I woke up wholeheartedly believing that by the day's end, America would shine red and Mitt Romney would defeat Barack Obama and become the next president of the United States -- but boy, I was more than wrong.
"All Romney needs is Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Hamilton County, Ohio -- and he'll take the White House." That's what I told everyone who asked how I thought the night would turn out. In the end, Romney only won North Carolina, while losing the others.
Midday Tuesday, before any election results started to come in, I tweeted, "Hamilton County in Ohio will decide the election. #election2012," and in the end, I was right.
What's so significant about Hamilton County in Ohio? Well, for starters, in the last four elections, the outcome of Hamilton County ended up being the outcome of the nation. More importantly, the only difference in Ohio between 2004 and 2008 was that Hamilton County went from red to blue. Subsequently, in 2004, George Bush took Ohio, but in 2008, Obama won Ohio. One county that holds one of Ohio's largest cities (Cincinnati), decided the outcome of Ohio as a whole.
Is this really fair? Well, no -- however, it is the system that has worked for over 200 years, and it's the system we have until we decide to do something about it, i.e., amending the Constitution.
I've never really had a problem with the electoral college before, but the downfalls of the system were really exploited Tuesday night.
If you look at an electoral map of the United States, the first thing you'd notice is that it's mostly red. Well, if the map is mostly red, then why did Obama win Tuesday night? For starters, because Obama was the Democratic candidate, and because Obama is more liberal and progressive, he won cities.
Well, how do the two connect?
The obvious answer would be that cities have a larger population. Even so, there is a deeper, more underlying reason as to why this occurs: Cities are inevitably more progressive and liberal -- and they have been ever since large cities arose during the industrial revolution. Cities are filled with minorities and the poor, much more so than rural areas. Demographically, minorities and the poor are more likely to vote for a Democrat than they are a Republican. Ergo, Obama wins the election because the majority of his voting bloc lives in cities.
The electoral college has its flaws, but until someone thinks of a better way to elect the leader of a free republic, I am more than content with the system that we currently use.
In the end, Barack Obama won reelection fair and square -- well, minus some voter fraud here and there.
It took one heck of a man in Mitt Romney to congratulate Obama after the night was over, after many months of reputation bashing, tax evasion accusations, and flat-out lies from David Axelrod and the Obama Campaign.
I still have one remaining question: What exactly is this hope and change thing the President keeps mentioning?