When Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (1902-1976) was asked why a candidate had lost his election, Daley drily replied,
“He didn’t get enough votes.”
Fmr Mayor Richard J Daley
In 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush defeated Vice President Albert Gore by about 1,700 votes in the state of Florida. Florida’s 25 electoral votes made Bush, who lost the total popular vote, enough Electoral College votes to be declared President of the United States. Had Albert Gore been elected president our country would probably not invaded Iraq.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania by a total of 79,316 votes. The electoral votes of those three states gave Donald Trump, who lost the overall popular vote total, enough Electoral College votes to become president. Suppose the popular vote alone been enough to decide that election. we would be in the middle of Hillary Clinton’s second term as president. During her first term, Clinton would have had three Supreme Court appointments. Trump’s three appointees to the Supreme Court have already changed our society. Those history changing appointees may continue to serve on the Supreme Court for several decades.
As the philosopher Pericles wrote,
“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.”
Pericles
The 2022 off-year and 2024 presidential elections will determine issues such as voter rights, firearm safety, and the right to privacy. Holding the moral high ground is not enough. Your candidate needs to get “enough votes.”
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,901037,00.html
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/12/hillary-clinton-margin-loss-votes
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-bush-v-gore-anniversary
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/19444-just-because-you-do-not-take-an-interest-in-politics
Thanks, and a tip of the hat to By Warren K. Leffler – https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012647951/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58149481 for the image of Mayor Daley at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
