The cry for a recount, the battlecry of Hillary won the popular vote... Some numbers I did not know.
I watched the numbers coming in election night. I know by the time I finally called it quits and went to sleep the numbers for Hawaii, Alaska, and California had not been completed and Trump was ahead in the popularity vote as well as exceeding the 270 he needed to win by around 20 points.
Source: zerohedge.com - Nevada filed a recount petition
The next day I started hearing that Trump did not win the popular vote. So I said, "Okay California with its 55 Electoral College votes that were given to Hillary mist have made up the difference and then some since Trump was ahead when I went to sleep".
It didn't mean much to me unless I was interested in referring to the country as "The United States of California". I even joked with one of my coworkers about this who is in California and I'm pretty sure voted for Hillary.
I didn't vote for either Hillary or Trump, that doesn't mean I am not paying attention.
Recount
There is a cry for recount. Some of the places they are demanding it be done are in places like Michigan which uses paper ballots, and the machines are not connected to the internet. The cries of hacking don't make a lot of sense. Also, if you've been following 2012, and 2016 cycle a recount should be in ANY states that were close. This means some of them that Hillary won by a smaller margin than those they are demanding a recount in should also be recounted. It is very possible such an outcome could make things even worse for Hillary. Earlier in the day from reports around the country of people being turned away, encountering difficulties voting, and seeing people riding buses in to vote it seemed like there could be some fishy things going on from the Hillary side.
I will tell you I fully expected Hillary to win. I was one of those that assumed she was tapped for the presidency and it was all a show, and a sham. I was actually surprised to see Trump win. In watching the numbers roll in I started to think that the amount to rig places had been underestimated as being a possible reason. There is also the possibility that the conspiracy theory was wrong. Then I watched stories and I started to think that perhaps the Trump win was also large parts of America giving mainstream media the middle finger. Perhaps they were tired of being told "who is electable" and "who is not" by the news months before any election. Perhaps they were tired of media blitz attacking or if they can get away with it completely ignoring anyone their shareholders don't want elected, and shoving candidates they know will give them the business as usual down our throats. Perhaps it was largely a revolt against the media.
Source: politics.stackexchange.com
Source: Center for Politics, University of Virginia
The media fought back
The news articles of the next day were barbed and if you are a media representing the interests of the nation they were very disproportionate based upon what the voting showed. This is true EVEN if you factor in the popular vote.
Today
Today I was cruising Google News, Reddit, and yes Infowars when I read an article on Infowars with some numbers I did not know. It relates to the electoral college. Infowars I read with a grain of salt just like I watch mainstream media. Both mainstream media and Infowars have clear bias and agendas. True journalism is supposed to simply present facts with no bias and let us make our own decisions. If it doesn't do that then it is an editorial. That is largely what we have for news these days, opinion pieces.
The Numbers
This article from Infowars had the following numbers.
Source: University of Michigan
Out of 3141 COUNTIES in the United States, Trump apparently won 3084 of them. That is 98.18%!! That is pretty huge.
There are 62 counties in New York State. Trump won 46 of them. That is 74.19% yet Hillary did win New York and California which are the two states worth the most electoral college votes.
New York City resides inside of 5 counties in the state. Hillary won 4 of those counties. These counties were ALL that was required for Hillary to win the popular vote not only for the state, but definitely can account for winning the popular vote for the entire country.
Now this same thing supposedly happened in the Los Angeles, CA area and the Chicago, IL area.
The article at Infowars states that the 5 counties that comprise New York City are 319 square miles. The United States is 3,797,000 square miles.
If we were to take the popular vote as being able to dictate who wins then that would mean an extremely small percentage of the United States can dictate things for the rest. People like to throw the 1% of the elite ruling the world and having the wealth. If LA, New York, and Chicago combined could dictate what the rest of the nation does then that would actually be a smaller number than 1% dictating the lives of the rest of the nation.
Source: Wikipedia.com - California
Source: wikipedia.com - New York
Source: Wikipedia.com - Illinois
Source: Wikipedia.com - Pennsylvania
Source: wikipedia.com - Michigan (where they use paper ballots)
This is why the Electoral College was created. If you are a territory and you are asked to join a Union, are you going to seriously agree to do so if the population of another territory is all it takes to dictate what your territory can do?
It isn't that the nation is divided up as votes being by square mile. That would be unfair as well. Electoral College votes are tied to population, they simply are not so high that it drowns out other states. I live in Colorado and I believe we had 8 Electoral College votes. California has 55. This means California has 687.5% more say in who is President than Colorado. This means population still matters, yet it could be way worse.
Recount part 2
This recount call will not change whether Trump wins or not. It is also a biased recount as it should be also recounting states where Hillary won by less of a margin than the states they are asking for recounts in. They know it will make no difference. This is about image. This is more political and propaganda maneuvering. This is not about the recount. It is about the doubt and division and keeping the population inflamed.
I'm an Anarchist
Source: riccochet.com
I actually do not like this entire process. I don't agree with the concept of "rulers". I did not say leaders. I can lead you along a path, I can lead by example. That does not mean I RULE you. A leader can be someone you choose to follow, or not. A ruler is someone you have no choice but to follow.
So even though I am against this system and all other systems I know of I am also a realist. I live in one. I must pay attention to it for my survival, and the survival of my family. I can also study the various systems from a scholarly point of view. That does not mean I support them. I am an atheist/deist that doesn't mean that if I pursue the scholarly research of various religions that I am a supporter of those religions. I can talk about, and research anything I want without being a supporter of those things.
This is one of my favorite Lysander Spooner quotes and I share it fairly often...
Source: iFunny.co
Steem On!
I was somewhat surprised by Trump's win also. First of all, I thought the plan was for him to drop out at the end of October, and just hand it to Clinton.
But that didn't happens so I figured Clinton had the votes from the dead and the hackers to win no matter what. In fact, I think she thought so too.
But I forgot that we are talking about someone who can't erase an Email even with the whole of the State Department and the DNC helping her. She can't even suicide someone without making it look like a murder. Of course she muffed up the vote rigging. Trump is just as surprised as I was.
If there was any rigging then it was for Trump, because Putin would have done it.
Just throw away the machines and count the paper. This system worked for 2 millenia, because everyone can watch every step.
With computer voting you cant have that AND anonymity. Impossible.
Yet Michigan did count paper. That's where Jill and Hillary want a recount. ;)
I tend to believe Hillary and her crew likely were rigging things. There were indicators it was happening. Yet, I can and often am wrong so I wanted to also mention the possibility does exist that the conspiracy theory portion of my mind in this case could be wrong.
- Counties/municipalities regulate (the activities of) individuals.
- States regulate (the activities of) counties/municipalities.
- The country regulates (the activities of) States and guarantees the rights of the People.
Note that "to regulate" meant "to make regular." Not necessarily "to restrict." In such a system it would make sense that representative voting would work thusly:The Supreme Court's decisions in United States v. Darby Lumber Co., 312 U.S. 100 (1941) and Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942) expanded the commerce clause and destroyed the 10th Amendment. This along with individuals' increasing feelings of entitlement, particularly since the 80s, have collapsed the delicate balances of power, authority, and regulation the founders set up. Now people care least about their local elections, the areas they can most affect. And, while caring the most about federal offices, they least understand the purpose of those offices.
The electoral college could be replaced by having state governors & state legislators vote for federal offices or some similar system, but to replace the electoral college by the popular vote makes no sense at all. At that point we might as well get rid of representation altogether and just vote directly on issues ourselves as a Congress of the People.
What people forget is how easily we can be psychologically manipulated. This recent election alone shows how much people vote with their guts and hearts instead of their brains. When elections use the same techniques used to sell chicken—techniques which manipulate feelings—people can't be trusted to vote. This is why only landowners could vote at one time.
They were the only ones educated enough to understand governance and the only ones personally invested enough to care to follow what was going on in the news. I certainly am for people of any stripe being able to vote, but with that comes the responsibility of understanding what you are doing. We don't say it's bigoted to restrict certain people from flying airplanes. Hell, you even need a licence to cut hair. But sure, we'll let anyone vote. And now we are talking about removing the electoral college.
The country has gone bananas.
I often call our country Backwards Land. :) Look at how many bills we have that do the opposite of their title.
Anyway, that was a truly awesome response. You should have done that as a separate blog post so it might get more attention and up votes.
Heh, thanks. But that reply is just my opinions. If I were to do a post I'd put a little research into it. (Okay, so I looked up the names of those court cases, but you know what I mean.)
I've been taking a break from SteemIt for awhile (personal issues), but writing that does kind of make me want to get back on. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement.
At some point, one needs to move on... pfff... I am not looking forward to May 2017 in France ...
Yeah I hear you. It is easier to move on if people are not blasting us with things which is still happening here in the U.S.
When things seem to be illogical or not based upon fact I do occasionally feel the need to speak up. Really that is the only think I believe that I can do. :(
I agree. You will always find people not happy with the results. But the rules (ruler/leader :p) were set (whatever they are), and if they have not been changed... too bad.
And please speak up! I like reading you!
What most people don't process is that Trump specifically traveled and campaigned based on our electoral college system. If the popular vote was our voting system then he would have been directed towards a different venue.
It's not rocket science, it's knowing political science.
Upvoted and resteemed!!!!
Thank you.