The Supreme Court will be issuing a ruling soon about the “faithless electors” of the Electoral College. While this is only one small problem with the Electoral College, the case represents a much larger battle over that famously American institution. The battle over the Electoral College has been couched as a fight for fairness, a stain on America’s character, a final vestige of the founders’ efforts to keep American power in the hands of rich, white men. The Electoral College is blamed for handing Donald Trump a victory that he didn’t deserve.
In fact, the Electoral College is America’s last line of defense against becoming California. Don’t believe it? - let’s look at the only statistic that matters.
2016 Presidential Election Results - Popular Vote Totals
|
Clinton |
Trump |
winner |
California |
8753788 |
4483810 |
Clinton |
Not California |
57099726 |
58501018 |
Trump |
US Total |
65853514 |
62984828 |
Clinton |
Let’s consider those numbers for a minute. In the 2016 Presidential election, California voted for Hillary Clinton by more than 4.2 million votes. Californians were pretty sure that Donald Trump was not the smartest choice for President. But the rest of America disagreed. Not-California preferred Donald Trump by over 1.4 million votes. Donald Trump was the overwhelming choice for President by the 49 states, District of Columbia, and all its territories that are not California. Had Clinton been elected, we would be hearing endless whining from not-Californians that our country had been taken over by godless heathens. America would have been forced to give up its guns, its churches, its fetuses, its heart and soul, its very whiteness – and it would all be California’s fault. The Electoral College saved America from becoming California.
America has long held a love-hate relationship with California. It’s not hard to see why.
- California’s economy is the largest in the country and the sixth largest in the world.
- California is the most culturally diverse state in America. If you lament the loss of America’s dominant white culture, California is the poster child for your plight.
- California has led the environmental movement for over a century. The writings and photographs of John Muir during his wanderings through California’s Sierra wilderness captured America’s imagination and began our love affair with the outdoors. California is home to nine national parks – the most in the nation. America’s de facto air pollution standards were famously written to save California’s air quality.
- California has long been the breadbasket of America. If you are eating grapes, almonds, strawberries, oranges, walnuts, apricots, dates, figs, nectarines, olives, pistachios, or prunes, they were likely grown in California.
- California created the entertainment industry in the 1920s. If you are watching your favorite movie or TV show during the lockdown, it was probably written, produced, and/or filmed in California.
- California has been the technology leader in America for decades. If you are using GPS to reach your destination, it was developed in California. That personal computer and iPhone that you’ve grown so addicted to, yup, thank California.
- California’s public universities consistently rank highest in the nation.
When George Segal lost his high-paying executive job in the 1977 film “Fun With Dick and Jane,” Jane Fonda lamented that they would now be forced to start drinking California wine. Ah, the horror.
Has California always been the land of milk and honey, the Garden of Eden, that people from all over the world want to live in? In 1939, immigration into California to escape the Dust Bowl was so high that John Steinbeck wrote a very long novel warning people about the dangers. In 1940, Woody Guthrie was moved to write
If you ain't got the do re mi boys, if you ain't got the do re mi
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see
But believe it or not you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi
Naturally, all this adulation has generated a backlash, a huge backlash. Being not-California is a badge of honor all over this country. One could even argue that the current COVID crisis was exacerbated, if not caused, by the backlash. Governors around the US have stated flatly that they don’t need no stinking quarantines, because they are not California.
Sigh.
When will we ever learn?