Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/753384
Therehasbeenalotknee jerk reaction in the news about some people's reac- tion to the Pres- idential elec- tion. There has even been talk about California seceding from the Union and the abolishment of the Electoral College. While it is true that Hillary Clinton may have received up to 2,000,000 more votes than Donald Trump, she did not win enough electoral college votes to win the election. Some are complaining that the electoral college does not reflect the will of the people and, therefore it should be abolished. This elec- tion will be the fourth time the popular vote winner did not win a presidential election. His- tory has not judged the three previous non-majority winners well. The jury is out on the cur- rent President elect. It is important to remem- ber two facts. The first is that the name of our coun- try is the "United States", that is our country is composed of 50 states who are united un- der a Constitution. We call our- selves "America", but we are the United States. That means that we are a federation, a group of partially self-governing states under a central government. The second fact is that the Electoral College was never de- signed "to reflect the will of the people". The Framers of the Constitution were concerned about what might happen if Congress elected the President or if there was simply a pop- ular vote resulting in the tyr- anny of the masses. They also wanted to make sure the "small states" were not overwhelmed by the big states. That is also one reason that every state, big or small has two senators. Another factor in establish- ing the Constitution and the presidential election system was slavery. Because of the vast number of slaves in the South and to encourage slave states to join the union, each slave was counted as 3/5th of a person for determining representation in Congress. Thus, smaller states and slave states were originally given disproportionate repre- sentation in our federal gov- ernment and the election of President. Of course slavery has been abolished, and those slaves never voted. Thus, the Constitution was a compromise document based on the reality of politics at the time. The result is that seven states and the District of Co- lumbia have 24 electoral votes; their population totals about 5,871,000; so, they have one electoral vote for each 244,625 residents; in contrast Califor- nia has 55 electoral votes, or one for each 677,345 residents. For those eight entities with three electoral votes, their votes count 2.77 times as much as those for California. Excluding Califor- nia, the rest of the country has one electoral vote per 562,000; in other words, the votes for the rest of the country in aggregate weigh 20% more than Califor- nia's. Clearly the current system disregards California. Whether the Electoral Col- lege makes sense today is sub- ject to debate. In any case, it would be very difficult to elim- inate it. Revising our Constitu- tion is no trivial matter. Michael W. McConnell, pro- fessor of law and director of the Constitutional Law Center at the Hoover Institute has said, "reforming the Electoral Col- lege does not rank high among our national problems. Given that change would require a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and a three-quar- ters of the state legislatures, it is not going to happen. We should be talking about other things." He suggests changes in the way we select nominees. Of course, a friend of mine said, the simple solution would be to divide the country into 50 equal states; each would have two senators and an equal num- ber of congressional representa- tive. That would have about as much chance as reforming the Electoral College. There is talk of Califor- nia seceding from the union. Some would say that Califor- nia has already left the union, but let's fantasize for a bit and consider how that might hap- pen. First, we would most likely have to pay off our pro- portional share of the na- tional debt. We would also have to deal with the fed- eral land within our new sep- arate state, including parks and military bases. We would have to establish our own cur- rency, banking system, de- partment of defense and mil- itary, border control, expand law enforcement, and negoti- ate international treaties. This could all be fun, if it weren't serious business. But, of course, it is a fantasy. There is no question that we have an imperfect system of government and representation. Let's work on making it better instead of being grumpy. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop The Electoral College and secession from the Union? Excluding California, the rest of the country has one electoral vote per 562,000; in other words, the votes for the rest of the country in aggregate weigh 20% more than California's. Highschoolchoirspresented an incredible evening Editor: I was fortunate to attend the Red Bluff High School Choirs' presentation of "Army of the Stars" recently. Many thanks to the Salva- tion Army for sponsorship and a huge shout out to Mrs. Diane Hassay and staff for an incred- ible evening. Over 80 talented members of the Concert Choir, Mixed Choir and Forte, as well as great pianists, entertained a packed house at the Red Bluff High School Performing Arts Center last Thursday. The choreography was out- standing, wardrobe was amaz- ing, and the dancing was de- lightful. The program moved along smoothly, and it was over too soon. My only regret is that it didn't run a couple more nights, many people would have enjoyed it as much as I did. On our way out, the cheer- ful cast bid us good night and I am eagerly awaiting their upcoming events. They have 10 scheduled in the next few months. I encourage everyone to attend. — Nora Rick, Red Bluff Holiday concert a real treat Editor: Hats off to Diane Hassay, choir director, and the stu- dents at Red Bluff Union High School. The recent holiday con- cert performed at the school was outstanding and sold out. The Salvation Army was present to help kick-off the lo- cal holiday season of bell ring- ing. Special thanks to all for a wonderful evening. — Naomi Dull, Red Bluff Time to abolish Electoral College Editor: Isn't it about time to get rid of the archaic albatross called the Electoral College? Defenders of that institu- tion claim we would become a democracy, which is two wolves and a deer voting on lunch. An interesting anal- ogy but not very realistic. Hu- man voters aren't predatory animals, at least most people aren't. And three hundred mil- lion is a much bigger number than three. People in power have been calling our nation a democracy for years now, isn't it about time to make it a true one? What is so wrong about choos- ing our President by who gets the most votes period, like we do every other elected official? Another objection to discard- ing the college is that people will vote for perks until they bankrupt the whole system. News flash, this government has gone bankrupt more than once already without any help from the poor masses. By the way, the Federal Re- serve was voted in to keep this country on a sound financial foot- ing, how has that worked out? — Orval Strong, Gerber Hopes for Trump's presidency Editor: Extremely grateful that strong, visionary Trump won the election over accommodat- ing, myopic Hillary. I pray he'll make it clear that California and other states' federal fund- ing will be revoked if they've legalized marijuana. I also hope he'll walk the walk by deporting rather than wel- coming those who have invaded our country illegally and are wrongfully undermining our wealth, language and culture. I pray he'll institute election reform. That is, require citizens to prove through testing that they have sufficient knowledge and intelligence to competently vote or hold public office. Finally, I hope he'll compel all citizens to stop allowing their dogs to pollute the peace, harass other animals and undermine peoples' quality of life. That is, by requiring that all dogs wear elec- tronic anti-bark collars. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Friends of library seek donations Editor: Gift of giving plan, an attempt to stimulate interest and desire to learn to read at an early age. Corning Friends of the Li- brary hope to view for quality and quantity donated children's books, some to be given to fire- men's Christmas gift baskets. — Steve Kelsey, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take Well. That happened. Donald J. Trump didn't just perplex the pun- dits, pollsters and his own prog- eny with a stun- ning electoral pum- meling of Hillary Clinton, he pelted them with show- biz shock and awe. It was a wake-up call that surely rolled Beethoven, who was deaf, and is now dead. It was the new shot heard round the world. Planet-wide, liberals are slash- ing wrists and bashing brains and gnashing teeth and curled in a fetal position begging for their blue banky. The city of San Francisco is working through the five stages of grief but it's go- ing to take a while, because right now they're stuck on denial. The streets of Hollywood are flooded with the salty tears of distraught baby movie stars who don't know whether to fol- low through on their threat to move to Canada or pay someone to do it for them. It's mourning in America. MSNBC's anchors reacted like they were told their chil- dren had been burned beyond recognition in a meth lab explo- sion. But it wasn't all doom and gloom. Over at Fox News they were bouncing up and down in their chairs like 3rd graders on Santa's lap. Most of the chairs appeared to have been soiled. The President-elect received congratulatory calls from Vlad- imir Putin, Kim Jong Un, David Duke, Jean Marie Le Pen, Ni- gel Farage and the ghost of Ca- ligula. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressmen clung to the faint hope that he'll be better than the rest of the world fears. "No way he's going to be another Hitler. Mussolini, maybe." But in American we are fa- mous for making lemonade out of lemons and totally overlook- ing the possible positives of Donald J. Trump becoming our 45th president. Here's a few to buck up your spirits: - Congressional Medal of Honor Winner Rudy Giuliani. - The Alec Baldwin Full Em- ployment Act. - Trump supporters once again have other uses for that collection of white sheets gathering dust in the back of the closet. - For the first time ever, teen- age boys will collect photos of the First Lady. To be viewed un- der a blanket, with a flashlight, one-handed. - Book burnings poised to make a big comeback. - After handing over the nu- clear codes to a temperamental real estate developer our personal problems pale in comparison. - New style in ladies fashion, The Stepford Look. - Already Made America Grate Again. - California Secession Move- ment picking up steam. - George W Bush moves up a notch in Presidential historical rankings list. - Bill Clinton can finally take that long nap he obviously so desperately needs. In Sweden. - Kids taught thatlies and fear are effective tools. Helps prepare them for the business world. - First president with a comb-over. - Nobody allowed to chastise me for making politically in- sensitive jokes about the Presi- dent-elect. Ever. - Four words: Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- ment Sarah Palin. Now we can all see Russia from her house. - Civil War buffs have new intra-national clash to study. Where one side has all the guns and the other all the lesbians. So it sort of evens out. - With Trump following Obama in the White House, Or- ange really is the new Black. - And finally, at least for a cou- ple of months, you will be for- given for developing a drinking problem. During the day. At your job. As a grade school teacher. Will Durst is an award-winning, nationally acclaimed columnist, comedian and former clerk at an adult movie store in Waukesha, Wisconsin. For a calendar of personal appearances, go to willdurst.com. Will Durst Looking at the bright side of a Donald Trump presidency GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Will Durst Joe Harrop Your officials • Assemblyman James Gallagher, 2060Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ • Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634For- est Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530879-7424, senator.nielsen@ senate.ca.gov • Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov • U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202225-3076 • U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415393-0707, fax 415393-0710 • U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510286-8537, fax 202224-0454 OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, November 19, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4