First, an admission: I have no idea what I’m talking about.
Oh, plenty of readers will say, “So what else is new?” But this time it’s different, because as I write this, it is 8 a.m. on November 3, Election Day in America, and although you know what happened next, right now I don’t.
It’s voting day, and although pandemic social distancing guarantees that lines will wind out the door and around the block, the newspaper’s weather page hints that, for once, in a year when everything seems to be going wrong, this time everything is going to go right.
In New Orleans on election day, it’s 70 and sunny. Bismarck, North Dakota, is 70 and sunny. San Diego is 72 and sunny. Washington, DC, is 60 and sunny.
In other words, all across the land, there is nothing standing in the way of record-high voting turnout. And what could possibly be better than that, America?
Both political parties are anchored in a base of stubborn voters who won’t listen to anything that disagrees with beliefs they’ve already swallowed unconditionally. When none but the bases vote, the choice comes down to whether the maniacs turn out in bigger numbers than the lunatics do. Horrible weather on election day can do that, because the maniacs and lunatics will turn out, no matter what.
But when record numbers of Americans turn out to vote—and when all those votes are counted and accepted—then America wins no matter which base wins and which base whines.
As you read this, that decision will have been made. But as I write this, it is 8 a.m. on Election Day. You know who won. I don’t, yet.
But not knowing what I’m talking about has never shut me up before, so either way, I am writing today, on Election Day, to say this to the victor:
Congratulations, Mr. President, whoever you are. May you lead our nation well.
I hope I will be saying this without grinding my molars to dust, but I’ll say it regardless. It is un-American to say anything other. It is especially un-American to spout hare-brained “rigged vote” conspiracy theories and cast doubt on results weeks, months and years before the election even occurs.
That is exactly what our enemies would want to see happen in America. Putin would like nothing more than to see Americans doubt their own most treasured institutions. Regardless of which old American man is now president as you read this, Russia wins if Americans believe he got there unfairly. Any American buying into that belief with no solid supporting evidence is a Russian stooge.
And, probably, either an aforementioned maniac or lunatic.
Sadly, many Americans already bought into that unsupported conspiracy theory long ago, fueled by a candidate who swore to accept election results only if they went his way. “The system is rigged,” he claimed. He also did so before the 2016 election (but then fell silent when he won that “rigged” election.)
As I write this, the 2020 election hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know if voters will give Trump a second chance to get it right, or if we will send a failed president back to being a failed businessman.
But what I know for certain is this: I accept the results as the proper workings of our American system — especially since record numbers of Americans cast their votes to arrive at those results.
Oh, I’ll have my opinions about it, of course, and I won’t be shy about expressing them — another great American tradition. But regardless of the outcome, I will accept the results.
I accepted the 2016 results, even though the majority of votes were subverted to the will of the Electoral College, because—as molar-grinding as that outdated system is — it is the legal American way.
“So it goes,” as Kurt Vonnegut stoically repeats more than a hundred times in his disturbing masterpiece novel “Slaughterhouse Five.”
It’s the same with Supreme Court selections, another great American tradition. It was molar-grinding for me to watch the Republican Senate rush an ultra-conservative confirmation only days before Americans got to speak in the 2020 election — but so it goes, because voters gave them that power in the last election.
It was even more molar-grinding to see that same Republican Senate block Obama’s nominee for a whole year before the 2016 election — but so it goes, because voters gave Republican senators that power in the previous election.
As President Trump said in defense of the Senate’s ham-handed, hypocritical power play: “Elections have consequences.” Sometimes even a chronic liar stumbles onto a truth.
Sitting here early on election day 2020, I can only guess what might happen once the results are announced. There will likely be demonstrations—another great American tradition. I trust they will stay peaceful, as long as the maniacs and lunatics stay out of it.
If Trump loses, it would be un-American for him to bunker down, change the White House locks and release the hounds. Only an un-American maniac would support that effort.
If Biden loses, it would be un-American for him to pull up to the White House in a moving van waving an eviction notice. Only an un-American lunatic would support that effort.
As you read this, the election is over. Our president has been chosen according to our most cherished American tradition.
As I write this, it is 8 a.m. on a warm, sunny Election Day, and I don’t know who that president will be or what might happen next. But regardless of the result, I won’t change a word when I submit this for publication.
Congratulations, Mr. President, whoever you are. May you lead our nation well.
Congratulations, America — maniac, lunatic, and all in between — for keeping our cherished traditions more alive than ever, even in dire, troubling times.
So it goes.
Author, musician and storyteller TR Kerth is a retired teacher who has lived in Sun City Huntley since 2003. Contact him at trkerth@yahoo.com. Can’t wait for your next visit to Planet Kerth? Then get TR’s book, “Revenge of the Sardines,” available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online book distributors.
