by Robert Fischer
As I thought about what I would write today, a flood of topics came to mind including the possibility that the president could have won reelection if he had not been himself. If he had not acted as he has and had he stepped up to the challenge of the pandemic things might have turned out differently. After all, over 71 million people cast their ballots for him and the Republicans did quite well this election up and down the ballot in state and local elections.
This being said, the really big story at this point is what is happening right now. The president and his allies refuse to admit defeat in the face of overwhelming evidence that he lost the popular vote and the contest for electoral votes. Not only has he refused to concede but he is also throwing up barricades to the orderly transition of power as has always been our tradition in this country. There is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary that the president-elect has been chosen at this point.
At best this is embarrassing for all of us, Republicans and Democrats alike as well as the citizenry across this land. It is simply saddening and makes one want to hide until it is over. We will get through this, but it didn’t have to be this way.
At worst, it is frightening and possibly a portent that our republic is more fragile than believed. The refusal to honor election results and admit defeat and the urging of resistance to the outcome is the stuff of undemocratic and authoritarian political systems. This challenges our long held truths about ourselves as nothing more than myths.
In these pages over the course of months now I have scrupulously avoided any mention of national socialism of Germany in the 1930s as a possible comparison. I have done so to avoid sounding like those who constantly hurl socialism and communism at the Democrats to win votes. Such bravado is, in my opinion, sheer recklessness, if not ignorantly irresponsible.
I mention the NAZIS now reluctantly but with great foreboding!