By YouTube Originals
.
.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
( music playing )
00:04
Hey! It’s so good to see you.
00:07
Janelle Monáe here,
00:09
and I am your special guest substitute.
00:14
Did you know that fewer than 600 people
00:18
actually get to vote for president?
00:19
Most people think that they voted for president,
00:21
but to explain why and how that’s not actually true
00:24
we’re going to talk about the complicated way
00:26
American democracy is set up.
00:29
Hey, everyone. I’m Cat Shieh.
00:30
My pronouns are she/her/hers.
00:32
And I teach History in Los Angeles.
00:34
And this lesson is about the Electoral College.
00:37
Joining me to help teach this lesson,
00:40
we have a celebrity substitute–
00:42
Janelle Monáe!
00:44
– Hi! – Hi, Cat.
00:46
Hey, it’s so good to see you.
00:48
It’s wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for having me.
00:52
I love the fact that we got paired up together.
00:54
I think that we share a lot of really good values,
00:57
and I was just elated.
00:59
Aww, same. Thank you so much for your dedication to teaching
01:04
the next generation of future leaders.
01:06
My grandmother instilled in us to vote.
01:09
She was a sharecropper. She couldn’t vote because of the color of her skin.
01:13
So I take a personal investment in it.
01:15
And if it’s okay with you, Cat,
01:17
I’m going to take over your lesson
01:19
on the Electoral College.
01:22
So, why has basically no one
01:24
ever actually voted for president?
01:26
In order to understand that, you need to first understand
01:29
the United States system of government.
01:31
We’re all aware that the U.S. is a democracy.
01:34
What does that mean?
01:35
The definition of democracy is…
01:42
There are many ways to organize a democracy
01:45
the same way there are many ways to,
01:47
let’s just say, bake a cake.
01:50
But democracy fall into two main categories.
01:53
Direct democracy is where citizens vote on issues directly.
01:56
Cat: If we were using direct democracy
01:58
to decide what kind of cake I eat,
02:00
I’d say, “I vote for chocolate cake,”
02:03
and then that vote would be cast.
02:05
Janelle: A different way of organizing things
02:07
is called representative democracy.
02:09
In a representative democracy,
02:11
you don’t vote on things directly.
02:12
Instead, you vote for a person, your representative,
02:16
who you trust to make those votes for you.
02:19
If we were using a representative democracy
02:21
to decide what kind of cake I eat,
02:23
I’d say, “I vote for Janelle.”
02:26
And then I’d trust Janelle to pick my flavor of cake.
02:30
Well, you’re going to get a red velvet.
02:34
I trust you. Even if I didn’t, I’d still have to.
02:37
– Mmm. – All right. How is it?
02:40
Tastes like freedom.
02:43
There are some places in the United States
02:45
where democracy is direct.
02:47
For example, if you live in a state
02:49
where citizens vote on ballot measures.
02:51
But overall, the United States is a representative democracy,
02:55
also called a republic.
02:57
We have a very particular way of electing
02:59
the highest position, the president.
03:01
Before we get into how presidential elections work,
03:04
I do have a student who is eager to learn more about this.
03:06
Janelle, could we surprise her and let her join the lesson?
03:10
– Let’s do it. – You’re gonna love her.
03:12
– Khouri! Khouri! Khouri! – Hey!
03:16
What’s going on? It’s been, like, a minute.
03:17
Nothing much. Just– just out here chilling.
03:20
So does that mean you’re not doing your homework?
03:25
So, I think I told you
03:27
that you’re doing a political lesson with me.
03:28
– Yes, you did. – I semi-lied to you.
03:31
Because the person who is substituting with me
03:35
– is Janelle Monáe. – Wait, really?
03:40
– Hi. – Hi.
03:50
– Are you okay? – Um, kind of. No, not really.
03:54
– You are so adorable. – Thank you.
03:57
I have heard nothing but beautiful things about you.
04:00
– Oh. – You’re a senior in high school.
04:03
Yeah. I’m going to Howard, but–
04:05
– Howard? – Yes.
04:07
I got accepted into Howard. Not a lot of people know that.
04:10
I was supposed to go there, but I ended up
04:12
going to performing arts school in New York.
04:13
– Wow. – So what are you most excited about?
04:16
Definitely meeting new people.
04:18
And also Freshmen Week. I heard it’s really fun.
04:21
You trying to go shopping? To get things?
04:24
Yes. But, you know, it’s quarantine,
04:26
so I have to wait till I get there.
04:28
I’d love to offer to buy anything that you need
04:32
that can be shipped to possibly your dorm or your house
04:35
so that you can take with you when you go to school.
04:38
– Is that okay? – Oh, my God.
04:39
Yes, that’s fine.
04:41
Thank you so much.
04:43
It’s an honor to see you and to know you’re doing well.
04:47
I hope that you enjoy our lesson
04:49
and we refresh your mind on some of these topics.
04:52
Thank you so much.
04:54
You’re welcome. Be great. Be amazing. Shine.
04:57
Wow. I love you, Mrs. Shieh. I love you, too, Janelle Monáe.
05:01
I love you too, Khouri.
05:03
So we know about how democracies can be set up,
05:06
but we still haven’t answered why fewer than 600 people
05:09
actually get to vote for the president.
05:11
The US president is chosen through the Electoral College.
05:15
What does that mean?
05:17
Well, the Electoral College is a system
05:19
where you vote for someone
05:20
who then votes for the president on your behalf.
05:23
When you vote for president,
05:25
you’re actually voting for an elector,
05:27
who is a member of the Electoral College.
05:30
After the general public casts their votes,
05:32
those electors, all 538 of them,
05:36
get together and cast votes for the president.
05:38
Whichever candidate gets the most votes
05:41
from those electors wins.
05:43
Here’s the catch. Those electors are actually given out state by state,
05:47
so the president isn’t just who wins the most votes
05:50
across the entire country.
05:51
It’s who wins the most electors by state.
05:54
That’s right. The higher a state’s population,
05:57
the more electors they are assigned.
06:00
So to become president, you need to win a majority
06:02
or at least 270 of those electoral votes.
06:06
Even if you only win a slim majority
06:08
of the popular vote in a state,
06:10
you usually win all of that state’s electoral votes.
06:13
That’s why sometimes a candidate can win fewer people’s votes
06:16
across the country but still be elected president.
06:19
How is that possible?
06:21
I know that’s what you’re asking yourself.
06:23
Well, I’m going to show you
06:25
by running for president of my kitchen.
06:28
( chuckles )
06:29
The voters I’m going to try and win over
06:32
are the candy in these jars.
06:36
We have gumballs.
06:37
We also have some fruit chews.
06:41
And we have some blue taffy.
06:45
To keep it simple,
06:46
let’s say each jar is its own state
06:49
and each has one single electoral vote.
06:52
Let’s call our states Gummsylvania,
06:55
Fruit-a-chew-setts, and Ken-taffy.
06:57
And the candidates? You know ’em.
07:00
Bryant Gumballs himself,
07:03
and Tonalt Taffy.
07:05
It’s the political match-up of the century.
07:08
In order for either candidate to win this election,
07:11
they will need to win two electoral votes.
07:14
So that means that they’ll need to win
07:15
two of the three states– or jars.
07:18
If I’m elected, I promise I’ll do right
07:21
by the good people of Gummsylvania.
07:24
I’ll fight to make sure that gumball machines
07:27
are fully stocked and regularly repaired.
07:30
For too long, politicians have listened only to some candies.
07:35
If you elect me Tonalt Taffy,
07:37
I promise to give you the voice you deserve.
07:39
And under my watch, no candy will ever be forced
07:42
into a paper wrapper again.
07:46
Cat: So, let’s say that Bryant Gumballs won over the gumballs hands down
07:50
and Tonalt Taffy won over the fruit chews and taffy.
07:55
The question is who won the election?
07:57
Well, if we were just going by direct democracy,
08:01
there are more gumballs than the other two candies combined.
08:04
So whoever won over the gumballs would be the winner
08:07
because they won more candy voters overall.
08:09
But if we’re going by our version
08:11
of the Electoral College,
08:13
the winner of the fruit chews
08:14
and the taffy won two states instead of just one,
08:17
so that candidate would become president.
08:20
Whether or not this is a fair system
08:22
or whether or not we wanted Tonalt Taffy
08:24
is one of the great political debates of our time.
08:26
People from all walks of life
08:28
disagree and debate about this.
08:30
Some people think that the Electoral College is unfair
08:33
because the candidate more people vote for
08:36
doesn’t always end up getting elected.
08:37
But if it was just the popular vote,
08:40
candidates could cater to only the places
08:42
with the most people living in them,
08:43
and the issues facing smaller and more rural communities
08:46
might get overlooked.
08:47
So, what did we learn?
08:48
First off, we know that the United States
08:51
is a representative democracy,
08:52
otherwise known as a republic.
08:54
The head of our representative democracy is our president.
08:58
And our president is elected through the Electoral College.
09:01
So, why do fewer than 600 people in our whole country
09:05
actually get to vote for president?
09:06
The answer is because there are only 538 people
09:10
in the Electoral College.
09:12
And now, if you’ll excuse me…
09:16
Mmm. I love being president.
09:20
If you want to contribute to an amazing cause,
09:22
click the donate button to give to Project Isaiah,
09:25
a new initiative designed to tackle
09:27
hunger-related challenges
09:28
brought on by the COVID-19 crisis.
09:31
You can visit Isaiah.org for more information.
09:34
It’s time to take a break from class,
09:36
but make sure you hit the subscribe button before you go.
09:39
That way you’ll never miss an episode
09:41
of “Celebrity Substitute,” only on YouTube.
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want a deeper connection with our community, please join us as a Premium Member today.
Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Screenshot from video
.