The most common phrase we hear from Americans about the upcoming election is, “I’ll be glad when this is over.” We all expect it to end Tuesday night.
It may not. Since the FBI Director James Comey dropped a bombshell about a renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, the race has virtually tied. North Carolina, Michigan and Florida have moved from leaning blue, to ‘toss-ups’ as of late this week.
It looks at least possible, if not likely, that Donald Trump will win Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona. However, if Trump doesn't win another swing state, he will still lose the election. Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin or Virginia (in the above scenario) would deliver a victory for Trump.
The scenario gets even more chilling if Trump wins New Hampshire (in addition to FL, OH, NC, NV, AZ). The electoral college would be tied between Trump and Hillary Clinton. This is very possible given that the Real Clear Politics average presently shows him leading by about two points in New Hampshire.
What happens in the event of a tie on Tuesday? This is addressed in the 12th Amendment. Each state would send its results to the vice president who acts as president of the Senate. This would occur in December. In the event of a tie, the new Congress would defer to the House of Representatives who decides the next president. The Senate then decides who would be the vice president.
This last occurred in 1824 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson (who had the most popular votes). The House picked Adams. As a result, the four parties involved in that election split apart and resulted in the modern-day foundation we call Republicans and Democrats.
Since the House is Republican controlled, Trump would likely win in the event of a tie on Tuesday.
In the interim, between November 8 and the convening of a new Congress in January, there would likely be recounts, chaos and lawsuits. This would make the 2000-election ‘hanging chads’ in Florida look like a cakewalk. Clearly, there would be weeks more ‘election 2016.’
I believe there is a divine nature about this election. Many people believe we have the ‘lesser of two evils’ or simply the worst of two choices. Roughly half of the country despises Trump. The other half equally despises Clinton.
Because of Trump’s ‘tone,’ we have been forced to face many of our most pressing challenges: immigration, security, greed, distortion, lies, corruption, hatred et.al. Due to the inherent entertainment value of Trump, the nation has consumed 2016-politics in a fashion not seen in our lifetime. Political dramas are less attractive on television, dinner conversations are political and NFL ratings are down by double digits. This ‘blood-bath’ of an election has been even more entertaining than ‘House of Cards’ on Netflix.
Both Clinton and Trump are merely human vessels. In the minds of Americans, they are both extremely flawed in contrast to previous presidents. Both present a stark difference for the future prosperity and culture of this nation for our children.
This week, former Speaker Newt Gingrich appropriately stated that this choice is between ‘make America great again’ and ‘make America Venezuela.’ In Venezuela, the government is telling its citizens (even Urban Dwellers) to grow their own food. Poverty is out of control. While this may not be at near-term reality for America, it is a chilling hyperbole.
A President Clinton’s biggest import will be poverty through massive refugee infiltration further exacerbating our cultural and financial problems.
I believe our country is on a pathway to moral bankruptcy and that our challenges are a result of losing favor from God. Our apathy, arrogance and ignorance as a collective body of citizens, is impeding our ability to maintain our status of leadership and as a tremendous force of goodwill in the world. As a result, the world has become more unstable.
If this is a divine-election, we have been presented these candidates so that we are forced to acknowledge and integrate the cause and effect of our struggles into our psyche. If this truly is our chance to save the United State, then a tied-Tuesday outcome would result in more trauma for the country.
Trump has broken every rule of politics and yet still is as likely to win on Tuesday as is Clinton. The country is angry, divided and more fearful of the future than ever before in our history.
We may want this election to end, but is that in our best interest? I’m not predicting a tie; I'm saying that, based on the late week polls, it’s highly possible. If a tie occurs, we should consider that we’ve yet to learn the divine lessons intended from this election:
This election is a ‘wake-up call.’
We can't continue to avoid our problems, make rash decisions with emotions, live without discipline, cheat our neighbors, medicate our way through life and ignore the struggles of our citizens.
We cannot steal the future our children deserve. The generations before us were willing to sacrifice to give each of us a better future than their present.
God is telling us to awaken to reality. That’s why this election hurts so much. Will we?