Leland LeCuyer
Aug 27, 2017 · 2 min read

Interesting, Art. Let’s see if what you wrote stands up to examination. I agree with you that the electoral college functioned as the authors of the U.S. Constitution intended. But is this sufficient to confer legitimacy?

Let’s consider a few other other legally elected leaders: Mussolini was elected; Stalin was elected; Hitler was elected; Saddam Hussein was elected; Hugo Chavez was elected. Need I continue…

According to your proposition, every one of these monsters was “legitimate.”

As an alternative permit me to make a proposal that you may feel free to dismiss as preposterous. Legitimacy is not conferred by election. Instead being elected to an office is merely the initial step in earning legitimacy. (I chose the verb “to earn” intentionally.)

In other words, legitimacy is something that must be earned every day. How? Through action and deportment. And who confers this legitimacy? In America, at least, “We the People”: namely you, me, and a few hundred million other citizens. Additionally, history ultimately will issue its judgment too.

What’s good for the goose… How effectively does my alternative proposition stand up against cross-examination. The biggest problem I see is that my thesis reduces legitimacy to a popularity contest. How, pray tell, does this differ from election?

The principle distinction between election by voters and legitimacy conferred by citizens is that elections are discrete while legitimation is continuous. On the surface this looks like the difference betwixt digital and analogue, but this is not quite the case. Instead the problem is that the interval between election samples is four years, whereas my proposition deduces the sample frequency to a day (or less). One implication of this is that a president cannot stroll into the Oval Office confident that no matter whatever he (or she) does he will have the endorsement of the people.

Which brings me to my main point. Dave Pell wrote yesterday in his Medium post The Looking Glass: “The character now being tested is yours.” It is by our actions and inaction that we legitimize or sanction the acts of our leaders.

As a postscript let me add that I take no enjoyment watching President Trump founder. Echoing what President Obama said as he departed the White House: “This is an intramural scrimmage. We’re not Democrats first. We’re not Republicans first. We are Americans first.”

Obama continued: “Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it’s really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own. We, the people, give it power — with our participation, and the choices we make.”

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    Leland LeCuyer

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