Monday, 12/5. The title of the piece is "Why I Will Not Cast My Electoral Vote for [d]onald [t]rump". It was written by a Republican Elector from Texas by the name of Christopher Suprun.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/why-i-will-not-cast-my-electoral-vote-for-donald-trump.html?mwrsm=Email&_r=0
At the end of the opening paragraph, Mr. Suprun notes that ".....I am asked to cast a vote on Dec. 19 for someone who shows daily he is not qualified for the office." Mr. Suprun goes on to note that Alexander Hamilton, in "Federalist 68 [The Federalist Papers] argued that an Electoral College should determine if candidates are qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence." It should be noted that the Federalist Papers have, throughout the course of U.S. history, played an important role in conjunction with The Constitution in U.S. Supreme Court decisions on many occasions. (From 1790 to 1984 The Federalist Papers were cited in 206 Supreme Court decisions and 122 opinions). Then Christopher Suprun addresses each of the determiners noted by Hamilton.
Is the candidate being considered by the Electoral College "qualified"? This is obviously a very subjective point. Suprun points out that "[d]uring the campaign more than 50 Republican former national security officials and foreign policy experts co-signed a letter opposing him. In their words, “he would be a dangerous president.” During the campaign Mr. Trump even said Russia should hack Hillary Clinton’s emails. This encouragement of an illegal act has troubled many members of Congress and troubles me." I can think of many, many other known facts about trump that disqualify him on the criteria of being "qualified", but Suprun makes the case very well.
Is the candidate being considered by the Electoral College "not engaged in demagogy"? Suprun recalls trump's behavior during the primary season and up to today with the exact same incidents that came to my mind. "[m]r. [t]rump urged violence against protesters at his rallies during the campaign. He speaks of retribution against his critics. He has surrounded himself with advisers such as [s]tephen [k]. [b]annon, who claims to be a Leninist.....". With reference to bannon, trump cannot claim the same ignorance that he did when claiming he did not know david duke or what the kkk, as an organization, stands for. steve bannon is vocally and strongly supported by and endorsed by the kkk and the amarican nazi party. These entities would not support bannon if his philosophies did not align with theirs trump obviously knows all of this and if not (get real), then he lives under a rock, which of course does not make for an effective President. trump offered to pay the legal fees for, what I have referred to for the past year as, the "brown shirt" thugs that attacked protesters at trump campaign rallies.
Is the candidate being considered by the Electoral College "independent of foreign influences"? Let's give trump the benefit of the doubt. Let's believe him when he claims he sold all of his stocks in June of 2016 (which I do not believe at all, he may have sold some, but for many reasons that will be put forward in an upcoming post, I doubt very highly that he sold them all or even close to them all). Also note that as recently as this morning (while watching NBC's The Today Show at an office to get blood work) I heard that trump does not plan to give up his interest in the trump organization. The trump organization has holdings world wide, period. Although he will be giving control of the trump organization to his sons, he will still have a financial interest and will be discussing business with his sons from the perspective of the highest level of security briefings which he will receive daily. Doesn't meet this criteria!
So......per Federalist 68, trump is clearly not qualified to perform the duties of the President of the United States of America! My hope is that Christopher Suprun will voice all of these thoughts and concerns to his fellow Electors.
In order for The Electoral College to continue to be a viable institution, the Electors need to prove that they are not simply a rubber stamp. They are bound by no law, to vote for any given candidate. We live in a time where communication technology can support the ideal of "one person, one vote", and if The Electoral College cannot bring critical thinking to bear in this election, then it is obviously time for a Constitutional Amendment to be drafted and put before the American people for ratification, to dismantle The Electoral College.
No comments:
Post a Comment