There have been instances of divided, we stand, in America
America’s most recent election cycle has strained its Constitution. We can only hope the profound document is as lifeless as originalists claim and was not living and breathing as those left of the political center assert.
If true that it is a breathing document, it has been rendered comatose from trauma. But it is alive.
More than 79 million popular votes were cast in favor of Joe Biden becoming the next president of the United States. Assuming nothing is awry in Denmark (or Pennsylvania, or Michigan, or Georgia), good for him. We can hope our nation can move together. Hope.
The over 73 million Americans who voted for Mr. Trump have been painted as being racist simpletons. Anti-Trumpist propaganda by leftist followers abounds (e.g. cries of “they’re all racist” from many Democrats).
For many Trump supporters, the Republic’s end is nigh. They feel they have no country, at least not a recognizable one. Palpable rage and dismay proliferate the social media stratosphere. The snark cast from the left upon the “deplorables” has fallen like a well-intentioned horrid spell upon the shoulders of our nation. Magically, even after the president’s supporters descended upon our nation’s capital and other American cities, in the aftermath they remain nonetheless intact.
Has it ever been this bad, though? Well, pretty much, yes.
The election of 1800 included several elements of discord, including Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tying 73 to 73 in electoral votes. Alexander Hamilton, who had competed with Burr in many arenas, political and legal, considered Burr an unscrupulous scoundrel. In Hamilton’s words, Aaron Burr loved “nothing but himself — thinks of nothing but his own aggrandizement — and
will be content with nothing short of permanent power in his own hands.” Infamously, Hamilton died from injuries sustained in an 1804 duel with Burr.
Many on the left side of the fence would argue the currently browning grass is by order of a man very much of Burr’s sort. That may very well be in some ways, but they dare not forget there are over 73 million reasons why their word isn’t the final one, that a good amount of healing lies before us, and dismissiveness — by those on the right or left — won’t get us there.
Either way, let’s hope we don’t see two septuagenarians challenge each other to a duel. I’m not ruling it out, though. It is 2020 after all.
Another historical comparison of note is the election of 1876, where Democratic presidential candidate Samuel Tilden conceded despite his having won the popular vote and being only one vote behind in the Electoral College count. His main rival, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, eventually expressed willingness to end Reconstruction (especially federal troops presence) in the South.
It’s worthwhile looking at Tilden’s concession speech. Given our current situation, these words might sound eerily fitting. “The people must signally condemn the great wrong which has been done to them. They must strip the example of everything that can attract imitators. They must refuse a prosperous immunity to crime.”
As a hashtag campaign, those on the right might use #73millionmatter. But the left matters just as much.
Consensus in Congress and elsewhere, however difficult to arrive at, must be aim of both sides of the political aisle. A power grab will lead to a midterm trouncing much like the 2010 congressional election. Remember the fight over Obamacare? That and a few other issues led Tea Party and other Republicans to victory in the House of Representatives, allowing them to gain control of that chamber after winning over 60 more seats, the biggest net gain and political shift for a midterm since 1938.
William F. Buckley Jr., oft considered the father of the 20th-century conservative movement, once said American conservatism should welcome all brands of conservatism except for racists, anti-Semites and “kooks.” No doubt some of the very kooks that distressed Buckley are lurking in the pro-Trump camp. However, “they all” thinking, which marks the ill-informed, is not going to work here.
Unfortunately, “they all” may be what many Democrats are arguing.
The Trump Accountability Project, seemingly inspired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, argues that: “We should not allow the following groups of people to profit from their experience: Those who elected him. Those who staffed his government. Those who funded him.” McCarthy, anyone?
Mr. Biden, in showing some moderation, has for now convinced the project to cease. It chose to follow the “spirit of the president-elect’s call to build a more united country,” and announced that “this project will no longer be active.”
There will be more of these barbs from the left, and likely from the right, ones that will put a wrench in the nation-healing works. Certainly Biden’s supporters detracting from the message of moderation should be reminded that all voices matter, #73millionmatter.
Regardless of one’s ire, we all need to remember the metaphor of the bird. Right wing and left wing are needed for the bird to fly. The American eagle is no exception.
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