My letter to the electors

[jg10003]

Dear Elector;

I know that you are committed to voting for a Republican for president, and I have no intention of trying to persuade you to do otherwise.

I myself am a Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary and Hillary Clinton in the election. I suspect that you and I disagree on many issues of the day. However I am sure that we will agree that the United States constitution is an amazing document that has given us the greatest form of government in history. But the constitution is not indestructible, it is possible that the form of government we both revere could come to an end. It is for this reason that I am asking you to consider voting for someone of your own party, someone whose politics you agree with, but someone who is not Donald Trump. This is not about party politics or conservative versus liberal. This is about a man who has shown no respect for the constitution or the norms of political life. A man without the experience, judgment, temperament, maturity, or character to be president.

Vladimir Putin is technically a democratically elected president of a constitutional republic. In reality Putin is a strongman dictator who controls the press, harasses and imprisons opponents, and has used his position to amass a 70 billion dollar fortune for himself. I am afraid that Trump wants to be the American version of Putin. And I am afraid that he may succeed.

I reiterate, this is not about politics. I wish Hillary Clinton had won, but she did not. I accept that the next president will be a conservative Republican. I tell my fellow progressives that we have had conservative republicans in the White House before and we survived. But Trump is different, he is an existential threat to the republic. The threat goes beyond issues like health-care, taxes, abortion, or gay rights. The threat is to our system of government and the supremacy of the constitution.

So please consider an alternative. John Kasich, Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham, or Paul Ryan are people I disagree with and would not vote for. However I do not fear them like I fear Trump because I know that these men will uphold the constitution and all that it means.

Respectfully yours,

[MineralMan]

1. Well, that's BOUND to convince them...

I have alerted on this for its support of Republicans. To heck with that noise!

[jg10003]

2. It's not support for republicans, it's trying to save the republic by bowing to reality.

Trump really could become a strongman dictator. And if stopping him means having a President Kasich or Romney for 4 years then that so be it. At least then we know there will be an election in 4 years.

[MineralMan]

3. It is PRECISELY support for Republicans.

You even named the ones you would find acceptable. We had an election. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. If any change should take place, it should be for her, not some other lousy Republican.

No elector pledged to the Republican would even consider doing what you suggest. That you suggest it is an insult to everyone who supported the Democratic nominee.

Substituting some other Republican for Trump is NOT ACCEPTABLE in any way.

[Goblinmonger]

4. Don't you find them better than Trump?

I sure do.

Nobody is going to convince the electors to vote for Clinton when they are Republican. But this is just a scenario that the EC was created for--to save the masses from themselves. I'd be happy if they voted for Romney instead of Trump.

I'm sure you'll alert on this, too, but that seems silly. All Republicans aren't exactly the same.

[MineralMan]

5. No. Not in any significant way.

We had two candidates for President. There's no swapping of one Republican for another. Any of the Republicans named would still try to undo the progress made under Democratic administrations, and do so gleefully.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.5 million votes. If the electors are to change their votes, it should only be possible to change them to the other candidate.

None of those Republicans ran for President. None of them got a single vote.

To recommend that the electors choose someone who did not even run would be a total insult to our system of government.

The idea is outrageous!

[Goblinmonger]

6. It's not an insult to our system of government

if it is the way the system of government was designed.

Now, you might disagree with that design and want to change it, but it is what it is. You can't claim a reason to change it is because it is an insult to itself.

Trump is SO much worse than several handfuls of Republican options.

[jg10003]

7. Clinton won the popular vote and the electoral college is a relic from the days of slavery.

But facts are stubborn things, and these are the facts:
1) The electoral college exists.
2) When the electors meet in their state capitals on December 19 there will be 306 Republicans and 232 democrats.
3) It is not possible to convince 38 Republican electors to vote for Clinton.
4) There is a very small chance that 37 republican electors may vote for a conservative Republican who is actually qualified to be president. (such people do exist. I did not vote for McCain or Romney because I disagreed with them, not because I thought they were unqualified)
5) If 37 republican electors voted for a republican other than Trump the election will go to the house of Representatives.
6) The house republicans can then choose who their president will be, Trump or the other person.

[mtnsnake]

9. Bullshit. The OP was clearly not doing that

Anyone who actually takes the time to read their entire post can tell that the OP had good intentions and was actually trying to suggest something that would be better for Democrats, not Republicans. Maybe the idea is kind of far fetched in terms of ever actually materializing, but they certainly weren't supporting Republicans. Good grief.

[iluvtennis]

8. Thanks for sharing. I sent my letter (...really email..) yesterday as well. n/t