Trying to explain our electoral college to a baffled Ecuadorian woman today...I gave up.

[CTyankee]

She's a young woman who does my nails. She knows everyone of their clients in her salon hates Trump and she doesn't know how he got elected in the first place. She had limited English and I don't know Spanish so I couldn't explain it.

I ended up saying Trump is "loco in la cabeza" and she smiled and nodded. That much I could express in Spanish.

P.S. She did a fabulous job on my needy nails and I gave her a big tip.

[hlthe2b]

1. Sadly, few younger Americans get it either and we need them to, in order to....

END IT.

[CTyankee]

2. Yeah, why can't we do that?

I know, I know. We would need a constitutional amendment and we would have to have a Dem congress to do that. But the shoe could be on the other foot and the repubs surely know that. it was in service to them in 2016 but it could work against them in another presidential campaign.

but let's keep trying (if we can).

[DavidDvorkin]

3. I explained it to a German friend on his recent visit

His reaction: "Then why bother to vote?"

[mopinko]

4. i had to explain it to my grandkids the other day.

8th grader and 4th grader. they thought spanky got the most votes.
so i was not only explaining it, but trying to let them know that it was never meant to be fair.

it was hard.

[Saboburns]

5. To be completely honest

You ought to preface your explanation by saying that the electoral college a is back handed way to give white judeo christians more power than others, and a way to keep Rural white people political power.

Then as you explain it to her she will understand.

[CTyankee]

9. good idea. but that would make me go even further in American history and that would take

more time than either of us would have...

[oberliner]

6. Can she explain how the current president of Ecuador won with only 39 percent of the vote?

[Ezior]

7. The German Presidential "election" is even crazier than the electoral college

There is no such thing as a "popular vote" for the Bundespräsident. It's an election where only a small number of hand-picked "elites" is eligible to vote, and even the "elite" selection process is not controlled by popular vote directly.

But then our president has only little more power than the British Queen, if at all. He/She's allowed and expected to talk about politics and society in general terms, staying out of party politics. Other than that, his/her job is to greet foreign leaders and smile. (And he/she is tasked with a few useful things related to how our democracy works, e.g. he/she signs bills into law, but veto powers are extremely limited, only possible if they expect the law to be unconstitutional.)

Of course, the chancellor's party usually gets WAY less than 50% of the popular vote, too. That's just how parliamentary multi-party systems work.

[oberliner]

8. Yes, Italy as well

Although I know they have recently changed their whole electoral system.