I want to talk about human nature and do so via a political example since November of 2024 is a rather passionate election season and is on nearly everyone’s minds.
Recently I heard about a topic I didn’t know existed and so I did some reading. It is called the “National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC)”. We as a nation have had 4 elections in our 250 year history where the electoral college vote for US President did not align with the popular vote; the one that birthed this effort was the 2000 election of George Bush. The latest of the 4 was Donald Trump in 2016 and the other two were in the late 1800’s.
The US Constitution allows states to determine their own methods for selecting electors, and traditionally states have awarded their electors based on the majority vote of that state’s citizens. California would do what most Californians voted for, Texas for most Texans, etc. A few states split their electoral vote based on that state’s split in voting results but still based on that state’s citizens only. NPVIC is an effort to align the electoral college with the popular vote nationally, without changes to or abolishing the existing electoral college process enshrined in the Constitution. As of July, 2024 seventeen states have enacted some form of NPVIC legislation, whereby the winner of the national popular vote gets all of that state’s electors. These 17 states have declared as a principle that their state’s electoral votes should be determined not by the citizens of that state, but by the results of the entire nation’s popular vote.
It is important to note that though these states have passed legislation, the NPVIC does not become effective until enough states join to total 270 electoral votes and thus actually determine the presidential winner. However, the point here is 17 states have already enacted legislation that this is the principle they want to operate under.
By the way, I’m getting to a theological point and this is not about the electoral college but I’ll take this one paragraph to make a political point. I am in favor of the wisdom of the founding fathers. We are the United STATES of America. If you go to a purely national popular vote, then essentially the 10 largest cities (by one estimation) determine everything, and although I know that’s where most people live, that’s not where the food is grown, or power, gas, or oil produced, or any number of other things these population centers need to survive more than a week – and it’s a recipe for disaster when folks in the rest of the country feel they no longer have any voice at all. If we lose the United STATES, we lose the country. We disenfranchise “fly over country” to our peril as a nation. ‘Nuff said.
I scrolled down this NPVIC website and saw the following map of the 17 states:
I thought that looked extremely familiar! So I pulled up the map from the 2024 election:
You have to search to find the differences (the two maps match except for NH and VA). The most recent state to join was, interestingly enough, Minnesota (“On May 24, 2023, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact into law — making Minnesota the 17th jurisdiction to do so”).
So if these states were to act on their declared principles and legislation (though not officially enacted yet), all these blue states with the exception of VA and NH would cast all their electoral college votes for Donald Trump and the 2024 election would go down in history as a 521 to 17 electoral vote victory for Trump over Harris, appearing as a more brutal landslide. VP candidate Tim Walz, though Minnesota is blue, would have to certify all of Minnesota’s electors for his direct opponent due to his own stroke of the pen. I doubt that’s what the blue states want though they’ve enacted such in their own legislation.
If you voted for Harris, that last paragraph probably gave you an “ick” feeling and understandably so. If California and Oregon and Massachusetts and every other blue state had to give all their electoral votes to Donald Trump in 2024, there might just be a huge uproar, maybe marches in some cities, and the calling for resignations of those responsible for this legislation. Not to pick on one side, I can imagine that if Texas were in this and around 10 PM one election night it was announced that 95% of the 31 million Texans voted Republican, however nationwide the Democrats won the popular vote by a mere 20,000 votes and therefore all Texas’ electors will go to the Democratic candidate – well I can imagine an equal uproar. Social media sites would be inundated with videos of complaint either way. This isn’t a partisan issue and I don’t kid myself this doesn’t go both ways equally – which leads to the theological point.
It’s really about us human beings and our hearts. It’s about that “ick” feeling or the desire to rise up and protest simply because things didn’t go our way. Something is good and a fantastic idea when it benefits me, and the worst idea ever and someone should be fired if it doesn’t benefit me. The key word, of course, is ME.
So the theological point is seeing our self-focused flesh, our sin nature. We will come up with a principle like NPVIC, even enact it into law because we think it will make things go our way. I think the reason the two maps above match almost perfectly is for the 4 times in 250 years of history the electoral college benefited the Republicans, therefore it’s only blue states signing on. I can imagine that if in 2000 the electoral college benefited the Republicans but in 2016 it benefited the Democrats, it wouldn’t even be an issue of discussion. In a year like 2024 with a popular vote that went for Trump, I would think those blue states would hate this law they’ve placed themselves under if it were enacted.
So we all know what we really, really want is a toggle button like this:
We want such an on/off toggle beside things like principles and laws that we can turn on when it benefits us and turn off when it doesn’t. When it provides an advantage to the “other side” and is to our disadvantage, we want to reach up and temporarily flip that toggle off. It’s who we are as people. “Situational ethics” really describes our hearts and minds. Right and wrong can vary a bit based on the situation we’re in.
Our Creator God also gives us laws and principles and our hearts desire that toggle. Thou shalt not bear false witness – and we secretly add “…except when I need it to help me out of a tight spot.” We all want to be able to flip that toggle off just for this scenario, then flip it back on later when we get out of it. We all know this, we all feel this, we all DO this.
This is why Jesus Christ was sent into the world. He had no toggles and desired no toggles. He only desired to and did perfectly obey His Father, to bring glory to His Father without regard of cost or harm to himself. Selfless. Never once toggled off a law or principle or truth, not even for a second. He perfectly kept every law to the fullest, fully lived up to every godly principle and all at huge cost to himself. It brought him joy to fulfill the law even though it cost him. Just look at the number of times people picked up rocks to actually kill him; all the scheming and planning to murder him. He was eventually nailed to a cross. He was hated because he revealed our own heart toggles to us.
However, He will credit all of His perfect law-keeping, all that perfect obedience He performed into your account right now, before you stand before Him as judge, so you are seen as if His obedience was actually yours. He desires to do this for you upon simple repentance and faith in Him.
Do it.
Don’t stand before him one day with only your own toggle-filled life.