So if Clinton and Trump fall short of the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch — admittedly a huge “if,” given that projections show Clinton grabbing as many as 341 electoral votes — the decision goes to the new House of Representatives, which will be elected next month. The House will likely remain Republican, but less so than it is now. Also key in this scenario: Each state votes as a single bloc — so California and Rhode Island get one vote each.

I think I can skip a few steps and just assert that many representatives will refuse to vote for Trump or Clinton.

But what about McMullin? Here, the vanilla rule might apply. Vanilla is one of the most popular flavors in America not because it’s everyone’s favorite, but because it is the least objectionable to the greatest number of people. There are probably no Democrats who wouldn’t prefer McMullin to Trump. There are almost certainly no Republicans who wouldn’t prefer McMullin to Clinton. Picking the least objectionable option is often the essence of statesmanship. If 26 state delegations pick the least-bad option, McMullin becomes the first Mormon president.

Some would complain that this isn’t very democratic. So what?

By our contemporary standards, the Founding Fathers distrusted democracy too much. But they had good reasons. If you think all questions should be settled democratically, let’s scrap the Bill of Rights, which elevates our most fundamental priorities out of the reach of voters pretty much forever.