Being a part of this, marching with close friends and strangers last night, and feeling the collective roar of pain and support for one another, was an honour I will never forget.
We marched from Union Square to Trump Tower, peaceful protestors blocking traffic to keep those of us marching safe from cars. We chanted in English, Spanish, and Lakota. We cried out for Muslim, black, queer, Native, Latinx, trans, female, undocumented lives, now more in danger than ever before. We brought Manhattan to a standstill for hours, and we did it peacefully, with no police interference, because this was by the people for the people.
No matter what this looks like, I’ve never been surrounded by such unfailingly polite people. I’ve never been apologised to by so many people for bumping into me. A girl next to my group of friends started passing out Snickers. A young man fell to the ground sobbing at one point, and everyone nearby swarmed to protect him from the oncoming march, to hold him while he cried it out.
This may change nothing. Except that we know we’re not alone. That our capacity as individuals to take care of one another is more immense, more powerful than any corrupt government.
Without the electoral college, the determining factor of the elections would be California, Chicago and New York just because they have more people concentrated in one area. Our system is the best of the best and the people spoke. I’m hurt as well as most of America but the best thing we can do is keep an open mind, accept, and move on.
So what? Why does it matter if the majority of votes come from one area? If most of the people in the country want one person to be president, then that person should be president. Why should it matter where they’re from?
And that’s not even the reason the college was made in the first place. It was made for 2 reasons. 1. The founding fathers didn’t trust the citizens. They thought the citizens were too uneducated to make a good choice. And 2. It’s easier to count the votes of a small group of people all in one place rather than millions across the country when there’s no cars or internet.
In today’s age, neither of those reasons are valid anymore. There is no good reason for the electoral college to exist. If the majority of people want someone as president, that person should be president.
Here is why the electoral college sucks:
Without the electoral college, every single vote would count exactly the same. No vote anywhere in the country would be worth more than any other vote. Now you may ask, but Raymond, isn’t it like this already?
NO. IT FUCKING IS NOT.
Take Wyoming for example. Wyoming has a population of 584,000 people. They also have 3 electoral college votes. This means that each 194,667 votes is worth one electoral college vote in Wyoming. Now let’s look at California. California has a population of 38.8 million people and 55 electoral college votes. This means that it takes 705,455 votes for each electoral college vote.
A VOTE IN WYOMING IS WORTH 3.5X MORE THAN A VOTE IN CALIFORNIA.
It literally takes 3.5 times more votes to get 1 electoral vote in California than it does in Wyoming. How tf is that fair?
Don’t come in here and tell me how it’s the best system and without it the only determining factor would be certain cities. How does that even make sense? Without it, a vote in New York City is worth the exact same amount as a vote in any other city, or town, regardless of population. I personally would like my vote to count for exactly the same as anyone else. My vote shouldn’t count as less because I live in a more densely populated city.
WATCH: Hillary Clinton to little girls: “Never doubt that you are valuable, and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”
Official White House photographer Pete Souza captured an estimated 2 million photos over 8 years while Obama was in office… Here’s a selection of some of his favourite shots.
Caravankids 