America Voted!

Setting aside all the controversies, doubts, even a diminished integrity - real or perceived - of the process itself, American democracy will prevail. 

The electorate - though split almost down the middle - had made its bed.  Now, it must sleep on it for the next two and four years and at similar intervals for years to come. Each morning a reminder of the choices it made but it must live with it until such time to make another one. The Framers of the Constitution knew a thing or two about choices so they made sure that every two years the people get to tweak both houses of Congress.  They get to keep it for all the pleasant dreams and guaranteed a chance to change it for all the nightmares that come - from sleeping on the same bed every night. That is the American version of democracy.  Two years to tweak it each time and four years to either continue or change course.  It had worked for over two centuries even after going through one devastating Civil War, two world wars, an economic depression, three presidential assassinations. There is no reason to doubt that it will survive.  The fact that the country is able to go on and remained intact for so long is testament to the effectiveness of the model it picked in 1776.

Election promises people have come to live with, even if they were pies in the sky, because making pledges to the people by those who aspire to lead is fundamental to framing the candidate's platform from which to launch an agenda for governance and a checklist from which performance can be reviewed for the next election. That, however, is the center of democracy's major weakness. In fact, there are over two hundred years of history when pies in the sky were always half-expected for the most part to never  hit the ground.  They're there to whet the appetite to make the voters feel good about the promise that someday they will get to taste it.  Of course, they know too well that there are not enough days and years in their individual lifetimes to wait for it.  Otherwise, to paraphrase one political quote, if all the promises made by politicians were to come to fruition, wishing for heaven will no longer be necessary nor remain an imagination.  We should all be living in it now. The fact that we are not is one incontrovertible proof that we are not dead. At least, not yet.  Of course, no one from the afterlife has come back to tell us  about whether political promises were made real there either.  Let us not forget politicians are people too and their fate is the same as those who elected them. So, it is safe to assume not to let it get past them to not mess things up there as well.  Just teasing.

Such is the consequence of a democratic process.  It is the best we have.  It does not mean, however, that it is the best there is.  This takes us back to political promises again.  They are the best there is to hope for and keep our dreams alive.  To say that political promises are for the most part hollow echoes is to also say that huge caverns produce the loudest reverberations.  Career politicians get to practice the longest at producing echoes while non-politicians have a high expectation to overcome and a status quo that is almost immoveable.  A non-politician has one shot allowed and no less than a bull's eye is expected. And there lies the problem.  A less than perfect performance is easily exploited by those with more than enough in their quiver to blunt a continuation by its  administration. It all comes with the territory.

Over the course of its long history and Constitutional amendments aside, the present governing format seems to be effective overall, so there is no reason to start re-imagining (this word again from the previous blog). Re-imagining the Supreme Court, for example, or composition of the Houses of Congress, if the electorate so decides on a new bed design, so be it. For as long as the electorate accepts to lay on it then democracy had served its purpose. Elections, like all choices in life always have consequences.  There had been many instances of pivotal decisions by the people in the course of this country's history and it somehow managed to not only survive but it had flourished.

There will be much reckoning, second guessing, complex analysis, even profound regrets, and there will be enough blame to spread across, but the sky has not fallen and the country will survive.  For that, both halves of the electorate should be grateful for and remain hopeful that democracy remains a viable process. Alternatives that other parts of the world, past and present, dabbled in and experimented on serve clear reference points for all to see that what America had and will continue to have is about as best as is humanely possible. The 2020 results are more cautionary than celebratory. At best, the electorate will be at a much heightened level of vigilance; at worse, it is a reminder, once more, that democracy is indeed a fragile piece of national treasure that is not easy to hold onto or keep for the future generations to come.

America had made its bed for at least the next two years at the very least or for the entire four years until the next general election.  Sweet dreams or nightmares are consequences that it must face each morning. America will either come out strong and comfortable or restless and weakened.  It made its bed and only time will tell if it was such a good idea.