MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2025 - ELECTION

 MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2025 - ELECTORAL COLLEGE 2020

Four years ago, something happened.  What happened may be an issue of disagreement - was a band of rioters trying to overthrow the government, or was a group of loyal Americans trying to stop an illegal election.

On January 6th - every four years - the Electoral College meets.  No, this is not a regular college.  There are not professors, students, and classes, but a process dating back to the constitution.  

There was a concern then (and yet, now), that small, less populated states wanted protection from their more populous neighboring states.  There were (at least in my opinion), two actions to protect those smaller states.  The first (and probably more major is that each state gets two United States Senators - so Delaware (South Dakota, Montana) and other smaller states (at least in population) got the same number of U.S. Senators as California and Texas.  That is balanced in the United States House of Representatives by electing Representatives based on population.  South Dakota has one Congressman, while California has 52 congressmen (and Texas has 38).  If, say, there is a farm bill relating to ranching in South Dakota, in the senate, the two Senators from South Dakota are equal to the two Senators from California.  But in the House of Representatives, the one Representative from South Dakota has little clout as compared to the 90 Representatives in California and Texas combined.   

The Electoral College has votes based on the number of Senators and Representatives in each state.  So, South Dakota gets three electoral college votes (2 Senators and 1 Representative), and California gets 54 electoral college votes (2 Senators and 52 Representatives).  

In the 2020 election, Biden (the Democratic candidate) had 51.3% of all the people who voted.  Trump (the Republican candidate) had 46.8% of the votes.  In terms of the Electoral College, Biden had 306 Electoral votes, while Trump has 232.  

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Seemingly, supporters of the (then) President (Trump) felt that they had been cheated.  On Electoral College Day, those supporters of Trump arrived at the Capitol to protest the voting.  The supporters got out of hand and stormed the Capitol Building, overwhelmed the police.

“Within 36 hours, five people died: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer who died of natural causes a day after being assaulted by rioters. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers.” 

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Many people viewed the demonstration as a “riot” - partison supporters on the losing candidate felt too many improper votes occurred - and thus candidate Biden won the electoral college by subtrafuge. 

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I liken the riot to a football game (maybe like the Superbowl).  Fans of the losing team felt the officials were biased and unfairly affected the outcome.  (Such as a defensive pass interference call helped the winning team get a touchdown that shouldn’t have happened).

“We were robbed” - might have been the complaint by the demonstrators (aka “rioters”).  

To many, the riot was “unamerican” - the election was “reasonably” fair and equitable.  As the comparison to a football game goes, it would be like the fans of the losing team charging the field, and attacking the officials - even to killing some of them.  

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It was a dark day for democracy.  People trying to overturn the election results by violence.  Again, “we were robbed” seemed to be the call.  There were many that claimed that too many illegal votes went to elect Biden.  

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Today, four years later, I doubt that there will be any protestors.  Senators and representatives can go about their process of being elected officials without hiding from rioters.  

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Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941 as a “day of infamy” after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor.  Future historians may well call January 6, 2020 as a “day of infamy” when partisens attacked the government attempting to overthrow the vote.

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So, where is the Love in such a process?  My personal bias is that rioting is rarely fair.  (Rioters yelled “Crucify Him” when Jesus was being tried).  

But, ultimately,

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

(And, what happens on Earth probably has little effect on Heaven)

Karen Anne White, January 6, 2025