In the Aftermath--Georgia on Everyone's Mind

 It is doubtful that any election has ever been quite so scrutinized as 2020’s general. We all knew that if the results weren’t favorable to the incumbent president, he would claim a rigged election; he told us that straight out. So officials were watching. And while there were efforts at suppression and even some for repression (one could note these efforts came from the GOP, but no need to digress); nevertheless, no credible evidence of significant and intentional vote manipulation has been shown. 

Moreover, as many have pointed out, if some cabal were managing to coordinate fraud across various states to defeat Qanon’s savior-in-chief, why did it not add more seats in the House of Representatives and grab control of the Senate? Why are state legislative bodies not overwhelmingly blue? 

Politico  reported on 4 November  that “Republicans were already set to have total control over the crafting of more than twice as many congressional seats as Democrats. And after a weak showing on Tuesday, Democrats did nothing to reverse that disadvantage, giving Republicans a chance to draw favorable maps that will help them elect their preferred state and federal representatives for the next five election cycles.” [Ally Mutnick and Sabrina Rodriguez, “‘A Decade of Power’: Statehouse wins position GOP to dominate redistricting”] Given the long-term importance of these races, you’d think any fraud effort would make sure that the GOP didn’t retain quite so much power, right?

But let’s leave all that to one side for a moment. Let’s just acknowledge that United States’ voters are divided, that within many states, there’s a seesaw effect among political subdivisions, but that the institution of elections has held. Officials did their jobs with integrity, and absent any evidence to the contrary, it was a free and fair election, despite the pandemic.

In 2020, you might be able to quibble about a few thousand votes here or there—which recounts will settle—but it’s hard to dispute that BOTH the popular and the electoral votes went in Joe Biden’s column in a significant number. The president knows it, which is why he’s sulking in the white house, purging any appointee he thinks might not fully support him, and filing frivolous lawsuits everywhere. The Rudy Giuliani press conference at Four Seasons Landscaping is an apt metaphor for the entire debacle. 

Campaign yard signs, Maine 2020

Which begs the question: why are GOP leaders not acknowledging Biden’s win and rejecting the president’s drama? To agree there was fraud calls into question the very real GOP gains in this election, gains that, as Politico points out, offer a decade of power in the redrawing of congressional district lines. It calls into question close races for the Senate and the GOP’s control of that body. That’s the political (and somewhat cynical) question.

More importantly, the GOP has always held itself up as the real defender of constitutional principles and national security. What the president is doing undermines both. “Law and order” is not the same thing as “Rule of Law,” as every lawyer should know—and there are many lawyers in the Congress. In fact, law and order that isn’t subject to the rule of law—tiresome principles like due process and freedom of speech and assembly—partakes little of law and turns order into authoritarianism.

If you’ve not drunk the Kool-Aid, you’re aware that the incumbent president doesn’t give a damn about the nation and its citizens outside the role he’s  gotten to play as president. His current conduct makes that patently clear if it wasn't already. There’s a reason he loves rallies: standing at that podium before cheering crowds equates with how he sees the part he’s playing in a script he imagines. So if you’re a powerful Senate leader like Mitch McConnell, assuming you subscribe to the basic principles of the GOP, why do you not take the president on?

Some pundits say that Republicans are afraid of the backlash of their constituents, their “base” which is also the president’s base. They also want to keep the base mobilized for the Georgia run-offs, is the assertion.

May I respectfully point out that the nation is in peril, and one of the jobs of an elected official is to show leadership when leadership is required? Moreover, if the president could manipulate the so-called base into such fervor for him, seems like a savvy politician could find a way to distract and redirect that energy. True, it might be—it probably is, really—risky. But isn’t that what the oath of office requires? For the good of the country?

If they aren’t willing to do that, I find myself asking: why are they in Washington? Whose interests to they seek to serve?

And as to Georgia: while I get that there are times a divided government is a good thing, that there are times when you want that check on power, this is not that time. I BEG Georgians to send two Democrats to the Senate. One of them will have to be reelected in 2022, so there’s a built-in safeguard if Georgia’s worried about some sort of rampant Blue power grab. But a huge amount of damage has been done, damage we won’t fully comprehend until President-elect Biden is inaugurated—just as President Obama couldn’t realize the depth of the financial crisis of 2007 until he got the complete information upon stepping into the Oval Office. 

Socially distanced voters complete their ballots for scanning
and counting in Maine

The slim Democratic majority that electing Jon Ossof and Rafael Warnock would give the Senate isn’t enough to allow some sort of radical frenzy; but it might temper debates and allow President Biden to put things back on the track of progress, might restore order and orderliness. And it might begin the revitalization of Rule of Law, through thoughtful rather than knee-jerk obstructionist, confirmation votes on appointees selected for their qualifications and character. 

I sure hope Georgia will give this gift to the country: two years! And if you don’t like the country’s direction when it’s had a chance to actually move forward, well then, have at it and we can go back to chaos.