The Loser

My candidate lost. Gary Johnson got only 3% of the presidential vote nationwide. So he lost.

Not a big surprise. I didn't expect him to do much better, though I was hoping for 5%; in protest of the two major party candidates. (My older son voted for Vermin Supreme who promised everyone a free pony. He lost, too.)

But one of the contenders got the most votes. It was a plurality, not a majority, and he did very well considering the fact that the majority of the voters didn't trust either of the two contestants. (I use the word “contestants” because it was more like a reality show or an “Ugly” Contest than an election. And the voters tweeted in their choices on paper ballots.)

Unfortunately one of them had to win. And it was (President Elect) Donald Trump. He got more votes (electoral votes – though they won't be officially cast until next month) than Secretary Clinton.

Neither held out any hope for making America great, notwithstanding all the claims to the contrary. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, when discussing the Iran-Iraq War, gave, as his appraisal of the situation, "It's a pity they can't both lose." That was the view of the majority of the electorate in regard to this election. But the reality was that they couldn't both lose, and Trump got more votes than Clinton. So he'll be in charge for at least the next four years. (I hope that by 2020 our vision for our country will improve and we'll see a more qualified candidate for the post than the ones between whom we were forced to choose this time.)

In the end, however, the know-nothings out-polled the know-it-alls. It's likely that his supporters recognized his flaws and his deficiencies, but they didn't let them affect their votes. After all, he was one of them and, as Thaddeus Stevens said in 1877, "He's a damned rascal, but as he's *our* damned rascal we must put him in."

And they put him in.