Umay Projects & Strategy

Trump vs. Biden: Hype BS!

On THIS July 4th, as I celebrate Independence Day with my kids, I ponder the leadership lessons (good and bad) I can take from these two Presidential candidates. Additionally, when I look at all the hype in the public about the presidential election, I cannot help but identify the flaws in the process.

Image Source: Businessinsider.com -Drew Angerer/Getty; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
We all have the right to our opinions, but we don’t have the right to our facts. So, let us delve into the facts and process of the US Presidential elections, an important aspect of our civic responsibility.
Facts:
  • The US Public/Citizens/Voters do not elect the President and the Vice President- The Electoral College does!
  • The Electoral College is a process:
    • Selection of Electors
    • Voting by Electors for the President and the Vice President
  • Electors:
    • US Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 states that no Senator or Representative, or a Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
    • Each State has a fixed number of electors.Each Presidential candidate has their group of electors (“Slate”).
    • The “Slate of Electors” is already predetermined by each political party in their State.
    • In General Elections, when the public/citizens/voters cast their votes, they are not electing the President or the Vice President. They vote for the presidential candidate’s preferred electors, which the political parties have already selected without input from the general public.
    • No Constitutional Provision or Federal Law requires the electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote by the public.
    • Some states have enacted laws that require the electors to vote according to the popular vote, but the electors can still fail to vote as pledged.
Image Source: https://xk.usembassy.gov/

My take/Opinion:

Now, here is my take (as I said, we all have the right to our opinions).

  • The general public does not have a say in electing the President and the Vice President of the United States.
  • The general public also has no say on who the electors are in their state. There is a predetermined slate of electors controlled by the party given to the general public (So this is like a circular reference error in Excel)
  • Although rare, the electors can vote against the popular vote. In the 2016 elections, several electors were dismissed or fined by some states for voting against the popular vote.
  • After 244 years of independence, in 2020, the SCOTUS decided that the states can require the electors to vote according to the popular vote. But this is not a law. If the US public needs to have a say in the US Presidential elections, they should be given the right to vote for the “electors” directly. The political party should not give the public a predetermined slate of electors. Let the electors campaign directly with the public to be elected.
  • Some may argue that the political party in each state is comprised of representatives and delegates that the public/citizens directly elect. However, my take is the delegates and representatives can also vote against their constituents. The representatives do not even discuss with their constituents who they want to see as the Presidential candidate; they forget about discussing who the constituents wish to be the President. More importantly, in many instances, the representatives and delegates, because of budgetary and internal Capitol Hill limitations, also make decisions that are not favorable to their constituents. So, selecting the electors should be directly transferred to the general public.
In conclusion, there are flaws in that the general public is detached from the decision-making process of electing the president and vice president. So all this hype around Trump or Biden losing points is hypocritical BS and fake. The selection of electors should be transferred to the general public, where the electors actually campaign directly with the public from the ground-up.
I will write about the leadership lessons in the next article....

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