The Republican Party has not believed in democracy for a very long time. The Democratic Party, in spite of its rhetoric, has not provided much defense. Elite politicians have never been the driving force for expanding democratic ideals. They have been forced into it by mass mobilizations that challenged their power and profits. 

This nation began with grand compromises on democracy. Our Constitution enshrined slavery, partially counting people enslaved to balance the congressional power of land and slave owning white supremacists. The Electoral College is the product of another grand compromise between those who wanted the direct election of the president and those who wanted Congress to choose the chief executive. Its purpose was to protect elite power from what they regarded as the dangerous popular will. 

Young people voting in this last election have lived most of their lives with presidents who did not have the support of the majority of the people and who advocated policies most people rejected. In the last 20 years two of the last three presidents lost the popular vote but garnered majorities in the Electoral College. They gained office with violence surrounding voter certification, the intervention of the Supreme Court, and deference to the Electoral College over public will. 

The 2000 election was hotly disputed, especially in states with larger Electoral College votes. In the end, Al Gore secured the popular vote by more than 500,000.  Yet George W. Bush claimed the greater number of electors by winning a dispute over Florida.  The Supreme Court enabled Bush to secure the victory by a 5-4 decision, ruling that the Florida recount should not continue. This dispute featured a mob attack on the process of certifying votes. The people involved in what was called the “Brooks Brothers Riot” were better dressed than their counterparts in the January 6 2021 insurrection, but their intent was the same, to use violence and intimidation to disrupt the legal processes of vote counts and to overturn the will of the people. Roger Stone figured in both efforts.

In 2016 Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million. She received the support of 48.2% of the voters while Trumps got 46.1%.  Clinton gained almost 400,000 more votes than Barack Obama had in 2012. Yet her votes were not in key Electoral states, giving Trump the presidency. 

Shocked by the outcome, retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, introduced a bill to abolish the Electoral College. “This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency,” Boxer said. “The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately.” New York Congressman Charlie Rangel put forth companion legislation in the House of Representatives. 

Neither effort was taken seriously.

Trump would go on to claim he really won the popular vote, because “millions” of Clinton voters had cast their ballots “illegally.” 

The only popularly elected President prior to Biden in these last two decades was Barack Obama. For his entire presidency, his presence in this country was called illegitimate, as the “birther” lies spread.

Each of these junctures offered us the opportunity to recognize that representative democracy and our so-called system of checks and balances are no longer serving the will of the people. It should have been clear after the shameful behavior in Gore v. Bush that the Supreme Court needed to be recreated, its scope and power reframed. By 2000 the court was captive to a narrow, dangerous, and undemocratic right wing ideology. It was obvious then that the Electoral College only served to subvert the will of the people. 

Today as we see Congress held hostage to the most regressive forces in the country, none of the institutions of government are functioning to protect the health, welfare and happiness of the people. It is well past time to reimagine a new kind of government, with new ways to provide for our common good and deepest aspirations.