Letters: How to get rid of the Electoral College

On Monday, the Electoral College picks our next president.

Some hope enough members of the Electoral College sworn to vote for Trump will break their pledge and vote to elect an alternate candidate. America needs 37 “faithless electors” from states Trump won to do this to drop him below the 270 threshold and block him from automatically winning the White House. The election would be determined by the House of Representatives, where there’d be at least a chance that a consensus Republican candidate would prevail and become the nation’s 45th president.

There is another idea with the power not only to end a Trump administration, but also to eradicate democracy’s ugliest anachronism — the Electoral College. Thirty-eight faithless electors from states Trump won switching their votes to Clinton would do it. Here is why it would be the best possible thing for America in the long run:

Because the Electoral College has contradicted the popular vote in two of the last five presidential elections — electing a Republican president in both those splits — many Democrats already favor abolishing it. The system favors the GOP, because too many liberal voters live in two few (primarily coastal) states.

But the obstacles required to eliminate the Electoral College — passing a constitutional amendment via two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states — are unlikely to be overcome without GOP support. And Republicans tend to support the system for the same reasons Democrats don’t — it favors them.

But if enough Trump electors voted for Clinton instead, it would give Republicans their own, distinct reason to loathe the Electoral College: there’s nothing to prevent it from going so rogue that it elects the opposite party’s candidate.

Were this to occur, instantly there would be the bipartisan support needed to legislate it out of existence. This archaic safeguard from our Founding Fathers, created to stop an unfit leader from becoming president, but having the modern effect of blocking the will of the people, will have proved its harmfulness to everyone.

Make the federal government acknowledge we are smart enough to elect our own president.

Robert L. Johnson, Schaumburg

Unconscionable choices

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees for Interior Secretary, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department are against nature restoration, wildlife conservation and the preservation of endangered species. Two of them actually loathe the organizations that they have been selected to lead. These choices are unconscionable and the moral and ecological onus is on Democrats and moderate Republicans to reject these nominees who intend to harm the earth and its creatures.

Brien Comerford, Glenview

We can do better

As we enter the season for giving, receiving and being grateful, let us pause and do a bit of reflecting and contemplation.

One of life’s greatest joys is to go to bed at night in a warm house and a warm comfortable bed in the dead of winter. To experience the bliss of a good night’s sleep in such a cozy state, is unfortunately not shared by everyone.

There are those in our society who do not have a bed or a roof over their head. These are the homeless and destitute who because of the vagaries of life have been forced to find shelter under viaducts and doorways. Many are suffering from addictions and various physical and mental disorders and are forced to exist in third world conditions. These are the poorest of the poor.

The richest and most powerful country in the world has allowed this situation to exist and persist.

We can do better by our destitute brothers and sisters. Those of us, who are well off, share a common humanity with those less fortunate.

Because of the failures of local government entities to help these unfortunate citizens, private individuals, church groups and other organizations have stepped into the breech to help with food and other necessities.

All human beings deserve a warm bed and shelter. During this season of joy, and throughout the year, let us all reach out to those less fortunate individuals keeping in mind the phrase “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Ned L. McCray, Tinley Park

Show some backbone

First Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin is a great leader after he annexes Crimea, invades Ukraine and threatens NATO.

Then Trump appoints Rex Tillerson secretary of state, a longtime Putin pal, after the Russians, according to the CIA, hack the DNC and plant false news stories to help Trump get elected.

As the Russians help Assad conquer Aleppo and slaughter thousands of innocent civilians, Trumps still defends his admiration for Trump.

I wonder if the Republican hawks will show some backbone and challenge Trump before he jeopardizes the U.S. leadership of the Western alliance?

Tom Minnerick, Elgin

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