Cassandra was a priestess in Greek mythology cursed to utter true prophecies, but never to be believed. Her predictions regarding the fall of Troy fell on deaf ears, and as did her warnings of prolonged bloodshed for the House of Atreus.
I hope that my fears for the fate of our democracy are heightened unnecessarily, but we are right now in dangerous times. Yes, our spontaneous celebrations on Saturday were well-deserved. We worked night and day for four years to bring these votes to the Biden-Harris ticket. I am thankful for all of you who turned out whenever called.
Let’s be clear; the math is clear; Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the winners and we all should take pride in that accomplishment and breathe a sigh of relief that we now have a leader who can actually govern and restore the institutions that make our democracy great. We now have a chance to pull our country from the brink of destruction.
Our mobilization immediately after the election to “Count Every Vote” was calculated to make sure that that was the narrative that pervaded the public discourse. This message successfully drowned out Trump’s pathetic claims of fraud despite the complete lack of evidence. This message compelled states to carefully and methodically count every vote. Public outcry and public pressure can and must counteract the pressure of a mad-king leader like Trump.
But the fact that many Americans are now lulled by the clear win of Joe Biden and are no longer moved to action is worrisome. The Republicans newest war-cry is that the media doesn’t decide the winner and they are, in a technical sense, correct. The media collects the data and merely reports the result. In our archaic system, the states decide the winner when they certify the results and electors. This hasn’t happened yet. Republican state legislatures (as in PA), can decide whether to ignore the will of the people or not. What might make them decide that they should appoint their electors to Trump? A belief in a completely false narrative that the election results are fraudulent and insufficient public pressure from those who actually cast their vote! Trump and his Republican enablers are right now grabbing the narrative and applying pressure to these legislators! If Trump has proven anything, it is that he is a master manipulator, adept at confounding truth, and
His refusal to concede or allow the transition to begin, is merely buying time to sufficiently muddy the waters, bring baseless legal challenges, and sow doubt in the minds of elected state officials and the public before the certification of results – which must happen in mid-December. You might remember another consequential December in the year 2000 when the Supreme Court stopped the FL recount. It could happen again, and this time, might just be the final nail in the coffin for democracy.
I hope I am wrong.
Indivisible Outer Cape 