Votes, Victors, Victims, and the Biggest Loser

So, we had an election. The presidential loser is having his predictable temper tantrum, spouting lies and fraudulently claiming fraud. As we’ve seen of his personal psychology, he will even more desperately seek the attention and adulation of his followers, retribution against his “enemies,” and new streams of cash. He seems quite aware that social media attention is garnered by controversy rather than reality, so he will continue to sow doubt about the election and foment unrest. It may be the only way he can claim (in his own mind) relevance and significance. Service and the common welfare are alien to his considerations.

Followers of this authoritarian loser are in disbelief, having believed the self-aggrandizement of their Dear Leader, and appalled that Republicans’ egregious jerrymandering and voter suppression did not work as well as planned. Devoted haters of the Democratic Party have joined Russian trolls in their attacks on anything Democratic. The Republican machine of the reactionary right is fomenting disinformation and hoaxes, which are eagerly believed by groomed minions. Meanwhile, the majority of people of not only this country but of democratic countries of the world have breathed a sigh of relief that America can re-join efforts at facing serious problems under which we will all suffer if unaddressed, and that the aristocratic oligarchic kleptocracy has loosened its death grip on our politics. These are generalities, to be sure, but they are, nevertheless, generally true.

The losing president and his base, however, will continue to engage in their incestuous dance, each amplifying the self-serving obsessions of the other. Trump will try to be what he thinks his base wants – to reflect and amplify their fear, distrust, ignorance – justifying their amoral and anti-social inclinations with more justifications of hatred, greed, retribution, and even violence.

Unfortunately, some portion of our relieved citizenry will fall back into complacency, thinking that things have been set right, that a few powerful people on their side will make things OK, and that America has returned to its senses. This is the complacency that led to the last four years’ adventure into our chaos, global decline, and the corporate swamp.

The Democratic Party and its new regime are certainly preferable to what we’ve had over the last few years but it will, nevertheless, have to prove its worthiness. Promises and vision are not enough. And they will face the automatic obstruction that reactionary forces have had on meaningful service to ordinary citizens while the economic elite gathers yet more wealth.

As for me, it’s disappointing that we came as close as we did to a further descent into fascist authoritarianism fueled by fear, anger, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, religious bigotry, and anti-science ignorance. A significant battle has been won, but big money still profits from social injustice. Theocratic authoritarianism still lurks around the edges of “conservative” efforts at obstruction and control. These malevolent forces are, at the moment, defeated but remain unabated.

Vigilance, education, transparency, and honesty are the price of our freedom, along with prosecution of those who would seek power and wealth in violation of common social values and law.

The Biden-Harris win, as significant as it is in so many ways, like Obama’s, is likely to create yet another backlash of the gullible, fearful, angry citizenry that is easily manipulated by propaganda machines. They must be dealt with firmly, without demonizing them. Legitimate grievances must be heard. Malevolent sources of disinformation must be disempowered – not by force but by the power of truth and by the efforts of people of sound mind and good heart.

Ignorance can be educated; mistakes can be forgiven; but malevolence must be called out, contained, and disempowered.

One side of the political divide has been shaken and its beliefs challenged. The other side’s world appears to have been restored. Both are illusions that call for serious conversation, honesty and a restoration of science, reality, and hard work to hammer out solutions that will benefit us all in the long run. The decisions and solutions of this time will have consequences far into the future.

As Vice-President-Elect Harris said, this is a nation of possibilities. We saw how close we came to some of the worst of those possibilities in the dying regime’s unbridled ambition to serve Wall Street, corporate greed, and religious extremists.