Elections

My last post discussed Trump and his legal problems. He has been convicted in four trials -- two civil cases and two criminal cases -- that involved 42 jurors. He has lost those trials by 42 - 0. The 42 jurors were picked at random. In Virginia (my state), potential jurors are selected randomly by the jury commissioners using lists designated by the courts, such as the voter registration list and the driver's license list. In some courts, this is done by hand, and in others, it is done by computer. The aim is to be as impartial as possible.

Trump says the civil and the criminal cases were rigged, just as he says the 2016 election was rigged against him. He offers no evidence to support this rigging and no explanation of how it would be possible, other than the statement that if he lost an election or trial then it was rigged against him.

Recall that Trump lost the 2016 presidental election to Hillary Clinton. Trump became president because he won the Electoral College -- an institution that dates back, literally, to the days of travel by horse and wagon. The United States is the only country that still uses the antiquated Electoral College system.

And speaking of the Electoral College, other countries that have given up using an Electoral College system and moved to Direct Elections are:

Latin America

• Brazil
• Columbia
• Argentina
• Paraguay
• Chile

Europe

• Norway
• Finland
• France
• Spain

China

South Korea

Apartheid South Africa

The United States stands alone among nations in using the unfair Electoral College System. Why do I call it "unfair"?

I'll give you one example. Consider the state of California. All of California's electoral votes will go to the candidate who wins the election in the state, even if he wins by just one vote. 270 electoral votes are needed to elect the president and vice president, and the candidate who wins in California will have 54 votes from that state alone. If a candidate wins in California, that one state will give him 20% of the electoral votes that he needs to win the national election, even if he won the state by only 1 vote!

Does that sound fair? Of course not! Why does the U.S. use an antiquated election system when the rest of the world uses the "one man, one vote" rule to elect their leaders? Can it be that Congressmen and Senators know which side their bread is buttered on? Can it be that the people who make our laws don't really want a fair election?

Hillary Clinton got the most votes in the 2016 presidential election, but Donald Trump became the new president. 

Tell me again how elections are supposed to work.