My Prayer and Mantra for 2017 -- Do Not Waste Time on People and Things That Don't Matter

In this era of fake news, fake political candidates, and fake people all around, my prayer and mantra for 2017 is simple:  Do not waste time on people and things that don't matter.

In 2016, I spent too much time and money on things and people who didn't matter.  I allowed myself to become distracted by stuff that, for me and Black Man Not Blogging, didn't really matter for our happiness.  These distractions not only didn't improve the quality of our life together; they decreased it with additional and unnecessary stress.

The good news is that, for the most part, we're okay.  Yeah, Trump and his ilk really suck, but instead of a lot of hand wringing and commiserating, I'm going to do the one thing my late mother She Who  Is Exalted (SWIE) did better than anyone I know:  Play the hand you've been dealt.  My mother was a black female without a college education and with six kids, so playing the hand she was dealt was her survival skill.  Now it will be mine.

She also didn't spend a lot of time on things or people who didn't matter.  She was too focused on her purpose:  Raising six children who didn't end up on drugs or in prison.  For the most part, she succeeded.  To the extent that what someone wanted from her detracted or distracted from her purpose, she really didn't have much time for them.  She was too busy playing the hand she was dealt.

Well, relatively speaking, I've got an even better hand to play.  I am educated.  My job is pretty secure.  I make decent money.  I have good health insurance.  My elderly father is safe and well cared for.  Most of my siblings are retired and living like teenagers with money.  There are things I want to see, do, and be while I'm still relatively healthy.  I want to enjoy more of the people I love and what I've worked for.  I refuse to get my anxiety up over things I can't control.

I do not want to waste even a second on people and things that don't matter 2017.  That is my prayer and my mantra.

Happy New Year to you and yours.  May you also not waste even a second on people and things that don't matter in 2017.

Hillary Clinton Can Stop Trump -- If She Releases Her Electors

Hillary Clinton isn't going to be President of the United States.  At least not yet.  And not in 2017.

But she can possibly stop Donald Trump from being President by releasing her pledged electors  in the Electoral College to vote for a compromise Republican candidate.

This is part of the strategy of the Hamilton Electors, members of the Electoral College who see that Donald Trump is not qualified to be President.  They argue that the Electoral College's role is not to rubber-stamp the popular vote -- which, in this case, would belong to Clinton -- but to serve as a check on the popular vote to make sure that no one who is unfit assumes the office of President.

According to the Hamilton Electors, named for Founding Father Alexander Hamilton (Yes, he of the very popular musical for which I can't get tickets) Hamilton stated that the Electoral College's test for fitness to be the President was as follows (and I'm quoting):

Election of a Qualified Person: As Hamilton stated [in Federalist Papers 68], the purpose was to ensure that “…the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”

Preventing Election of a Demagogue or Charlatan: The Founders did not want a person who would play on public fears and temporary passion to hold the office. Hamilton again: “Talent for low intrigue…may alone suffice to elect a man… but it will require other talents and merit to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union.”

Preventing Election of a President under Foreign Influence: The Founders feared attempts by other countries to orchestrate the election of a person under their influence. The Founders believed, as Hamilton put it, that the decentralized, layered electoral college guarded against foreign nations “…raising a creature of their own to the chief magistry” of the United States.

Clearly, Trump fails all three tests.  

The strategy of the Hamilton Electors is this:  If 38 Republican electors do not vote for Trump when the Electoral College votes on December 19, the election will be in hands of the House of Representatives, which can choose to elect someone else.   The Hamilton Electors are not trying to get the Republican electors or Republican members of the House to vote for Hillary, but to join with Democrat electors to choose a qualified Republican candidate.  Governor John Kasich has been discussed, although he has publicly declined, as well as Mitt Romney and John McCain.  Purportedly, there are as many as 40 Republican members of Congress who are not comfortable with a Trump presidency and would choose another Republican if they could

The roadblock:  Hillary Clinton.

Republican electors are not going to flip unless the Democrat electors flip, too.  Yet, Democrat electors may feel loyal to Clinton and want to make history by casting their electoral college votes for the first woman to be nominated by a major party.  President Bill Clinton is a Democrat elector for the State of New York.

But desperate times call for desperate measures.  And we're running out of time.  Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig  and a California law firm, through an effort called The Electors Trust, are providing free, confidential legal advice to electors who want to understand the legal ramifications of breaking their state-imposed "pledge" to vote for the candidate who received the majority vote in their state.

Here's what you can do:

1) Donate to the Hamilton Electors.

2) Follow the Hamilton Electors on Twitter (@HamiltonElector) and retweet their tweets to your followers with the hashtag #HamiltonElectors.  Post a video to social media of yourself supporting their effort.

3)  Spread the word about the Hamilton Electors and their strategy through your other social media outlets.

4)  Attend or organize a candlelight vigil to stop Trump.

5) Write or tweet Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) and ask her to release her Democrat electors so that a bipartisan compromise can be reached.

It's not too late, but time is running out.

Hillary Clinton, you could change the course of history.  Put your country before your party and your ambitions.  Your nation needs you to step up.