American Democracy

A few months ago I wrote an essay about the protests over the President's election. As the days passed some of those protests turned into riots. It's my hope that by today, Inauguration Day, they will have abated, and we can return to the important job of healing the rifts both within our democracy and with the other countries of the world. The time for questions has passed and we need to address the answers.

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America looks bad. The country that has promoted democracy as the ideal political system is beginning to look like a Third World republic. It is enduring protests at the results of a free election and the procedures of our Constitution. Our image in the world, which has been diminishing for the past few years, is being further tarnished. It is a self-inflicted wound.

There had been anxiety about riots by his supporters if Trump lost, but now that he has won there are riots in the streets by those who claim he is not their president. They once castigated him for not pledging to accept the election results but now won't do so themselves.

Is this the real America? Are we a country of whiners? I don't recall this happening in the past? Have we become a “democracy” in which the losers refuse to accept the results of an election? Should we anticipate the same reaction in state and local elections?

Admittedly the President-Elect didn't receive a majority of the votes, but neither did Secretary Clinton. She, Like Mr. Trump, would have wound up as a minority president. Had she declined to accept the results of the election like her supporters we would have faced a constitutional crisis, but she graciously conceded the election to Mr. Trump. Indeed, Barack Obama, the President and a large contributor to the Secretary's defeat, conceded the election and has begun transition procedures.

One of the causes of the unhappiness is the fact that it wasn't expected. Mrs. Clinton was a “shoe-in”in the minds of many voters. The polls and the media assured us that the only questions revolved around the makeup of the new Congress. The various minority groups and their supporters had little doubt that they would soon have the executive office and an improved position in the legislature. And they were confident that the new Supreme Court justice would favor the programs that they favored. And the boosters of Senator Sanders were certain that their new leader, President Clinton, would promote their agenda. But they were wrong. The polls were wrong, the media were wrong, and the expectations of many of the voters were wrong.

I didn't support Mr. Trump (nor Secretary Clinton, for that matter), but he's my president. The test of a democracy is our support for its institutions even when we disagree with the policies of our leaders and our representatives. There won't be a “do-over.” If they're still going on, it's time to stop the tantrums and to move on.

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November 14, 2016