Political Stuff

It's a week before the US Presidential et al elections and I'm losing my mind.  I don't mind saying that I voted for Biden.  If Trump wins I think my head will explode.  I have disliked the candidate I didn't support before, but never felt complete utter disgust.

I mailed my ballot Friday.  I hope it gets there on time.  I mean, it only has to travel to the next town and 11 days should be way more than safe.  I could probably mail a letter to someone in China in 11 days.  I have a tracking number, so I will check in a couple days.

My State (Maryland) is so Democratic it probably wouldn't matter if it didn't.  Even my County (which was very Republican when I moved here 34 years ago) is now thoroughly Democratic.  Maryland is so completely Democratic that neither Trump nor Biden bothered to visit here (that I know of).  I don't even get political telephone calls or emails.

Still, you never know until it is over.  I went into some shock when Clinton lost in 2016 and even waited 2 days for everyone to announce they reported it wrong.

I was watching some TV interviews with people doing early voting in person today.  It was about how long they had been waiting to vote.  Most said "several hours".  But when the interviewer asked one lady, I just KNEW the answer.  "4 years".  And that is exactly what she said a few seconds later.  I often do that with movies, new commercials, and political speeches.  

I'm waiting with bated breath for Trump to do or say something dramatic to try a last-ditch effort to win.  Announcing  a Covid-19 vaccine, a major tax break for the non-wealthy, firing Mitch McConnell, a war with North Korea, something, who knows?  

He's desperate.  If he loses the election, a half dozen States are just waiting to charge him with a boatload of tax crimes, loan fraud, and who knows what else?  If the Department of Justice is free of his control, they might have things to investigate even he can't pardon himself for.

So nothing Trump does between now and the election will surprise me.  But watch me get surprised.  "Aliens are arriving November 2nd, NASA says so"...

If Biden was up 20 points in every State, I would still be worried.

And I ponder the consequences of Trump still being in office until January 20 even if he loses.  He could do a lot of damage in rage and revenge.  And that would be in his pattern of past behavior.  Let's just say politely that "he does not respond well to rejection".

If Trump loses, I will credit Biden for staying calm and rational in the face of insults and attacks.  I will credit Harris for energy and support and fundraising.  I will credit Obama for getting on the campaign trail at the end (not too early, not too late) and being himself at his best.  His campaign speeches were great.

But mostly, I will credit the Democratic voters who turned out in 2020 who didn't turn out out for Clinton (though if they had, we wouldn't be in this hot mess),  the Republican voters of 2016 who realized that they made a mistake (everyone makes a mistake sometimes) and changed their minds about Trump,  all the Republican strategists and columnists who turned away from Trump in the past couple years (that must have been hard to do).  

And I also will credit the resiliency of American Democracy.  Not that other Nations don't have some strong traditions and history of their own, but the Trump Presidency has been a particular challenge. The US is often said to be a "Nation Of Laws".  Sometimes that means we pay more attention to "laws" than we do to "justice".  My personal opinion is that we depend on law and limit justice in hopes of fairness and consistency.

But, as we have discovered in the Trump Presidency, we are more a Nation of "norms" than we realized.  It wasn't until Trump and Senate Leader McConnell started ignoring the informal rules that this legal loophole became clear.  Decades and even a century of informal rules have been broken or ignored for short-term political gain.

Past political leaders have always played "hardball".  They bullied their own party members to get things done and threatened the other party with consequences.  Political leaders have a lot of control over campaign funds to recalcitrant party members, funds to States, and laws which benefit some industry or not.  Politics at the top level are not for sissies.

But some rules have been agreed upon by both sides.  You don't kick the opponent party TOO hard when they are down, because the boot will be on the other foot soon enough and revenge is certain.  If you want something, you give a little bit to get what you really want.  You talk to each other to understand what they care about the most.  If you need a bridge built in your State, you look for someone on the other side who needs a highway in theirs.  Give and take.

In a democracy, "politics is the art of the possible".  In an authoritarian government, politics means "stomping on the opposition and grinding them into the dirt".  It means destroying the Civil Service.  It means ridding the government of any and all of the people who are experts in their fields who disagree with you.

Trump has been working toward "authoritarianism" for 4 years.  It's time to call a halt to the whole damaging process and get back to the usual "fight like hell but obey the norms" again.