“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

–Abraham Lincoln (June 16, 1858)

Before getting to the title tease, a few thoughts on the recent election process. It was an unmitigated mess, and it didn’t have to be that way. We knew most of the early voting would be Democrat and, as vote counting went on, the total would favor former Vice President Biden. That’s exactly what happened. I am not a conspiracy theorist, as life is too short to indulge in such negativity, but something about the vote-counting just doesn’t smell right. It has resulted in a predictable backlash and a bushel of lawsuits and, as of the time of this writing, the election results are still not official. Can we agree that before the next election a standard should be enacted to which all states must adhere?

I have no problem with early voting, but we’ve had a system in place for years called absentee voting which has worked very well. Especially this year, there were people with legitimate concerns about standing in line to vote on November 3. They voted early and deserved to have their vote count. Voting in America, after all, is a right, but with rights come responsibilities. For example, I have a right to freely speak my mind, as long as I do so responsibly. If I slander someone, I may have to face legal consequences. An individual who chooses to vote early has a responsibility to do so properly: to take the initiative to actually request a mail-in ballot, sign the ballot, and mail it in a timely fashion. This has been the accepted method for years–until this year. There is no reason–no reason–that unsolicited ballots should be mailed to addresses where the individual may no longer live, or where someone once lived but is now deceased. Historically, the deadline for the receipt of absentee ballots has been set by each state, but this year political parties and state supreme courts preempted state laws to extend the deadline, resulting in prolonged counting. Currently, votes are still being counted in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and my adopted state of North Carolina. In fact, counting in NC will continue until November 12. This is ludicrous. It’s no wonder some people suspect hanky-panky.

All of that said, I believe Mr. Biden is the winner of the election, though many people will disagree with me. How did he win? His close-to-the-vest (or basement) campaign was based on two issues: President Trump’s character and the Covid 19 pandemic. To be sure, there is Trump fatigue, and no one but Mr. Trump is to blame for that. He couldn’t get out of his own way long enough to let undecided voters properly evaluate many of his administration’s good policies. The pandemic, however, was not his fault, and Mr. Biden may come to regret using it as a wedge issue. Remember, it’s a pandemic unlike anything seen in our lifetime, folks. Biden’s claim that Trump was responsible for over 200,000 deaths was outrageous and irresponsible. If accepted as truth, however, doesn’t that logically beg the question: will a President Biden be responsible for every Covid death that occurs after January 20, 2021? Reason would suggest not, but Biden made that bed, and he’ll have to sleep in it. I believe his messaging on Covid will be better than Trump’s (not a very high bar!), but I seriously doubt he’ll manage the pandemic much differently or more effectively than the Trump Administration did. I hope I’m wrong, and I pray that a vaccine will be available soon.

Now, to the winner: quite simply, yet profoundly, the winner is the American people. We voted in record turnout this year. In fact, the only presidential candidate in our nation’s history to get more votes than President Trump got this year was Mr. Biden. Americans voted to change the occupant of the White House to a calmer, less vitriolic resident, but they also voted to curb his party’s progressive bent by narrowing the Democrat majority in the House and, barring the unlikely chance of both Republicans losing in the Georgia run-offs, keeping Senate Republicans in the majority. The voters spoke out for change, but against radical change. A Biden Administration will have to work with the Senate to be successful. That’s how divided government works, and it’s why our brilliant founders devised it that way.

More specifically, Blacks and Hispanics won this year. They are gradually increasing their support for Republican candidates as they realize the GOP’s populist conservatism helps their quest for equal opportunity to pursue personal success and political influence. Whether Republican or Democrat, all Americans should celebrate a system in which both major parties are competing for the support and well-being of our minority citizens. As President Kennedy once said, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Finally, all of the candidates who ran this year, whether they won or lost, are winners. They had the courage to throw their hats into the ring and, in today’s political climate, the gumption that takes cannot be overstated. If you worked on a candidate’s campaign or supported one financially, and that candidate lost, you’re still a winner. Now, accept the results and vow to work harder next election. That’s how a democratic republic operates.

Lincoln’s quote cited above was not original, but was taken from Jesus’s teachings in the Bible’s New Testament. That notion, first stated almost 2,000 years ago, still holds true today. We need to come together as a nation. Our elected officials in Washington need to once again work across the aisle and produce bipartisan legislation that benefits all Americans. As a people, we need to get back to respecting one another’s opinions, even when they fly in the face of our own, and actually listen to one another. It’s high time we get started.