One Day To Go

Oh yes. Only one day before election day. Tomorrow. Early voting is done. Voting by mail is done. absentee ballots are in hand. All that is left is election day with its in-person voting.  

Counting the votes remains. That takes several hours but results will be in my late evening. We all will know the results before going to bed. The noise of campaigns should be done at that time. Well, there is a chance noise will continue. That all depends on who wins and who loses. The primary race is for the White House.

If Trump wins, there will be hoopla from Republicans. If Harris wins there will be cheers for her, the first woman president, African American at that. However, with a Harris win comes the threat of a Trump fight to overthrow the results. The fight won't be Trump himself taking the action, it will likely be his supporters who will obfuscate facts and threaten the peace.

Harris supporters will wonder at the disorder of such actions. Questioning the results of an election seems the order driving Trump and his minions. He has made this an art. Doubting election results, claiming dishonesty and procedural missteps, Trump has attempted to delay not only the results of election voting, but also their implementation. Certifying elections or even attempting to alter their counts has been his pattern of action. More of the same is expected if he is not declared the clear winner.

Most of us believe Trump will lose. We admit it will be close. We hope for a strong indication of his loss, but expect otherwise. The real worry is the confusion and chaos Trump is so effective producing. How will our social order deal with that? Will the courts be tied up for years on all of this? Will a peaceful transition of power be allowed? 

When Trump won the election over Hillary Clinton, many wept in sorrow. But the rest of us believed that transitions of power in America are orderly and will not demonstrate stark changes. We felt certain that the rule of law would maintain order and governance. 

We were mostly correct. Stark changes were engineered, but their effects were not long lasting. We found other ways to soften the impact. The changes, however, slowed progress and threatened democracy itself.

That same threat and blockage of progress is threatened today. But if Trump wins, we will survive yet again. The real hope is that Harris will win, and progress will proceed. The rate of progress will be hampered by the chaos of Trump and his supporters. They are good at that. But this time around, we are ready for it.

A Harris win will have its own momentum to keep American democracy alive and functioning. I hope and pray for this outcome. I know that I am not alone. 

The stakes are too dear.

November 7, 2024

    

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