednesday's (Nov. 4) New York Times.   Just CLICK HERE to read it.  (or paste this on your browser line).  It explains who sabotaged Trump's campaign. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/opinion/donald-trump-election-2020.html

Kristof concludes his column with a question.  (Read the column to learn what it is.)  But I have the answer: "Ignorance of the facts and unbelievable gullibility."

 

 

Electoral College Reform

I disagree with those who want to abolish the Electoral College, deemed as “archaic” by many.  It is a necessary safeguard against the excesses which an unfettered democracy can bring.  To the writers of the Constitution, the French Revolution’s guillotines were not history, they were current examples at that time of democracy running wild.

Rather than abolishing the Electoral College, it is time for a Constitutional amendment, requiring States to apportion electoral votes proportionately according to the popular vote within the State.  And the unfair structure of the College, heavily favoring small States must be corrected to reflect today’s demographics.  Such reforms seem to me to be preferable to the idea, advocated by some, of giving all a State’s electoral votes to the candidate with the most votes nationally.  That’s just a shortcut to abolishing it.

 (See my letter in the Palm Beach Post on Saturday, Nov. 7 espousing most, but not all, of the above thoughts.)

Late News from Human Resources Dep't. 

(added 11/7)

 

See - Anything is possible if you work hard enough!