Why Didn't They Tell You?

This short essay was first posted the morning of the assault on the capital but before the assault occurred. I think we need to keep in mind the things I pointed out in that post.

Trust in Our System of Government

By the end of today (January 6, 2021) or by tomorrow, I expect that the U. S. Congress will have accepted the Electoral College votes for President, and Joe Biden will be the duly elected President of the United States after his Inauguration. Like it or not, on January 20, Joe Biden will be my President, regardless to how I feel about his policies and political/philosophical outlook.

Our process for electing President was followed. The concerns about how the voting processes were implemented at the state and local levels are real and serious but did not change the process for selecting our President. Furthermore, in line with our constitutional system of governance, how voting is conducted is left to the various states, very purposefully. The founders were careful to set up a system of separation of powers to avoid tyranny being imposed from above or by certain powerful interests aimed at thwarting the “Will of the People”.

Some of the practices and actions taken by some states and localities in the 2020 election were at least questionable. However, that is an issue of human imperfection, not an indictment of our system of governance but an indictment of human nature. We thread a thin line in attempting to deal with the partisan actions of those seeking advantage for their side.

Our system is designed to give voice to the unimportant as well as the important, to the minority as well as the majority. Rhode Island has a thumbnail full of people in comparison to California; yet in the Senate the few people of Rhode have the same representation as the many people of California. In selecting the president, and in the makeup of the House of Representatives, large states are given more power than small states since the number of Electoral College votes is based on their population. Yet in this system, Rhode Island’s electoral votes count.

We must acknowledge the fact that we have a good, though not perfect, system run by imperfect people. We were reminded by a Founding Father that for our system of governance to work properly we need a moral people.

The challenges to the election results leading up to the debates taking place in Congress today are right and in order. It’s a bit over the top to say or imply that these debates and challenges are somehow an attack on our democratic institutions. Our whole system came into existence through such debates and challenges. We must thoroughly examine what happened and, to the extent possible, take corrective actions to effectively address the problems so that we may become a more perfect union.