Why I Won't Sign the Petition

A particular link has been floating around my social media the last few days.  If you're liberal and pissed off like me, you've probably seen it -- the Petition to ask the Electoral College to elect Hillary Clinton on Dec. 19th.  Hell, it's certainly possible that you've signed it.  As I write this, nearly 4 million people have. 

I won't be joining those numbers. 

And I'm getting some skepticism as a result.  My husband is thinking about signing it, and my mom texted me this morning to say that she already did.  The consistent question is, "will you?" 

The answer is no. 

It's a hard decision.  My social media is littered with people giving Trump supporters the finger, and every major news outlet is filled with "Day # in Trump's America" stories, most of which tend to be violent and hate-filled.  Our country is swept with protests and anger -- not unlike what Trump supports themselves threatened just days ago when we were as equally sure of a Clinton victory as we are of her defeat now.  Like so many others, I want to do something to help.

Amy Poehler's Smart Girls twitter account is filled with women doing great things to help our country, to help our fellow women, to help those who have been marginalized and made to feel low, worthless, threatened, and more during the presidential campaign.  I've been following and watching and left thinking that I am not doing enough.  That I could be doing more. 

But I remain unconvinced that encouraging the Electoral College to put Hillary Clinton in power is it. 

Before I explain my reasoning, let me say this:  I am an ardent Clinton supporter.  I followed her campaign, continually educated myself on her career and setbacks, tweeted my support, encouraged others on the fence to vote for her, defended her to those who hated her.  I watched in horror as our country turned away from her victory, and I bawled watching her concession speech. 

I've worn purple every day since in solidarity for the message of unity and strength she's trying to send. 

My opposition to this petition has nothing to do with her.  If it went through, and the Electoral College did put her in power, I would be not-so-secretly thrilled. 

But I still won't sign it, and here's why. 

First: The Electoral College is representative of democracy in our country.  There are 538 votes in the College, direct correspondents to the 435 members of the House of Representatives, the 100 members of the Senate, and 3 to represent the District of Columbia, which for some reason doesn't get represented in Congress (that's another essay. Whew.).  The vote of the people in each state, then, basically pledges its electorate to vote accordingly, so when the majority of one state votes for Clinton, the electorate of the state follows suit. 

As we know, she did not earn enough electoral votes to win. 

With this set up, the Electoral College is in direct correspondence to the way our country governs.  They are representative of democracy just as clearly as Congress itself, and so to question that, to throw this one system under the bus, is to throw most of our government under the bus as well. 

If you think back, this is the same issue that the media shouted about when Trump, just a few short weeks ago, claimed the system was rigged against him.  Everyone immediately jumped on the bandwagon of "Trump wants to overthrow democracy" -- and now the opposite side has jumped on too.  The pendulum has merely swung the other way. 

So there is this problem.  But I would argue that the second reason I'm not signing the petition, and the problems said reason entails, is much more significant. 

Just a few weeks ago, when Trump was calling the election rigged and leaving the American people with the promise of "keeping them in suspense" regarding whether or not he would concede the race if he lost, his supporters threatened violence.  One New York Times article recounted a series of interviews with individuals who genuinely believed that violence, bloodshed, and even revolution waited on the horizon if Trump didn't win the White House on November 8.  

Since he won, those threats have vanished (of course) and been replaced by the smug call for liberals to "get over it" and start supporting our President-elect.  I suspect these same people have forgotten that they would never have just gotten over it if Clinton won, but that's my whole point! 

Right now, Clinton supports across the country are pissed.  They are rioting.  LA and Oregon and NYC and more have been dealing with massive protests for days, complete with all the violence, effigy-burning, and calls of "Not My President" that Trump supporters threatened.  It's all too easy to mistake Clinton's supporters now as Trump ones, and that's terrifying.  But before long, it'll be over. 

This is not to say that the anger will stop, or the will to fight be defeated.  I desperately hope not.  But the riots and protests will stop, in time, and instead, Clinton supporters will turn their anger into something positive, something hopeful.  They will get out there and work for change -- they'll donate money, volunteer time, join smaller-scale protests for more dedicate causes.  They'll write their Congress-people, celebrate advances in supports for sexual assault victims and those who practice different religions and the LGBTQ+ community.  They will work for change, and if they are just as motivated in the years to come as they are now, they'll be successful. 

Their work will keep our country moving forward, embracing progress. 

Putting Clinton in the White House certainly won't stop any of that, of course. 

So imagine with me December 19th.  The Electoral College meets.  They swallow their promises to vote with their states, they pay their fines, and they put Hillary Clinton in office instead of Donald Trump. 

More importantly, imagine the fallout. 

Imagine what his supporters will do.  At their core, most of the people who supported Trump did so because they wanted someone anti-establishment, someone who was not a career politician and who 'told it like it is,' even if that includes hate speech.  They convinced themselves to look beyond the man who is willing to commit and thereafter glorify sexual assault just because he's famous and instead focus on his promises to deport immigrants and build a wall. 

Putting a career politician into office will only incise them.

If we ignore the racism and the bigotry and the misogyny and everything else that Trump spewed throughout his campaign and just focus on his stance on the issues, what is left is a man who is primarily concerned with looking out for himself.  His attitude extends into his policies, into the American people:  Get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency, so the USA doesn't have the take care of the environment.  End relationships with NATO and other trade organizations, in an attempt to keep jobs in the USA.  Require other countries to pay for our military support, so we don't have to take care of the rest of the world.  And so on. 

Each shows a world where America comes first, and the rest of the world second, and that is dangerous.  His supporters are obviously on board, which is also dangerous. 

Because though Hillary supporters will eventually tire of protesting and get to work making the world a better place, Trump supporters will not. 

They have bought into this idea that you should only care for yourself, and fuck everyone else.

So what will they do if the Electoral College puts Hillary Clinton in office? 

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  They will sit back, and bitch about career politicians and rigged systems and minorities 'stealing' votes without ever once considering how to make things better.  And then, when we come to another election in 2020, they'll elect a crazy person all over again. 

That's how they responded to the world the first time around.  I'm mystified as to why anyone thinks it will change going forward. 

President-elect Trump is an absolutely terrifying prospect, there is no doubt about that.  Hillary Clinton in office would have been a giant leap forward for our country, and I remain saddened that it's not going to happen.  I'm saddened too by the fact that we now have no idea who our first female president might be.  There are no up and coming female Democrats to undertake the mantle, and after how Clinton was treated, and how our fellow countrymen have voted, I don't blame them. 

In a way though, we need Trump.  We need people to be willing work for change, to speak up against injustice and fight the systems that marginalized everyone except straight white males.  Trump, if anything, motives these voters more furiously than ever.  

It's a long, hard road before us, but when have things ever been easy?  And as history has shown us time and time again, never underestimate the power of people who are willing to work for change.