The electoral college

[BzaDem]

29. I would LOVE for the electoral college to be abolished.

I hope that enough states enact the National Popular Vote plan, so that we will eventually elect our president by popular vote. That would be changing the system through legal channels whose legitimacy both sides accept. If enough states did that, both sides would look to the popular vote victor to become President, and each side would accede to the other in the event that their side lost.

But today, the electoral college still exists. I don't think all checks and balances in this country would generally "all go against the people." But that is assuming a world in which the Electoral College votes for the actual winner of the election (which in this case is Trump).

The one way that could easily cause all of our checks and balances to crumble, and "all go against the people", would be for the 538 electors to become free agents, and overturn the results of the election (as determined by rules that were universally acknowledged in advance). That kind of refusal (to respect longstanding norms involving the peaceful transition of power) is precisely what causes democracies to die.