Where are ‘We, the People’ heading, moving forward?
VOTING is perhaps the most sacred and consequential right and obligation “We, the People” have been accorded by the Constitution, giving each and every citizen regardless of race, age, gender, socio-economic status, the equal power to steer our beloved country to the direction we deem to be the path toward the greater good in our democracy.
After the November 3rd election, we find ourselves again at the cusp as our nation moves in transition. But this election cycle has been different from the elections in the years past, and what happens next depends on us, “We, the People.”
Let us do a “A Christmas Carol” travelogue and for a moment be Charles Dickens’ character named Ebenezer Scrooge, as we are visited by the “spirits” of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas of Yet to Come.
Let us visit and revisit the state of our democracy, and hopefully just like Scrooge, we find our resolve as we choose the path to take for our nation and our people moving forward.
The Spirit of Christmas Past
I had the chance to President-Elect Trump last night, about 3:30 in the morning I think it it was, to congratulate him on winning the election, and I had a chance to invite him to come to the White House tomorrow to talk about making sure that there is a successful transition between our presidencies.
A lot of our fellow Americans are exultant today. A lot of Americans are less so. But that’s the nature of campaigns. That’s the nature of democracy. It is hard. And sometimes contentious and noisy. And it’s not always inspiring. Sometimes you lose an argument.
Sometimes you lose an election.
You know, the path that this country’s taken has never been a straight line. We zig, and zag, and sometimes we move in ways that some people think is forward and others think is moving back. And that’s okay. I’ve lost elections before…. That’s the way politics works sometimes.
We try really hard to persuade people that we are right. And then people vote. And then if we lose, we learn from our mistakes, we do some reflection, we lick our wounds, we brush ourselves off, we get back in the arena. We go at it. We try even harder the next time.
The point, though, is that we all go forward with a presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens. Because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy.
That’s how this country moved forward for 240 years. It’s how we’ve pushed boundaries and promoted freedom around the world. That’s how we’ve expanded the rights of our founding to reach all of our citizens. It’s how we have come this far.
And that’s why I’m confident that this incredible journey that we’re on, as Americans, will go on. And I’m looking forward to doing everything I can to make sure the next president is successful in that.
I’ve said before, I think of this job as being a relay runner. You take the baton, you run your best race, and hopefully, by the time you hand it off, you’re a little further ahead. You’ve made a little progress. And I can say that we’ve done that, and I want to make sure that handoff is well executed, because ultimately, we’re all on the same team.
The Spirit of Christmas Present
After the election, during which Democratic nominee Joe Biden has won the majority of the electoral vote now at 306, surpassing the 270-victory mark vs Trump’s 232, and the greatest number of popular votes in the history of US Politics (77,972,527 as of press time, November 13, vs Trump’s 72,654,155 votes), outgoing President Donald Trump refuses to concede, refuses to hand the baton to the President-Elect.
Instead, Trump desperately and maliciously pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that he warned his supporters about even before the November 3 election, that the only way he would lose was if he got cheated. If his votes would be stolen from him.
Despite the fact that judges in courts where he filed lawsuits alleging “widespread election fraud” had said there was no evidence to back his allegations (ABC News);
Despite Trump’s own lawyers acknowledging in court that there are observers of Trump in the counting room, contrary to Trump’s claims, a fact corroborated by International observers monitoring our elections (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times);
Despite the fact that contrary to Trump’s claims in court about rampant voter fraud, his lawyer told the judge that to his knowledge, there isn’t fraud in connection with disputed ballots and that there is no undue or improper influence upon the elector with respect to the ballots in question (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times);
Despite the public statement from the president’s own Department of Homeland Security saying “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised,” as determined by members of the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee, and with the White House either firing or asking officials who debunked election misinformation promoted by Trump online (Axios);
Despite a coalition of US federal and state officials having said they have no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week’s presidential election, rejecting unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by Donald Trump and many of his supporters (Reuters);
Despite the statement from cybersecurity experts, which trumpeted the 3 November election as the most secure in American history, amounted to the most direct repudiation to date of the outgoing president’s efforts to undermine the integrity of the contest (Reuters).
Trump asked for more investigations, using taxpayers’ money, into alleged widespread election fraud and wanted to fight his legal battles all the way to the Supreme Court. He has also been asking for money as “election defense” donations from his supporters to help pay for legal expenses and to retire his own campaign’s debts. (CNN, Reuter, Washington Post, The Guardian)
Trump has ordered his staff not to acknowledge Biden’s victory, block all the President-Elect’s efforts toward a peaceful transition of power including funding which jeopardizes our national security; and as State Secretary Mike Pompeo said during a briefing on Tuesday, November 10: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,”(National Public Radio) - a statement that goes against the results of the elections.
The Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come
On January 20, 2021, President-Elect Joseph “Joe” Robinette Biden Jr. will be sworn into office to be the 46th President of the United States, pursuant to the rule of law and the will of the American people.
Despite the unwillingness of Donald Trump to hand the baton to his lawful successor, Biden has already been working hard to build his team, appointed his coronavirus task force so he is ready to implement his plans to defeat COVID-19 and save the lives of the American people and help the country build back better on Day One.
Biden is already working hard like he is president while the outgoing president remains busy tweeting, attacking his political opponents and desperately fighting a losing legal battle while the United States has now reached an all-time high of 163,402 new coronavirus cases per day on November 12, adding to 10.6 million confirmed cases, and a death toll of 243,000 and counting.
In his victory speech on November 7, Joe Biden said:
This is the United States of America.
And there has never been anything we haven’t been able to do when we’ve done it together.
In the last days of the campaign, I’ve been thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and to my family, particularly my deceased son Beau. It captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America.
And I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to the more than 230,000 families who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus this year. My heart goes out to each and every one of you. Hopefully this hymn gives you solace as well.
“And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.”
And now, together — on eagle’s wings — we embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do.
With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with a love of country — and a thirst for justice — let us be the nation that we know we can be.
A nation united.
A nation strengthened.
A nation healed.
The United States of America.
God bless you.
And may God protect our troops.
QUO VADIS, America? Where are ‘We, the People’ heading, moving forward?
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at [email protected], or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
