The Electoral College Should be Faithful to its Constitutional Duty by Not Electing Someone Unworthy of Trust

The presidential and vice-presidential Electors should be faithful to the United States Constitution in fulfilling their constitutional duties when they convene and vote on Tuesday. They have been appointed by the State Legislatures, after having been elected by the people, to elect the President and Vice President. In their role as representative of the States and the People, their duty is to exercise their best judgment in good conscience because the U.S. is a federal union that is representative, not democratic, meaning that representatives are chosen to exercise their judgement, instead of people ruling directly. The Electoral College was modeled on the College of Cardinals that elects the Catholic Bishop of Rome and intended by the Framers as a deliberative body of representatives, not as simply a form of proportional proxy voting by the people directly for their preferred candidates. The Electors were originally either appointed or, if elected, were elected directly in their own right, at a time when no one sought election and no names were printed on ballots, instead of under the name of candidates for President and Vice President and when there was not necessarily consensus among members of parties for candidates for both offices. Electors were expected to deliberate and choose which candidates were fit to be entrusted with high office. They should be more faithful to their constitutional role than to their party and its preferred candidates. Therefore, the Electoral College ought not to elect someone, namely Donald Trump, who dodged the military draft in wartime through fraud and never apologized for it, who was convicted of election fraud felonies and remains unrepentant, and who was impeached in the most bipartisan vote and who received the most bipartisan votes for conviction in American history for attempting to overturn his election loss by inciting a mob to insurrection based upon his lies, which delayed the congressional certification of the votes of the Electors, among the most serious examples of many of his poor character that would render him unable to pass even the lowest level of security clearance, without even considering his theft of secret documents and obstruction of the investigation, which earned him some of his numerous federal indictments. His obstruction of the federal probe of the successful foreign interference on behalf of his campaign that he welcomed and accepted, for which the Republican Special Counsel recommended he be impeached, ought to have been reason enough to keep him from any public office. By inciting a mob to violence to thwart the certification of the votes of the Electors, Trump demonstrated his contempt for the Electoral College, the Constitution, and the peaceful transfer of power that renders him unfit to serve as Commander in Chief and to hold the highest office and trust in America, which he betrayed. The Electoral College has been usurped by political parties who have sought to render it no more than a mechanism to prevent candidates from being elected by large States or only from some regions, instead of its intended purpose as a forum for the representatives of the States and People to render their judgment. Trumpist “conservatives” claim to support the Electoral College, but undermine its role when they expect the Electors to suspend their independent judgment and their consciences and instead to act in loyalty to an autocratic party leader around whom his party has established a cult of personality. The role of the Electors is not to submit to a party or a politician, but to be faithful to the Constitution and elect someone worthy of trust to the highest offices in the land that were created under it who can be a faithful steward of representative government and safeguard of liberty.

Foreign Digest: Syria, Romania and Cuba

Syria: The United States conducted a major round of airstrikes against Islamist al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists and also Iranian-backed militias in Syria after the tyrannical Assad regime’s fall last week. There are around 900 American troops in northeastern Syria, in the areas held by the Kurds and their allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces to assist against the Islamist terrorists. Israel conducted many raids in Syria, targeting chemical weapons and conventional weapons that pose a threat, destroying much of the Syrian armed forces’ remaining assets. The Turkish-backed Islamists who brought down Assad only control a small part of Syria, although it includes the capital and the three next largest cities. They are ending Syria’s status as a narco-state, having discovered several captagon factories that produce an illicit narcotic I posted about last month. In addition to removing the threat from drug abuse, the effects of the fall of the Assad regime that had oppressed Syrians for more than fifty years are profound for the region and the world. It was the last remaining Ba’ath Socialist party-led State. It will lead to more independence for Lebanon, which Syria had dominated for decades. It makes Israel safer, as it cuts off the Islamic Republic of Iran’s arms supply to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization, and to the Mediterranean. And it deprives Russia of a key ally and undermines the Russian image as a strong and reliable ally, just as its failure to protect Armenia had suggested. The fall of Assad validated American and allied support for Ukraine, which weakened Russia, and U.S. support for Israel, which weakened Hezbollah and Iran, thereby reducing the threat from the two rogue States and their allies. It also proved the effectiveness of U.S. and allies' economic sanctions, that also weakened the regime. The Iranian and Russian support for Assad and the tyrant’s targeting bombing of civilians and his use of chemical weapons against them had caused millions of Syrians to flee, some of whom are already beginning to return. Moreover, the fall of yet another dictator, especially one that seemed secure for the last few years after appearing to have won the Syrian Civil War, gives hope to oppressed peoples around the world. Meanwhile, the U.S. indicted for torture and visa fraud the head of Syrian prisons who has resided in South Carolina since 2020. He had led Syria’s prisons from 2005 to 2008. It is hoped that that other Syrians responsible for atrocities and torture will be brought to justice, and that Syria will be peaceful, free, representative and inclusive of all ethnic and religious minorities, and prosperous, and no longer a military, terrorist or narcotics threat to its neighbors. Romania: After the Romanian parliamentary elections earlier this month, the pro-Western parties agreed to form a coalition government, including conservatives, to keep the far-right pro-Russian parties out of power. The ruling center-left party, which had received the most votes, the two main center-right parties (one Christian democrat and the other reformist), and a party that represents ethnic Hungarians, will comprise the grand coalition of pro-European parties. They also agreed to back a pro-European presidential candidate versus far-right pro-Russian parties in elections that will be rescheduled early next year after the results of the first round were annulled because of heavy Russian interference. As I had posted, a little-known far-right pro-Russian candidate with no party who had not made any campaign expenditures came in first. The candidate of the reformist center-right party came second. Cuba: The U.S. is keeping Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism for harboring Colombian terrorists.

The Fall of the Ba’athist Terrorist-Sponsoring Tyrannical Assad Regime in Syria

I have been posting about the tyrannical, terrorist-sponsoring regime of Bashar Assad from early on since I launched this blog, especially since the popular uprising against his dictatorship began in 2011, as part of the Arab Spring. Syrians had been inspired by the movement across the Arab world for liberty and representative government, which was inspired to a significant degree by the Liberation of Iraq of the fellow Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein and the replacement of his brutal autocracy with a constitutional parliamentary republic with broad representation. I had remembered in my childhood how his father Hafez Assad’s regime, which had come to power in 1970, had put down a rebellion by shelling Homs and Hama, killing tens of thousands of civilians in 1982. I have been concerned how Syria, as Iran’s only Arab ally, was a conduit for Iranian arms to the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization, Hezbollah and how Assad had undermined the United States in the War on Terrorism in Iraq by sending jihadists into it, although they were among those defeated by the American-led coalition. With the opposition to Assad from various ethnic, religious and political groups in Syria, it appeared that his regime might fall by the mid-2010s, despite support from Iran and Hezbollah and Assad’s brutality, which included targeting civilians with chemical weapons. But the support of Russia, which has a naval base in Syria, proved critical and propped the regime. Instead of focusing on targeting Islamist terrorists, like al-Qaeda and its offshoot, the Islamic State, as Russia had announced it would, the Russians and Assad focused their firepower on freedom-loving opponents and deliberately struck civilian residential areas and even hospitals and first responders. All the while, in addition to the usual far-left isolationists, far-right isolationists in the West opposed overthrowing Assad, claiming that supporting his non-Islamist opponents was supporting “terrorists,” like Assad and Russia claimed. The U.S. maintained sanctions on the regime and had backed the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which at least allowed the Kurds to exercise autonomy in their part of Syria, but they were abandoned by the Trump Administration and there was little subsequent international effort to free Syria, despite its sponsorship of terrorism. It appeared that Assad had won the 14-year Civil War that killed a half million people and displaced millions, except for failing to regain control over the Kurdish and Turkish-backed areas and a few areas held by Islamists, as fighting had decreased sharply over the last eight years, with little movement of the battlelines and Western focus mostly on the Islamist terrorists. The war had major global implications, as it gave rise to the Islamic State, which took advantage of the power vacuum and declared a caliphate with its capital in Syria before being destroyed by an American-led coalition, while the record 5 million external refugees provoked an anti-migrant backlash in Europe and the rise of right-wing authoritarian nationalists. Even while Syrian allies were being weakened, as Israel continued to devastate Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syrian and Iranian forces in Syria and even in Iran, and while Ukraine was weakening Russia by defending itself against Russian aggression, the Assad regime appeared stable outwardly. I nevertheless continued to post about Syria, both about anti-terrorism strikes by the U.S. and Israel, but also to remind readers about the regime’s tyranny and threat from its terrorism sponsorship and its alliance with Iran and Russia, in the hope of encouraging the overthrow of the Assad regime. I had last posted November 17 about Syria’s manufacturing of an illicit narcotic, captagon that funds the Assad regime and Hezbollah. I was planning another post about another round of U.S. strikes in Syria against an Iranian-backed militia in Syria. But starting on November 27, in a stunning 11-day blitz, a Turkish-backed coalition of Islamist and allied rebels began a drive simply to push back on Syrian regime forces who were shelling rebel-held towns in northwestern Syria. Assad’s troops put up little resistance while Russia bombed civilians, which was ineffective in stopping the rebel advance that turned into a major assault against the heart of the Ba’athist regime. While other rebels, including the SDF and ordinary Syrians rose up across Syria, the Turkish-backed forces drove into the Syrian capital, putting an end to the Assad regime after 54 years of oppression, with Bashar Assad fleeing to Russia. Although the takeover from the Assad regime of the Syrian government apparatus by Islamists is concerning, the end of the tyranny of the last remaining Ba’ath socialist party Arab government is good for Syria and the region in many ways and of such significance that I will post additional observations. It is glorious that Syrians have been liberated from a despotic regime after 54 years of oppression, and worth celebration that Hezbollah, Iran and Russia are deprived of a major ally.

Foreign Digest: Romania, Georgia, Russia, Cyprus, and Afghanistan

Romania: In a dramatic two weeks, there was a presidential election in Romania, followed by a parliamentary election, and then the annulment of the presidential election because of heavy Russian interference. In the presidential election two weeks ago, a little-known far-right fascist-sympathizing pro-Russian candidate with no party or platform came in first, thanks to Russian interference through a social media campaign. The Romanian authorities asked for a recount and a European Union investigation into the Chinese social media platform and blamed Russia. The President of Romania then declassified information and submitted it to the Supreme Court, which annulled the election in an unprecedented move to undo Russian interference that was sufficient to alter the election and thus render the results fraudulent. A reformist center-right party’s candidate came in second, edging out the ruling center-left Prime Minister and would thus have advanced to the run-off election between the top two candidates scheduled for today. Instead, a new election will be scheduled. The President of Romania is responsible for defense and foreign policy and appointments, while the Prime Minister leads the government. Meanwhile, last week in the parliamentary elections, the outcome of which will determine who will be the Prime Minister, the ruling center-left Premier’s party had the most votes of any individual party, while a Christian democratic party came in third and the center-right party whose presidential nominee came in second, did well, but three far-right parties combined for the largest amount of votes, including one that came in second overall, with none of these parties coming close to a majority, as various ethnic and other parties attracting many votes. None of these main parties ran together as a bloc, but even if they had, no coalition would have received a majority of votes and seats. Therefore, a coalition will have to be formed. Georgia: There were protests in Abkhazia against commercial measures adopted by the breakaway Russian puppet-state regarded as too favorable to Russia and thus undermining Abkhazia’s independence. Russia had invaded the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 2008 and seized separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia and then recognized their independence. But the largest protests in Georgia have been by Georgians against the ruling pro-Russian party after last month’s fraudulent election in which Russia heavily interfered, giving the oligarch-founded party a narrow win. The Georgian Government announced that it was suspending the application process for European Union membership, after the Prime Minister had promised to continue the application process. His government is trying to repress the protests with brute force and arrests of opposition figures. Russia: The McCain Prize was awarded to Russian freedom advocate Vladimir Kara-Murza for his advocacy for human rights in Russia. He was recently freed by the tyrannical regime of Vladimir Putin in a prisoner swap with the West and exiled. The prize for human rights advocacy is named for former United States Senator John McCain of Arizona, who had been tortured as a prisoner of war by the Communist Vietnamese during the Vietnamese War. Cyprus: Cyprus announced its intent to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in a marked shift from its closeness with Russia, which is viewed with trepidation because of its imperialism, as Putin seeks to restore the Soviet Union/Russian Empire. The U.S. approves Cyprus’ plan. Finland and Sweden abandoned their longtime neutrality to join NATO, the U.S.-led defensive pact, for the same reason. Afghanistan: There have been more frequent and lethal resistance attacks in Afghanistan against the Taliban militia that is the de facto ruler of the Central Asian State. There are now three armed resistance organizations in Afghanistan. In addition to the National Resistance Front (NRF), which operates in and around the Panjshir Vally, led by the son of the leading anti-Soviet guerilla commander and the former Vice President of Afghanistan before the Taliban militia takeover in 2021, which I have posted about, and a smaller force, a new force led by the most senior General in the Afghan armed forces has entered the fight. It maintains friendly relations with the NRF. It operates mostly in Kabul, where the NRF occasionally raids, while the NRF mostly operates in provinces north of Kabul. The Taliban, who had hosted the Islamist al-Qeada terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America that killed three thousand people, returned to power in 2021 after the U.S. and an inernational coalition and Afghan allies had overthrown them in 2002, but then abandoned Afghanistan, leaving its allied government to fall. No State in the world recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, but no State has backed the resistance. The Islamist Taliban again are repressive and maintain their cloes ties to terrorists.

Update on the 2024 General Election in America

Now that most of the results of the 2024 General Election in America have been certified, some additional observations can be made from those I had posted last month. There was not a majority of votes for the Trump-Vance/Republican United States presidential Electors and there were no coattails for Donald Trump. Although Republicans gained 4 seats in the Senate to regain the majority, partly from picking up open seats in GOP-leaning States, the ruling Republicans suffered a net loss of one seat in the House of Representatives, as each party flipped a handful of seats from the other party. The Trumpist Republican U.S. Senatorial candidate in Arizona, who had been a frequent candidate for statewide office and denied the results of her and Trump’s 2020 general election loss, was rejected by the voters. Thus, there was no popular mandate for Trump or Trumpism, only, as I had posted, the exploitation and exaggeration of grievances based on populist appeals and even demagoguery based on xenophobia, conducted with false or misleading statements by Trump and his supporters and amplified by continued Russian interference that had already altered public opinion. The overtly populist Republican presidential campaign for protectionism, nativism and isolationism marked a sharp transition away from the GOP’s conservative messaging of the last four decades. Although there was some relatively more conservative messaging in congressional races, even those federal elections were influenced heavily by populism. It is even clearer now that more center-right organizations, whether political action committees, caucuses, or even a new political party are necessary for conservatism to compete with and even prevail over far-right populism, as voters in many foreign States, particularly with parliamentary systems allow for such an alternative choice, which is attractive to the electorate, as I have posted. One other noteworthy aspect of the election of interest to conservatives is that while pro-abortion Democratic candidates did not fare as well as they had hoped, nearly every pro-life Democratic candidate was elected, in contrast to less success for pro-abortion Democrats.