The fact that this was even a rumor speaks volumes about the devolution of American politics…
Via Politifact
Fake news: Michigan GOP elector didn’t choose suicide over voting for Trump
Readers should not put any faith in a fake news story about a would-be faithless elector who chose death over Donald Trump.
“Electoral College elector commits suicide to avoid voting for Donald Trump,” read a Dec. 19, 2016, headline on UniversePolitics.com. It appeared the same day members of the Electoral College voted to officially elect Trump the 45th president.
The story said a 47-year-old Michigan elector named Jeremy Hashville killed himself in an absurdly complicated fashion, revealing in a note that he could not bear to vote for Trump. The post was flagged by Facebook as part of the company’s efforts to fight fake news online.
Nothing about the story or its extreme premise is accurate.
Democracy assumes that the majority’s will – best serves that same majority. What it does not assume is that majority has, or will examine in detail and correctly interpret the necessary information to make correct voting decisions.
A representative democracy assumes that its representatives will represent the ultimate best interest of those they represent and not their own best interests. In such a democracy all priorities for the representative good and or bad – are overshadowed by the need be re-elected – even when decisions that might be best for those they represent are at odds with the best interests with those they supposedly represent.
Assuming the majority can make the best decision for themselves also assumes that such a decision can always be fathomed by the majority population whose combined intelligence – will always be no greater than the average intelligence of the individuals composing it and consequently their collective decisions can be no better than their average intelligence can conclude.
The big danger to a democracy is someone who understands it’s weaknesses and uses them against said democracy to serve his best interests. Thus, we have Trump.