A Constitutional Solution

Don’t like Wallbuilder Donny or Lying Hillary? There’s a way out. It’s called the Electoral College.

The Democrat Machine got its way and, Democrats are left standing at the altar, staring at a bride most of them don’t want, in spite of her gender.

The brick (and punch) throwers got their way and, Republicans are left standing at the altar, staring at a groom most of them don’t want, in spite of his vast knowledge and quiet eloquence.

If you’re less than thrilled about the choice you’re facing, there may still be time to avoid your vows. It depends on a seriously flawed third party which has fielded an accomplished and acceptable candidate who, even if he doesn’t receive many votes could, if he plays his cards right, stop both Donny and Hillary from winning.

What? They can both lose?

Yes, they can both lose. Our Constitution requires a Presidential candidate receive a majority of Electoral College votes; not a plurality, a majority. The same straightforward, established Republican Party rule that Trumpites refused to acknowledge or understand in the primary process. To get the Party nomination a candidate had to receive more than half the available votes. To become President, a candidate has to receive more than half the 539 available Electoral College votes.

If neither Donny, nor Hillary receive 270 Electoral College votes, they both lose.

Feeling flushed? Pulse quickening? Wondering if this can really happen?

It’s happened twice, once in 1800, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr got exactly the same number of Electoral College votes, allowing the House of Representatives to select Jefferson as the next President.

It happened again in 1824 when, because there were four candidates running for President, none received a majority of the Electoral College votes. The Twelfth Amendment limits the House’s choices to the three candidates who received the most popular votes, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William Crawford. The Congress picked Adams, even though he’d received far fewer popular and Electoral College votes than had Jackson.

So, you see, it could happen, the House of Representatives, your Congressmen could pick someone besides Donny and Hillary, someone like Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party candidate and former governor of New Mexico...

…as long as neither Donny nor Hillary get 270 Electoral College votes. But, it will only happen if we make it happen. Here’s a possible scenario:

Sanders and Cruz between them took more than 60% of total primary votes cast in the following states: Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Main, Utah and Wyoming. That’s a lot of votes for someone besides the two front runners and, if they could be convinced to do it again, vote for someone besides the two front runners, like Gary Johnson, that would be 26 Electoral College votes neither Wallbuilder Donny nor Lying Hillary would get. If they roughly split the remaining Electoral College votes, they both come up short of 270.

The House could then choose “Neither Of The Above”, ending our electoral nightmare and, giving us a caretaker President, Libertarian Gary Johnson who remains popular in his home state, New Mexico, where he’s thought to have done a very good job. Instead of the usual wild-eyed, bomb-throwing Libertarian, Johnson takes a much more practical, evolutionary approach and appears to have none of the character flaws belonging to the front runners.

Just a thought, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Utah and Wyoming, you could save us. Just a thought.