Donald Trump was right: the system is rigged. But it is rigged for the Republicans, not the Democrats, for conservatives, not progressives. And the result is the election of an extreme racist, misogynist authoritarian who may change the course of U.S. and even world history.
Belatedly we learn that Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump by more than two million votes, yet Trump still won the Electoral College. The public burst into an uproar in 2000 when Gore beat Bush by 550,000 votes but lost the Electoral vote. This time the public, the Clinton campaign and the press are quiet. We are glad to see Jill Stein taking the lead in contesting the vote in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Go deimhin chruthaigh sealbhóirí sclábhaithe córas na gColáistí Toghcháin, agus tá sé fós neamhdhaonlathach agus ciníoch, agus claonta i leith na bPoblachtánach. Léirigh Obama gur féidir an córas a shárú agus fiú iompú chun ár leasa, ach léiríonn na caillteanais Clinton agus Gore gur dreapadh suas an cnoc é.
An Coláiste Toghcháin Ciníoch, Neamhdhaonlathach
Ní raibh i dtoghchán 2016 ach an ceathrú huair i stair SAM gur chaill iarrthóir uachtaránachta an vóta coitianta ach gur bhuaigh sé an Coláiste Toghcháin, agus mar sin an uachtaránacht. Agus tá corrlach buaite Clinton de níos mó ná dhá mhilliún vóta ar an gceann is mó i bhfad d’aon iarrthóir “a chaillfidh”.
Why is it that, in the 21st century, the Electoral College keeps trumping the popular vote on behalf of Republicans? The pro-Republican bias of the Electoral College derives from two main dynamics: it over-weights the impact of mostly conservative voters in small population states and it negates entirely the mostly progressive votes of nearly half of African American voters, more than half of Native American voters and a major swath of Latino voters.
Le scór bliain anois, le cúpla eisceacht, tá Poblachtánaigh i gceannas ar cheantair thuaithe, ar bhailte beaga agus ar stáit bheaga daonra, agus rialaíonn na Daonlathaigh cathracha móra agus formhór na stát daonra mór.
Bhuel, tugann rialacha an Choláiste Toghcháin oiread agus trí oiread meáchain do na Poblachtánaigh choimeádacha agus bána den chuid is mó sna stáit tuaithe i gcomparáid le stáit a bhfuil daonraí móra, ilchineálacha ciníocha acu agus daonraí móra Daonlathacha.
This is because even the tiniest state has a minimum of 3 Electoral College votes, based on the rule that each state is allocated Electors based on the size of its congressional delegation (Senators plus Representatives). The Constitution provides that each state has a minimum of two Senators and one member of the House of Representatives, even if its total population is less than a single congressional district in a large state. (There are approximately 710,767 people in an average congressional district.)
Mar shampla, vótáil díreach os cionn 245,000 duine i Wyoming i mbliana ach tá trí vóta ag an gColáiste Toghcháin: ceann amháin do gach 82,000 nó mar sin vótálaí. I gcomparáid leis an mbliain seo vótáil breis is 12 milliún duine i gCalifornia, a bhfuil 55 vóta Toghcháin aige. Mar sin tá vóta Toghcháin amháin ag California do gach 218,000 vótálaí. Mar sin iompraíonn vótálaí in Wyoming beagnach trí oiread an mheáchain Toghcháin atá ag vótálaí i gCalifornia. Go deimhin toisc go bhfuil beirt sheanadóir ag gach stát, is é an riail ghinearálta, dá airde daonra an stáit, is lú an tionchar a bhíonn ag gach vótálaí sa stát sin sa Choláiste Toghcháin.
And, since the Republicans carry all the small population states except Rhode Island and Washington DC (which also gets 3 Electoral votes), this rule strongly favors them. This year the Electoral outcome was able to reverse Clinton’s large popular vote margin because, for the first time in decades, the Republicans carried the large population states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan, in addition to Texas.
Ag diúltú Vóta Dubh an Deiscirt
Cinntíonn córas na gColáistí Toghcháin freisin, fiú éilíonn sé, go ndéanfar thart ar leath de na vótálaithe dathúla ar fad a imeallú nó neamhaird iomlán a dhéanamh orthu, i bhfianaise an pholarú vótála ciníoch stairiúil.
Approximately 55 percent of all Blacks live in the southern states, and for decades they have voted about 90 percent Democratic in the presidential races. However, the pattern since 1960 is that white Republican voters defeat them in every southern and border state except Maryland and Virginia, and (in 2008) North Carolina. While whites voted 58 percent for Trump nationally in 2016, southern whites gave him over 70 percent of their votes. The white vote has been approximately the same since 1980.
Thus all Southern Electoral College votes, except those of Maryland and Virginia, went to Trump and the votes of almost half of African American voters basically do not count, according to the College rules.
For example, Blacks constitute about 36 percent of the Mississippi electorate, the highest Black voter percentage in any state in the country. About 90 percent voted for Clinton. But whites are 64 percent of the state’s voters, and about 90 percent chose Trump. Trump therefore handily won 58 percent of the state’s total vote and all of its Electoral College votes.
In 2016, as for decades, the Electoral College result was the same as if Blacks in all the southern states except Virginia and Maryland had not voted at all. Similarly negated were the votes of millions of Native American and Latino voters who live in overwhelmingly white Republican states like Arizona, Nevada, Okla- homa, Utah, the Dakotas, Montana and Texas. Further, the peoples of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam—territories ruled by the U.S.—get no Electoral College votes at all. The tyranny of the white, conservative majority prevails.
Thus, the Electoral College system violates the principle of one person, one vote, drastically undermines the impact of the Black vote and gives the Republicans a major advantage in presidential contests. Its abolition should be a key part of the pro- gressive agenda.
Sclábhaithe Bunús an Choláiste Toghcháin
Chruthaigh na hAithreacha Bunaitheacha, faoi stiúir sealbhóirí sclábhaithe mar George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison agus James Monroe, an Coláiste Toghcháin as an aer chun freastal ar a leasanna.
They codified the notorious idea that slaves were non-humans, and thus deserving of no constitutional or human rights. The one exception to this rule was the constitutional provision that slaves were to be counted as three-fifths of a person, solely for the purpose of determining how many congressional representatives each state would be allotted. Thus, even though slaves had no right to vote, the three-fifths rule vastly increased the slave states’ power in the House of Representatives and therefore Congress.
Ceapadh an Coláiste Toghcháin, ina bhfaigheann gach stát líon áirithe Toghthóirí atá comhionann lena dtoscaireacht chomhdhála, mar mhodh institiúideach chun an leithdháileadh comhdháile céanna ar son na sclábhaíochta a aistriú chuig an uachtaránacht a chinneadh. Bhí an uachtaránacht ag na sclábhaithe ar feadh 50 de na 72 bliain sular toghadh Abraham Lincoln, a toghadh i 1860, an chéad uachtarán ar SAM chun cur i gcoinne leathnú na sclábhaíochta. Chuaigh an Deisceart, a bhí i dtaithí ar chumhacht pholaitiúil a chaitheamh trí áireamh roghnach sclábhaithe, go pras.
Ó tháinig deireadh leis an sclábhaíocht tá an Coláiste Toghcháin fós ina ionstraim chiníoch agus choimeádach. Thug sé tús reatha do na Poblachtánaigh chun an uachtaránacht a bhuachan ó d’aistrigh muintir an Deiscirt frithghníomhaithe en masse ón bPáirtí Daonlathach go dtí an Páirtí Poblachtach mar agóid i gcoinne na reachtaíochta um chearta sibhialta sna 1960idí.
The system is rigged and changing the system would take a constitutional amendment approved by three-fourths of the states. Consequently we are in an uphill battle that, if we master Electoral College strategy the way Obama did, we can win. Although the Electoral College is not on our side, history, including the rising progressive electorates, is. Let’s make Trump a one-term president
Z
Bob Wing has been a racial justice and peace activist since 1968. He was the founding editor of ColorLines iris agus Amanna Cogaidh newspaper. He is the author of Tarraingítear na Línte Catha: Neo-Scéaladh nó Tríú Atógáil agus Notes Toward a Social Justice Electoral Strategy. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a talk show host, writer and activist. He can be followed on Twitter, Facebook and www.billfletcherjr.com. He is the co-author, with Dr. Fernando Gapasin, of Solidarity Divided, agus an t-údar They’re Bankrupting US—And Twenty Other Myths about Unions.