F*** the Electoral College

We highly recommend you check out You’re Wrong About if you haven’t already! The American Revolution ended in 1983 officially.  12 of the first 18 presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant. Originally, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes, generally one for their party’s presidential candidate and the other for their party’s vice presidential candidate. Whoever won the most votes would be president, and the runner-up, vice president. In 1796, Adams won the presidency, while Jefferson came in second and became the VP. But they were from opposing parties and their administration was, in brief, tumultuous. In the 1800 election, Jefferson’s party failed to coordinate electoral voting and both he and his VP running mate, Burr, ended up with 73 votes each. Burr was meant to receive 72, securing him as VP with the top title going to Jefferson. But since they tied, the constitution required a contingent election in the House of Representatives. Bitter political infighting led to 36 contingent ballots until finally Jefferson was elected president by one vote.  Check out Noel’s Good Thing of the Week, Love Your Enemies by Arthur Brooks.