Haw,? Why is it so hard to elect a president in the United States? It doesn’t matter who is elected president

Since November 3, the U.S. presidential election has been counting votes, and it has been almost 10 days now and still arguing with each other, saying "fraud" at one time, and "stealing votes" at the other, making people feel like worshipping. Once stabilized, it will turn into Trump for a comeback.

I also gambled on a meal with my colleagues. The people who bet on Hong Kong started running naked. Would you like me to have this meal? Why is it so hard for the United States to elect a president this year?

The U.S. election is a unique election, because since the founding of the nation, the United States has been implementing a strange electoral method-the electoral system.

▲Popular election or state election?

Simply put, this system does not directly count the votes, and those who get more votes are elected. Instead, it uses the state as a unit to turn the votes into "electoral" votes. In other words, it is not ordinary voters who actually voted for the president in the end. , But the "elector".

The first paragraph of Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution stipulates: "Each state shall elect a number of electors in accordance with the method set by the Congress, the number of which shall be equal to the total number of senators and representatives that the state should have in Congress. However, the senators may Members of the House of Representatives, or persons holding responsible or paid positions in the United States, shall not be elected as electors."

If a presidential candidate gets a majority of electoral votes in a certain state, then it is equivalent to winning the election in that state, and then all the electoral votes in this state are obtained, that is, "winner takes all." Just like the four wins in seven rounds in a table tennis match, the one who wins the four rounds is the final winner, and the other side wins three rounds is useless.

▲Map of the distribution of electoral votes in the United States

There are a total of 538 "electoral votes" in the United States. This number is determined by the total number of Senators (100), House of Representatives (435), and Washington DC representatives (3). There are two senators from each state, and one member of the House of Representatives is proportional to the population of more than 500,000 people. For example, with a population of 16 million in New York State, there are 31 members of the House of Representatives, plus 2 senators, for a total of 33 electoral votes.

If you get more than half, at least 270 electoral votes, then you are elected.

Therefore, the U.S. general election is actually a "national election" composed of 51 "state elections" with states as the unit, rather than direct elections in which the votes are counted across the country. Worldwide, this peculiar system is unique to the United States.

At first glance, this system is unreasonable.

Isn't it easier to count the votes directly for one person, one vote? Why do we have to have an "elector" in between? The winner-takes-all is even more wrong. If someone gets a majority of votes from a certain state, why is it all his? Those who oppose him will not be counted?

▲The Constitutional Convention is the foundation of the United States

To clarify this issue, we have to start with the establishment of the United States.

The origin of the United States is the thirteen colonies that broke away from British rule after the War of Independence. It's impossible for these 13 places to be completely closed and not to communicate with each other, at least you have to do business? If the British guys are going to fight back someday, they can't fight on their own, right?

Therefore, starting on May 25, 1887, representatives of the thirteen states gathered in Philadelphia to discuss the establishment of a federation. This is the "Constitution Assembly", and the core of course is to formulate the Constitution. Since all localities must consider not only the benefits of the community, but also not allowing the Commonwealth to become another British master, the dispute was so fierce that this meeting lasted almost four months.

How to choose a president is one of the most difficult issues among many.

▲The U.S. House of Representatives is crowded with people, and it is indeed the "House of Representatives"

There were three options at the time. The first is called the "Virginia Plan". Simply put, members of Congress vote to decide who is the president. For example, Japan now elects the prime minister like this.

The advantage of this method is mature, convenient and easy to operate. But opponents believe that this is too easy for political corruption or transactions, because this election will be confined to a small circle, and it is much easier to get some congressmen than to get tens of thousands of people. In the end, the majority of representatives did not agree.

The second is the direct election program. Since the small circle is not good, then set up the largest circle-all voters join together and elect directly. Isn't that OK?

However, the actual conditions at the time determined that it was impossible to do so. Because of the vast territory, inconvenient transportation, and blocked communications, the people were isolated from each other in space and did not understand each other. The elections could not be effectively supervised, and they could easily be manipulated by conspirators. It is just as unreasonable for the blind to distinguish colors", "it is easy to cause riotous movements in the whole society".

As a result, this plan was also rejected.

▲Brelley was then the Justice of New Jersey

In the end, the third compromise plan, the Electoral College plan, was universally recognized. This plan was conceived by New Jersey State Representative David Brearly (David Brearly) on the grounds that it would enable states to have a more equal voice.

There are 8 items in the program:

1. The presidential elector is elected by each state through a method designated by its state assembly.

2. The elector cannot concurrently hold a federal government office.

3. The total number of electors is equal to the number of members of both houses of the State Congress.

4. Each elector has two voting rights, but he cannot cast both votes for the president and vice president candidates in the state at the same time.

5. Electors vote within a specified time, and the Senate Speaker (Vice President) announces the result.

6. The person who obtains the majority of the electors is elected as the president, and the person who receives the second majority is the vice president.

7. If no one obtains a majority of votes, the House of Representatives shall vote from the top 5 (later changed to 3) with the most electoral votes according to the principle of one vote per state.

8. If two or more candidates get the same number of votes, the Senate will elect the vice president.

This system is derived from the history of the election of the pope by the Catholic Cardinals, and the founding elites of the United States are familiar with this. Since conference elections and direct elections are not acceptable, transplanting this religious election system has become a sub-optimal choice, finding a balance between "equality for all" and "equality between states".

At this time, there was no winner-takes-all rule. This rule appeared in 1800 and became popular after 1824. In 1824, there were 4 candidates, but no one voted more than half. In the end, John Adams won the House of Representatives "final hearing" with 13 votes.

▲ Adams, the sixth president of the United States

Although it conforms to the rules, it is generally believed that Adams relied on Congress to engage in black-box operations. If this happens again in the future, will he still have to "vote in Congress" in the end? As a result, the Americans formed a consensus-the votes should not be too scattered.

After 1824, more and more states began to recognize and implement "Winner-Take-All" (Winner-Take-All). Some states stipulated by law, some were just conventions (gentlemen’s agreement), and voters must vote. The candidate who has received the most votes is admitted in this way that the candidate is recognized by a relatively majority of the people of the state.

On the other hand, the states that implement this rule will receive the greatest degree of attention from the candidates—as long as they win, it’s all for me, of course. Once a state does this, other states can only follow up, otherwise Will be ignored.

In this way, voters have changed from being a representative with the right to choose to a voting machine that can only perform public opinion. If they do not vote for a large number of votes, they are called "distrustful voters" and they will be punished (such as fines). . Correspondingly, because “winner takes all”, big parties that are able to get more votes are more likely to win in one state, and the living space of small parties is greatly compressed, and they either disappear or merge into big parties. American politics The situation has also changed from small-party disputes to two-party PK.

Of course, not all states have “winner takes all”, and Maine and Nebraska are a few exceptions.

Objectively speaking, this electoral + winner-takes-all system has pros and cons. There have always been voices for reform, but it is difficult to achieve. As for the reason, it is simply that the procedure is too difficult, because this is equivalent to a constitutional change, and it is a major change. As we all know, the difficulty of moving the US Constitution may be the most difficult in the world, so this peculiar electoral system will continue to exist now and for a long time to come.

▲How many of these presidents do you know?

There are four recognized important elections in the history of the United States. The first was the "founding election" in 1789. Washington was elected, which established the practice of no more than two consecutive terms; the second was in 1860, when Lincoln was elected and maintained through the Civil War. The third time was the election of Roosevelt in 1932, and the United States was able to survive the Great Depression crisis and win World War II; the fourth time was in 1980, when Reagan was elected, and the United States won the Cold War.

There are 45 presidents of the United States so far. If Biden is elected, he will be 46th.

Most of the forty-odd presidents who are well-known to the Chinese were concentrated after the 1940s. Moving forward, they basically only know Washington and Lincoln-most American presidents are very low-profile, not to mention the Chinese. I am afraid that even the Americans themselves may not be able to figure it out.

▲These things are probably more useful than the president

What is this indicating? The United States is more important than the President of the United States.

To a large extent, it is the US national power that determines the international authority and popularity of the US president, not the other way around. After the 1940s, the United States has truly become a superpower with global influence, and its president has correspondingly gained global popularity.

On the other hand, the President of the United States is not as powerful as it seems.

On the surface, the president has great power and has the largest executive power. He is still the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces. In practice, there are many restrictions. Whether it is signing a treaty with foreign countries or a policy of internal outgoing, it not only needs to be reviewed by the two houses, There is also a large number of media and opposition groups staring at them. They can’t manage justice from the top and the states from the bottom. The states are essentially autonomous, and the governors are not appointed by the president. This is one reason why most states can accept “winner takes all”. , Voters who oppose a certain candidate will not really be affected much because of his superiority, because they can't control it.

So why does this president come? To put it bluntly, the president is not so much the helm of the United States as the executor and embodiment of the will of the United States. What the president should and don't do after he takes office has little to do with his own preferences.

Take Nixon and Reagan, for example, these two are properly anti-communist conservatives. Nixon once visited Taiwan and shook hands with Chiang Kai-shek. Reagan simply called the Soviet Union an "evil empire." But they have basically maintained a friendly attitude towards China. This is not because of how much they like China, but because of the international trend at the time, the United States really needs China. No matter who it is, and what he thinks, he must cross the ocean with a smile. Come to shake hands.

Bush Sr., a US pilot when he was young, was almost caught and eaten by the Japanese during the Pacific War. But when he becomes president, no matter how unhappy he is with Japan, he has to work hard to maintain the US-Japan alliance, and even to stand for Japan in certain international affairs.

Therefore, the work of the American president is not so easy to do. At least, the ability of "schizophrenia" to switch channels at any time is really impossible for ordinary people to do.

It’s not easy to work, but there are still so many people competing for this position. After all, once the psychological barriers are overcome, becoming president is a good job.

▲Reagan was the American president who was most familiar with and well-liked by Chinese people in the last century

First of all, the income is considerable, with an annual salary of 400,000 US dollars, which is about 2.64 million yuan. This amount of money is certainly nothing compared to the rich, but it far exceeds the average American. In 2019, the per capita income of the U.S. is about 44,000 U.S. dollars, and the president's income is 9 times that.

The second is all-inclusive country. When you become president, you can move your family into the official residence of the White House and enjoy the first mansion provided by the US government. All the expenses, water and electricity heating, food and medical care, elevator garden, and servant guards are all covered by the state, so don’t be too cool.

In addition, there are benefits such as "Air Force One", "Marine Corps One", Presidential Vehicles, and Camp David Resort.

▲As long as you become president, the country will be covered for the rest of your life

Third, the resignation of the country is also covered. The outgoing president enjoys the following benefits:

1. Pension. The level of treatment is equivalent to that of cabinet-level officials of the federal government, about $200,000.

2. The President's Private Office. It can be located anywhere in the United States. The state provides rent, furniture, office supplies, etc., and hires a staff member at public expense.

3. Treatment of official travel. According to the current terms, the General Services Administration of the Federal Government can provide official travel expenses for the outgoing president and no more than 2 assistants, up to a maximum of $1 million and a maximum of $500,000 for spouses.

4. Protection by the Secret Service. The outgoing president and his spouse are protected by the Secret Service for life, except in cases where the spouse divorces or remarries after the outgoing president passes away. Minor children are also protected by the Secret Service before the age of 16.

5. Medical benefits. The outgoing president, his spouse, and minor children are treated in military hospitals. They have to pay out of their pockets, but they can enjoy discounts or continue to purchase government employees’ medical insurance.

6. The Presidential Library. Since Hoover, the outgoing president has a presidential library named after him and managed by the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States. Related expenses are covered by the state.

7. State funeral. After the death of the outgoing president, all federal government buildings are lowered to half-mast for 30 days. The Secretary of Defense may be a plenipotentiary representative, or the Secretary of the Army may be appointed as a personal representative to arrange the funeral.

▲Presidents who have been presidents write books casually and earn considerable income

The above remuneration, there are real and fictitious, basically can ensure that the outgoing president can have a relatively decent life. But the actual income of the outgoing president does not stop there. As long as conditions permit, he can also make a lot of money by "going through" speeches, publishing books (such as writing memoirs), filming, and being a consultant.

The White House is so charming that countless politicians are competing, Catregan, who loses his literary talent, Bill George, is a bit less coquettish, a generation understands Trump, and only knows how to raise funds to win votes...

Trump is still "dying to be struggling," and if nothing happens, it's Biden's turn to laugh.

Will Biden be able to move to the White House immediately? No, before he officially takes office, each state must confirm the number of votes, determine the electors, hold a joint meeting of the two houses, count the results of the voting, and announce the winner. The completion of this series of procedures will come next January.

At noon on January 20th, he will be formally sworn in at an inauguration ceremony presided over by the Chief Justice. Then, the Bidens can move into the White House, and the hardship will come.

In addition to these ceremonial procedures, Biden will initially determine the new cabinet members and initial executive orders during this "presidential transition period". His team will enter the federal government, listen to various reports, and prepare for taking over. Only in this way can work immediately after entering the White House

At the same time, Trump had to prepare to pack and leave. As usual, the party that loses in the election war will issue a defeat statement, accept the defeat, call for the overall situation, harmony and unity, etc., but with Trump’s style, I am afraid it is impossible to "gracefully resign." .

So will Trump stay in the White House? This possibility is almost non-existent, because doing so is against the law, and it is impossible to continue to be in power. It has no meaning except to make one's reputation worse.

▲Biden thinks fried liver is delicious, he can use chopsticks, but his first consideration must be the United States

However, these are just the lace of the US election, notIt is the main course, and even the president himself is not that important. As mentioned earlier, the President of the United States is a product of the national will of the United States and can only execute the national will of the United States, not the other way around, regardless of himself.

Bush Sr. spoke Chinese very sleekly, just as he wanted to contain China. Trump asked his granddaughter to show off his Chinese language and still launched a trade war. Biden praised the fried noodles at the restaurant in Beijing, but he didn't say anything.