The 2020 Election Is Over... A Victory for Democracy? Does the Electoral College Waste Votes? What Would the Founders Think of Our Government Today? Notes from a Government Teacher Edition.

The Best Paragraph I've Read: "American democracy: Maybe this one is premature, but so far the U.S. has held a closely contested election under pandemic conditions. Turnout was much higher than usual, and so far there hasn’t been much election-related violence. Could it be that the system really works?" This paragraph comes from a blog post by Tyler Cowen at www.marginalrevolution.com.  The blog post is titled: The Elections winners and losers. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/11/this-elections-winners-and-losers.html Zac and Don are joined by two government teachers - Tom Romito and Kevin Kopec.  They discuss the results of the 2020 election.  They discuss elements of the election that they found interesting including whether the Electoral College system needs to be replaced and whether America is fundamentally a conservative nation. Another Best Paragraph I've Read: "In fact, the election may force a broader realignment within the Republican Party that could lead to another unexpected outcome—targeted tax hikes. Trump’s populist message and expansion of his base to include more Latino voters could lead to Republicans appealing to a broader array of voters, Jon Lieber, managing director of Eurasia Group and a former McConnell staff member, told Barron’s. “Can the Republican Party move from being the party of country clubs and the Chamber of Commerce to being a multiethnic, working-class coalition?” he asked. “And, if they do, does that mean you see them embrace, in certain cases, high-income tax increases” as well as the more restrictive immigration and trade policies that Trump embraced? “That would be a really interesting realignment if it happens, and it means there’s potentially more overlap for policy agreement with Democrats.” This paragraph comes from Barron's in an article titled: "Biden Wins the Most Extraordinary Election of Our Time.  What Comes Next."  The article is written by Avi Salzman.   https://www.barrons.com/articles/biden-leads-in-the-most-extraordinary-election-of-our-time-what-could-come-next-51604712838?mod=past_editions This episode also discusses the concept of federalism and wonders what the The Founding Fathers would think of the American government if they could come back and visit.