I’ve seen a bit of self-righteous posturing about
‘undemocratic’ whining over the election result. I think the protests that are
going on are mostly, but not completely, unproductive and the violence
completely counter-productive, but it’s important not to forget a few key
features from this election: 1) Trump got a minority of votes – the majority
of voters rejected him; 2) Clinton got more votes than Trump; 3) neither
candidate got a majority. In many countries this would mean a run-off election
so someone got a 50% + 1 mandate. In this country we have the electoral college
system, which overrules the popular vote so a run-off is not considered as long
as someone gets 270. The founders had a pretty rational reason for the
electoral college system, so large more densely populated states couldn’t consistently
dominate smaller states in elections, and for them as a compromise between
direct popular election and election by ‘qualified’ electors. It’s time may be
past – that’s a debate worth having – but the result is what it is this time
round. Resistance has to take a different direction than protesting the
election.
It’s also true that if the result had gone the other way we
would surely be seeing much shouting, protesting, and likely violence over the
‘rigged’ system.
American democracy has long been overrated, as all kinds of
undemocratic influences have impinged on elections, notably but not only big money,
but this was one of the most undemocratic elections I’ve witnessed, with
outside influences playing an outsize role, and lies and distortion and
character assassination featuring far more than policy or issues – far more
than the normal abysmally high level. No one should brag about, or be too
satisfied about the result.
Some humility is called for given the facts above. Humility
is not likely to come from Trump, since the concept is nowhere in his constitution,
but it should come from his fans (Hillary’s too).
