WASHINGTON ¨C This period in U.S. history could go down as the moment when America¡¯s democratic system for electing a president ¡ª the most consequential duty of U.S. citizens ¡ª was broken, perhaps for good.
True, the U.S. Constitution¡¯s promise and central premise ¡ª that the people elect the president ¡ª has never been totally fulfilled. America¡¯s aristocratic Founding Fathers didn¡¯t trust the rabble (or slaves or women) to choose the person to fill the nation¡¯s most powerful office. So, the United States ended up with supposedly wise men ¡ª the electoral college ¡ª who would select the president.
Under President Donald Trump, the cooked-up issue was whether the count in the electoral college actually represented the popular vote in their states. What has come to be termed ¡°The Big Lie¡± was not just that the election had been ¡°stolen¡± from Trump, but also included attempts to legitimize various underhanded means of attempting to reverse the true result.
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