Faithless electors...?

[bullypulpit]

In the days since Donald Trump amassed sufficient electoral votes, though losing the popular vote, to secure the title "President Elect", much has been made about "faithless" electors. These are, by current definition, electors who fail to abide by the vote they are bound to by 29 states. A binding which, incidentally, is not addressed in the 12th Amendment to the Constitution which states "The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President". Allow me to suggest an alternate definition.

In the Federalist Papers #68, Alexander Hamilton discussed the Electoral College and its purpose which is two-fold. The first is to ensure that "the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust (as POTUS) was to be confided". In this case, the majority of voters who voted for Hillary Clinton.

Secondly, the Electoral College is intended to prevent "the desire in foreign powers (Russia in the case of this election?) to gain an improper ascendant in our councils" and prevent ascension to the presidency on anyone "who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications" and whose "Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity" may secure them the office of President of the United States. A better, more polite description of Donald Trump I simply cannot find words for.

This election has us on the brink of thrusting a man so preeminently unqualified by training or temperament that he poses an existential threat to the Republic. The "faithless electors" are those who would put loyalty to party and ideology above the good of the country and cast their votes for a septuagenarian degenerate whose disdain for key pillars of the Republic...freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, the rule of law...have been repeatedly and forcefully expressed throughout his campaign for the Presidency. And let's not forget his running mate, Mike Pence, a man for whom homophobia and misogyny come as naturally and easily as breathing, as does the expression of his particularly intolerant brand religious right wing-nuttery.

No, the "faithless electors" are not those who would vote contrary to the manner in which they have been bound by their state. They are those who would, without thought, install a man who poses a clear and present danger to the Republic and. potentially, the world as President of the United States.