Remember when the Electoral College was evil and needed to be abolished. Ten electors, including Nancy Pelosi's daughter, have a great new plan. And it doesn't take much reading between the lines.
Ten members of the Electoral College, including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine and a former member of Congress, are demanding a briefing from U.S. intelligence officials on any ongoing investigations into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.
In a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the electors — nine Democrats and one Republican — argue that they require the information ahead of Dec. 19, when the Electoral College is set to meet and select the next president.
Why exactly do the Electors require information that has nothing to do with their current function, which is representative, rather than deliberative? Because Pelosi argues they are a deliberative body.
We intend to discharge our duties as Electors by ensuring that we select a candidate for president who, as our Founding Fathers envisioned, would be “endowed with the requisite qualifications.” As Electors, we also believe that deliberation is at the heart of democracy itself, not an empty or formalistic task. We do not understand our sole function to be to convene in mid-December, several weeks after Election Day, and summarily cast our votes. To the contrary, the Constitution envisions the Electoral College as a deliberative body that plays a critical role in our system of government — ensuring that the American people elect a president who is constitutionally qualified and fit to serve.
Except of course the American people already elected a president. But Pelosi's caveat is qualified and fit to serve. That means the Electors should deliberate and decide whether Trump is it. Or not.
Within a rather short time we've gone from "The Electoral College is a racist leftover of an ancient defunct system" to "Let's bring back the Founding Fathers' idea of the Electoral College." Don't get me wrong. That would be a vast improvement. Just not one that I think Democrats would want to see in place. For that matter we could bring back elections the way they once were and no Democrat would ever be elected to anything again outside of Marin County.