For most of us, 2020 has been the longest year of our lives. The presidential elections of last week were no different. Unsurprisingly, for a few some the fat lady has yet to sing and the election results remain in doubt. The election results, however, are not in doubt, at all. But, of course, the person leading those few some is nobody else but our dear President, who continues to publicly deny his clear re-election defeat.
So, is our current situation ripe for a coup d’état? Probably not. Unlike 160 years ago, our present situation is merely smoke and mirrors. We are only experiencing a side effect of electing a showman to our highest elected office. Four years ago, our President brought a lifelong, one-act, reality show into our government and daily lives. Since then, our showman President found new ways to break with well-established presidential etiquette, which had been heavily enforced on our past president by supporters of the present. Now, that is some sweet hypocrisy. Or, is it irony?
Whatever it is, it has all of us living in a state confusion, indirectly created by those we elected into power. For example, the state of Florida recently approved a proposition to gradually increase their minimum wage to $15. Ironically, those same Floridians elected majority conservative candidates throughout their state, who will likely oppose and place hurdles on the minimum wage increase. The same, but flipped, situation was seen here in California, since we elected majority progressive candidates, but rejected progressive propositions, such as rent control and affirmative action. We appear extremely confused and uninformed politically, which is worryingly ironic, since we do live in the great age of Facebook, the Internet, and, of course, TikTok.
That is only because we are caught in the crosshairs of a zero-sum game. A zero-sum game that is a result of our two-party political system that mostly rewards career politicians, as well as party loyalist, lobbyist, and donors. As we replace a person from one political party with a different person, from the opposite political party, all we have done in the end, is keep the balance of power the same. Sadly, the rise of an influential third party seems highly unlikely and improbable at this very moment. But, if we seek to reform our current two-party political system, from the inside out, then there is hope.
That hope is the collective voting power of us, the citizens. Our collective voting power remains the final check on our two-party political system and career politicians, whose power comes from those who elect them. These past few years, our voting power has been awfully divided and lost to the universe of alternative facts, fake news, and social media misinformation. A few some still find themselves lost in that river of denial, but, at least, hope won out this presidential election.
Even with so much political angst and disgust, voting become an important duty this past presidential election. It actually became a trendy thing to do, which is why turnout records were broken this year. More people than ever voted for both presidential candidates. In the end, a majority of us chose to give unity and hope one last go.
Our ego-centered President, who abandoned his duty to lead and care our nation in the middle of a global health pandemic, finally paid the ultimate price in our democratic society, public repudiation by a majority of the citizenry. Indeed, immediately after the presidential election results were announced, mostly masked citizens took to the streets to celebrate the results. Even in the worst election cycle of our era, which was full of misinformation, fake news, and a house of lies created by our President, the majority of us chose to justly vote out the showman.
So, don’t worry too much that our current President is refusing to concede his loss, because he is only a showman. The writing is already on the wall for our dear President and even his own political party and allies privately know it. In fact, our very own Department of Homeland Security just confirmed that last week’s presidential elections were the most secured ever. Courts and judges continue to dismiss our President’s lawsuits, while his own attorneys quit, since his finale show contains an openly authoritarian narrative.
Today, the election results are crystal clear and we will have a new President next year. We now have a glimmer of hope that a new presidential administration can help bring us more together than the current one ever did. This is especially important in order to stop the rampant spread of the highly contagious novel virus, which is infecting and killing our citizenry in record numbers, all due to the failed presidential leadership. Even though we may still be presently divided, at least we can sleep a little better knowing that a majority of us voted out the showman, who never once cared for the citizens that elected him.
Blessings.
the Gentle Pragmatist 