Opinion: Hey, liberals, stop complaining about the electoral college and get to work

To the editor: Shaking my head in wonderment is about my only response to the campaign to persuade electoral college members to vote contrary to their states’ popular votes. (“With 304 votes, electoral college seals Donald Trump’s election as president,” Dec. 19)

Every voter in 48 states plus the District of Columbia knew that whichever candidate received the most votes in their state would be awarded all of that state’s electoral votes. This system hasn’t varied much in more than 200 years.

And while we’re on the subject of our federalist system, I caution my fellow Democrats to consider carefully their desire to overturn the electoral college or any other plans they may favor to disrupt the long-standing division of authority between the states and the federal government.

As the onerous possibilities of a Donald Trump presidency began to sink in after the election, I was cheered to hear Gov. Jerry Brown say that California would do everything legally possible to prevent the federal government from obstructing our climate change policy. If President-elect Trump begins to dismantle the regulatory systems that protect Americans, he may discover that the Democratic states will become his worst nightmare.

Thomas Bailey, Long Beach

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To the editor: Here’s a little history. In 2012, non-candidate Trump tweeted that the electoral college was a disaster for democracy. I’ll assume he was speaking of our democracy and not another. On the campaign trail, candidate Trump stated if things went a certain way, he’d consider the election rigged.

Now that more than 2.8 million more Americans cast their votes for Hillary Clinton than for Trump, it would appear candidate Trump was correct. The election was rigged, as the candidate with nearly 3 million fewer votes was elected.

I’m not a big Twitter fan, but it’s nice to check back periodically to see how opinions change.

William A. Christer, West Hollywood

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To the editor: Clinton received 13.6 million votes to 7.3 million for Trump in California, New York and the District of Columbia. Across the remaining states, Trump won a majority.

Racking up huge wins in a few states is no way to win in a republic with 51 separate electoral contests. What is clear is that the major media centers of New York, Los Angeles and Washington do not decide elections for the rest of the country.

We need to pay attention to more than ourselves and stop silly exercises like trying to get the electors to disregard the will of the people in their states. We Democrats need to do some serious soul-searching and stop making excuses. We were whipped fair and square, and need a nationwide strategy to win.

Hal Bookbinder, Oak Park

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