Usually the process to proclaim the American president happens without much media attention. But this time, the process is getting lots of attention.

As someone outside the USA, I am seeing a very convoluted legal process for something that is actually fairly simple. In Canada, the process to transition from one government party to the other after an election is quite easy. Why is the USA so weird?

Actually, I know the answer. Whatever one feels about the founding fathers of the US constitution, they were quite united in this part of their deliberations: their disdain for political parties.

They saw how Britain's parties had turned reasonable (white, rich) men into lapdogs for the party. The FF didn't want this. They wanted their elected represenatives to speak their minds and vote on what they thought was best. Everything in the US Constitution was based with these non-partisan principles in mind.

The electoral college was actually a three-stage indirect election to find the president.

1. (rich, white, male) Citizens elected the state legislators.

2. These legislators elected (from amongst themselves) the electors to send to Washington.

3. The electors would convene in Washington and take about a week to elect a president.

The basic premise of this arrangement was that the average (rich, white, male) citizens really didn't know enough about the high players to cast a wise vote.

By 1820, the political parties had formed and become the vehicle for ambitious (rich, white, male) people to improve their status, influence, and power. With the formation of parties, much of the original intent of the US Constitution has been lost.

Legally speaking, the electoral college is still a three-stage indirect election. But the rules have changed such that citizens believe that they have a direct vote for the president. And we could argue that, practically speaking, they do.

However, to maintain the integrity of the intentions of the founding fathers, a whole bunch of multi-stage rules have been created to turn a three-stage indirect election into a direct election.

Now each of these rules has become a source for a constitutional crisis.

I liken this predicament to a Model T Ford being held together by haywire and bubble gum--then proclaiming that this is a damn fine car and we need never make another kind.

But no one is listening to me.