Electoral College Members Duped By Russian Hacker Hysteria – OpEd
The minds of some Electoral College members have apparently been affected by the irrational Russian hacker hysteria. Eighty of them signed a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. They asserted that they “require a briefing on all investigative findings” on the Russia issue.
According to Politico, Hillary Clinton’s campaign said it is supporting the electors’ requirement.
However, recognizing that these electors are in no position to “require” any such briefing, Clapper rejected their preposterous request outright. The Washington Examiner reported, “No intel briefing for Electoral College.”
The hack scandal the electors sought intel on is actually a non issue. I documented the speciousness of the Russian hacker stories in my article “Congressional Cybersecurity Leader Demolishes Obama’s Hacking Case Against Russia.” But now the electors are fretting over this fabricated problem.
Their purpose in the Electoral College is allegedly to apply wisdom should there be a flagrantly and dangerously unwise presidential choice of the electorate. Isn’t it hard to see how the wisdom of these eighty duped electors rises to a level that justifies nullifying the result of the constitutional voting process?
For the record, here are their names:
Christine Pelosi (CA); Micheal Baca (CO); Anita Bonds (DC); Courtney Watson (MD); Dudley Dudley (NH); Bev Hollingworth (NH); Terie Norelli (NH); Carol Shea-Porter (NH); Clay Pell (RI); Chris Suprun (TX); Sandra Aduna (CA); Edward Buck (CA); Donna Ireland (CA); Christine Kehoe (CA); Vinz Koller (CA); Katherine Lyon (CA); John P. MacMurray (CA); Stephen J. Natoli (CA); Andres Ramos (CA); Priscilla G. Richardson (CA); Shawn Terris (CA); Gail Teton-Landis (CA); Olivia Reyes-Becerra (CA); David Scott Warmuth (CA); Shirley Weber (CA); Denise Wells (CA); Gregory H. Willenborg (CA); Laurence Zakson (CA); Polly Baca (CO); Jerad Sutton (CO); Robert Nemenich (CO); John Bickel (HI); Janice Bond (HI); Marie (Dolly) Strazar (HI); David Mulinix (HI); Lauren Beth Gash (IL); William Marovitz (IL); Nancy Shepherdson (IL); Nazda Alam (MA); Dori Dean (MA); Jason Palitsch (MA); Parwez Wahid (MA); Paul G. Yorkis (MA); Lillian Holmes (MD); Lesley Israel (MD); Robert Leonard (MD); Salome T. Peters (MD); Diane Denk (ME); Jules Goldstein (MN); Lizette Delgado-Polanco (NJ); Edward Farmer (NJ); Christopher D James (NJ); Leroy J. Jones (NJ); Herieberta Loretta Winters (NJ); Kelly Maer (NJ); Retha Onitri (NJ); Hetty Rosenstein (NJ); Paul Catha (NV); Stuart Appelbaum (NY); Hazel Ingram (NY); Letitia James (NY); Melissa Mark-Viverito (NY); Stephanie Miner (NY); Melissa Sklarz (NY); Anastasia M. Somoza (NY); Andrea Stewart-Cousins (NY); Lovely Warren (NY); Leon H. Coleman (OR); Frank Dixon (OR); Laura Gillpatrick (OR); Karen Packer (OR); Timothy Norman Powers Rowan (OR); Sam H.W. Sappington (OR); Beth Caldwell (WA); Bret Chiafalo (WA); Deb Fitzgerald (VA); Terry C. Frye (VA); Jeanette Sarver (VA); Kathy Stewart Shupe (VA); Martha Allen (VT).
Many believe that these people have an agenda to delegitimize Trump’s election. They are not alone in that quest. Immediately after the election I heard MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell do a segment suggesting that EC members should abandon the candidates they were elected to support and vote their own minds.
His quest to delegitimize the election is shared yet by others too. A week after the election an Internet domain name was registered apparently with the same goal. It is HamiltonElectors.com. Whoever registered it took steps to conceal their actual identities. But the site is well designed and includes a very professionally produced documentary film aimed at nullifying Trump’s victory.
Both O’Donnell and Hamilton Electors venerate the ideas of Alexander Hamilton about the Electoral College. The relevance of Hamilton’s eighteenth century thinking to today’s society should instead be seriously questioned. He may have had some thoughts that were interesting in his day. Even so, as to the totality of his wisdom, it’s worth considering this: Hamilton in the end was a fool who was lured into a gun duel over a petty political disagreement, and his foolishness resulted in his death.
The actions of the eighty electors, the Clintonites, and the Lawrence O’Donnells of the media may not be an immediate threat to anyone’s life.
But the proposed coup in the Electoral College would portend great trouble ahead, including a possible constitutional crisis and even insurrection in the streets.
Let us pray that the electors can find greater wisdom within themselves than they have demonstrated to date.
