Election 2016: The Parable of the Super Bowl

It had been a long, hard season. The two teams had battled and battered their way through the play-offs to the top spots in their conferences.

The Reds had had a rougher time of it than the Blues, and the Blues were favored to win easily.

But as sometimes happens in competitions, there was a shocking upset and the Reds ended up winning Super Bowl LI, 30 to 23.

Now the Blues fans were bad losers. Very bad losers. They absolutely hated the Reds and their fans and began to protest the game’s outcome. Indeed, the protest soon turned into a riot, complete with fires downtown and beatings of Reds fans.

Blues fans stated that they had actually won the game, or should have won the game, on the basis of their performance. The Blues had dominated in the number of first downs, total yard rushing and passing, and time of possession. And furthermore the Reds were unacceptable characters to begin with.

Unfortunately for the Blues, however, victory in the game of football is based on the total number of points actually scored; Touchdowns, extra points, two-point conversions, field goals, safeties. So, despite their on-field performance, they remained the losers.

What this parable is alluding to is obvious:

Clinton supporters want to overturn the outcome of the US presidential election on the basis of Hillary receiving more popular votes than Donald Trump. And furthermore, Trump is an unacceptable character to begin with.

But victory in a US presidential election is based on the total number of electoral votes received, not popular votes; just as a football game is decided by touchdowns etc., not total yards rushing and whatever. Donald Trump is the rightful, legitimate, indisputable winner of the 2016 US presidential election.

Actually, to make our parable more accurate, it should have been the case that the game was rigged. Only the Blues were allowed cheerleaders on the field, they were allowed an extra 2 seconds between plays, the referees were instructed to add a football length to every tenth Blue ground gain, and the scoreboard was rigged in favor of the Blues, occasionally adding a gratuitous point to the Blues’ score. It also should have been the case that the commissioner had let it be known in advance that the Blues would not be limited to 11 men on the field nor to a 53 man roster; the referees would look the other way if an illegal 12-th Blue player was on the field when Blue was on offense. All of this making the Reds’ upset victory all the more upsetting.

All of which brings us to the importance of the Electoral College; but that is another article.