I am amazed that, some two years after the last presidential election, some people still claim that Hillary Clinton should be president instead of Donald Trump, based on the popular vote alone, which totally disregards U.S.history and the Constitution. I am also reminded of an old quote by George Santayana — “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”
Contrary to their arguments, the presidential election two years ago was not the first time where the winner of the popular election lost by way of the Electoral College; rather, it was the fifth time. The phenomenon also occurred in the years 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000. Democrats won the popular vote in the last four of those, but lost in the Electoral College.
The Founding Fathers built the Electoral College into the Constitution, not to benefit any party over another, but to create a system of checks and balances. So, next time people get upset by election results being affected by the Electoral College, they can blame Founding Fathers James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. They took great pride in what they created.
Robert Reed, Lewiston
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