I listened to this video interview of Amanda Werner, co-founder of the organization and found her well spoken and her ideas worth pursuing and supporting. Then I went to their website to read more and was further convinced of the need to support this effort.
This is exactly the sort of information that needs to be broadcast from a thousand beacons of hope in what promises to be a very trying period in American and world history, when the powers of the Oligarch are going to do all they can to destroy anything that hinders their blind obsessions in any way.
I've copied the following off their blog. It explains their goals and the reasoning behind the effort and why some fights are worth the effort even if you don't really expect to win. Go figure America. It's your move.
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Trump tells Americans: “‘The president can’t have a conflict of interest!”
How about if Americans tell the Electoral College to, Dump Trump?
NOW is the time to think twice and vocally object before empowering this wanna be businessman dictator and Russian Obligate as the President of the United States.
We The People Could do it. But Will We Try? Democracy Live it or Loss It!
Published by TYT Politics on Nov 23, 2016
The Electoral College can Dump Donald Trump on Dec. 19. But will they? We spoke to one woman who thinks so. Amanda Werner is the Co-founder of DemocrEC.org, an upstart network of techie activists poised to lobby delegates to the Electoral College to reject Donald Trump when they convene in state capitols around the country on Dec. 19.
Category News; Politics
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DemocrEC is a network of concerned citizens fully invested in honoring democracy and safeguarding America's future. We are an independent, grassroots, unfunded effort. \ https://democrec.org/contact/
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The Bottom Line:
A Trump presidency poses an unprecedented danger to our democracy and would be a clear violation of the will of American voters.
WHY?
Donald Trump is unfit to be President—and he has no public mandate.
He lost the popular vote – by a lot.
THE LATEST COUNTS SUGGEST THAT TRUMP WILL END UP LOSING THE POPULAR VOTE BY 2 TO 3 MILLION VOTES IN THE FINAL TALLY.
• Hillary Clinton is currently winning the popular vote by over 1 million votes, with several million ballots still being counted – most in blue states where Trump is losing by large margins.
• To put that in perspective, George W. Bush won the 2004 election against John Kerry by just over 3 million votes, and major media outlets like USA Today and NPR reported it as a “clear mandate” for his leadership.
A GULF THIS WIDE BETWEEN THE POPULAR VOTE AND ELECTORAL COLLEGE IS COMPLETELY UNPRECEDENTED IN OUR HISTORY.
• We are far beyond a Bush-Gore situation, where Bush took the Electoral College by a single point, despite losing nationally by around 500,000 votes.
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Trump is an illegitimate and dangerous leader.
SOME QUICK HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, FOR THOSE WHO MAY WISH TO FORGET. TRUMP:
• Bragged about sexually assaulting women – several of whom came forward to corroborate these claims
• Pledged to force Muslims to register in a federal database
• Received endorsements from numerous organizations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, including the Ku Klux Klan
• Broke forty years of government transparency by refusing to release his tax returns
• Repeatedly crossed ethical and legal lines in coordinating with Russian officials, and
• Committed fraud at a level justifying impeachment
TRUMP HAS ALREADY HAD A DANGEROUS IMPACT. SINCE HIS ELECTION, WE HAVE SEEN TROUBLING VIOLENCE AGAINST MARGINALIZED GROUPS:
• Children are grabbing girls’ private parts and mocking their Latino classmates.
• Muslim women are being held at knifepoint and encouraged to commit suicide.
• He has disconcerting connections to the Kremlin and Russian President, Vladimir Putin – a dictator known for rampant human rights abuses against his own citizens and punishing members of the media who oppose his regime. Research shows that Trump's team was also in steady contact with Russia throughout his campaign, which is alarming in relation to reports that suggest Russia actively interfered in the election for its own gain.
• He stated he wants to "rip up" all trade deals the US currently holds and tariff Chinese goods at 45%, which could start a trade war with China.
• He an unpredictable leader with constantly changing positions and has refused to defend our allies under NATO’s Collective Defense Article, a statement that shook our allies.
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Trump has repeatedly shown that he has no idea how to do the job of president. (worse he's shown little interest in taking it seriously, other than giving the keys to the kingdom to a bunch of faith-based delusionals and self-interested oligarchs.)
TRUMP'S GOVERNING EXPERIENCE IS LIMITED TO BUSINESS, AND HIS RECORD SUGGESTS THAT MANAGEMENT IS NOT HIS STRONG SUIT.
• Over the course of his career, Trump has squandered billions in failed business decisions -- including the infamous $916 million loss that allowed him to avoid income taxes for 18 years.
• He has ended up in bankruptcy 6 times, a pattern of financial recklessness he said he would be open to replicating from the Oval Office.
TRUMP SEEMS TO HAVE DONE LITTLE TO NO RESEARCH OR PREPARATION SINCE LAUNCHING HIS BID FOR THE NATION’S HIGHEST ELECTED OFFICE.
• Trump outlined very few concrete policies as a candidate, and hedged questions about policy specifics in every debate.
• In his first week as President-Elect, Trump had no idea he needed to pick out a West Wing staff, and appeared shocked by the “scope” of the job.
• Trump has also indicated that he plans to “commute” to what is traditionally a live-in job and return to his home on weekends, signaling a lack of the commitment and dedication required to be Commander-in-Chief.
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HOW?
Electors - representatives from every state that make up the Electoral College - cast their ballots on December 19 for the next president.
Demand that they honor the popular vote and block an unfit president from rising to power.
IT IS UNQUESTIONABLY CONSTITUTIONAL FOR ELECTORS TO CAST THEIR BALLOTS TO REFLECT THE WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
• In the U.S., voters do not elect the president directly. Instead, our votes choose party-selected representatives called electors to cast votes for them, generally in line with the party that won the majority of votes in that state.
• However, electors are not bound to any particular candidate. While some states have laws imposing fines on electors who break with their party, many states allow them to vote their conscience.
SINCE THE FOUNDING OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, 157 ELECTORS HAVE CHANGED THEIR VOTES. WE WILL NEED 42 ADDITIONAL ELECTORS TO HONOR THE POPULAR VOTE TO ENSURE TRUMP CANNOT BECOME PRESIDENT.
• In fact, using this tactic to prevent a Trump presidency is directly in line with one of the original purposes of the Electoral College — to block a person unfit to govern from attaining office.
Ready to Take Action?
EMAIL YOUR ELECTORS
CONTACT YOUR STATE'S ELECTORS AND ASK THEM TO CAST THEIR BALLOT FOR THE CANDIDATE CHOSEN BY THE POPULAR VOTE.
SIGN THE PETITION
JOIN MILLIONS OF OUTRAGED VOTERS IN SIGNING THIS PETITION.
SPREAD THE WORD
TALK ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND ENCOURAGE FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO TAKE ACTION.
USE THE HASHTAG #DEMOCREC TO SPREAD THE WORD!
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BUT…
Is there any chance of this actually happening?
Let's be real: this is not going to be easy. Even if convinced to block Trump, electors may decide to cast their votes for a third candidate rather than honor the popular vote. But, it is possible. Since the founding of the Electoral College, 157 electors have changed their votes – we will need 42 additional electors to honor the popular vote to ensure Trump cannot become president.
Why should we focus our energy here?
This strategy is less about the outcome and more about the outrage. There is dignity in fighting to make our voices heard, no matter the result – and power in shaping the cultural narrative around this election.
Politicians and journalists on both sides are already rushing to normalize Trump as a legitimate President (he’s not) and herald his ascension as a “stunning victory” (it’s not). If we are stuck with a Trump administration, we must at least acknowledge this result for what it is: an effective coup against the will of the American people.
The narrative around this election will directly impact how boldly a President Trump governs for the next four years, and the coming days and weeks are crucial to setting that tone.
Does this plan disenfranchise Trump voters?
No. If this plan succeeds, Trump voters may well feel disenfranchised. Yet the millions more Americans who voted against Trump are in fact disenfranchised by the current result — not only by the Electoral College system itself, but by active voter suppression at a level we haven't seen since the 1960s.
We must reject the notion that losing the total vote count by more than two million somehow entitles Trump supporters to choose the next President. Bringing the Electoral College in line with the popular vote would not deprive Trump supporters of a legitimate win; it would merely reclaim the true victory stolen from a silenced majority of Americans.
Why not just accept this loss and move on?
This is not simply a matter of winning or losing. Many of Trump’s policies put our fellow Americans at serious and imminent risk. Since November 9, the FBI has documented a surge in hate crimes against virtually every marginalized group.
If we fought harder in 2000 — when the popular vote was far tighter than it is set to be this year — we could have avoided two major wars, prevented the Great Recession, and significantly slowed climate change, to name just a few. How many times are we going to consent to the suppression of our democratic will, and at what cost?
The future of the world’s greatest democracy may well hang in the balance. Now is the time to organize, advocate, and stand together against an illegitimate authoritarian bully — because that is what true democracy looks like.
Bottom line: It’s not over until it’s over – through December 19th, we need to fight hard every day to grow this movement and ensure America lives up to its democratic ideals.
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