A Return to Normal

by Simon Rafe

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It is, of course, early days. Actual counting of all the votes probably hasn't finished yet, and they haven't been certified, and electors haven't been seated, and the 47th (and 45th, but … well, "return to normal") President Donald J. Trump certainly hasn't been sworn in.

And the policies and actions he has promised and we have hoped for haven't been delivered. The swamp hasn't been drained, unelected bureaucrats haven't been sent packing, years of government overreach haven't been rolled back.

But that is not the return to normal I am speaking of.

First off, while I was up late last night (getting to bed around 4 a.m.), that really isn't THAT late for a nationwide election in a country which, lest we forget, has a contiguous area which spans four time zones. It was only 1 a.m. in California, which is when the after-parties start in the Golden State.

Ultimately, this election – the election we were told, and we feared, would drag over days or weeks – was over in a few short (nail-biting, nervous) hours. That's how we used to do it, right? (Even I, with a limited firsthand experience of US elections, remember that much.)

Return to normal.

Second, there seems – and if I am wrong, I am sure people will let me know – much less angry violence than last time Trump won. Who can forget November 2016 when angry losers kicked over trash cans, screamed in the streets, and set fire to an immigrant's means of providing for his family in order to (checks notes) "save democracy"?

The very foundation of representative government, of democracy, of a republican federalism, of the tradition of the modern West's solution to "I have a savagely efficient army, so I get to wear a sparkly hat and be in charge until someone removes said hat" is the notion of "we lost, you won – congratulations" even if said through gritted teeth.

Granted, lots of gritting (and grinding and gnashing with associated wailing), but (so far, touch wood) much less screaming tantrums which (lest we forget) are much more serious when it is grownups with Molotovs rather than toddlers with rattles.

Return to normal.

Third up – where was the cheating? While I am certain there was cheating – there always is, elections involve people and (to sum up the doctrine of Original Sin in a manner anyone can understand) "people are no damn good." Someone is going to cheat.

But the widespread, systematic cheating we saw and we feared? Apparently not there. In my home State of Michigan, there was great fear we'd have a repeat of 2020 with cardboard covering windows, counting stopped in the middle of the night, dumps of ballots.

Whether or not those things were really cheating or just naive and foolish incompetence which looks really, really, REALLY suspicious is open to debate. Perhaps not a long debate, but open to it ....

Regardless, that didn't happen. The work of people (in my home state) like Patrick Colbeck and (throughout the country) of organizations like the Souls and Liberty Action Network, as well as politicians and judges, and just generally concerned citizens, seems to have stopped it happening.

Were there irregularities? I am sure there were. Were they all handled? Probably not.

Was the ultimate execution of the election as close to fair and transparent as one can expect for a process involving (as mentioned before) four time zones in the contiguous area alone (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii – I know you're there, I love you, but you're both out there in the Pacific and your Electoral College votes pretty much cancel each other out, so ... ), and millions of people and thousands of precincts? Yes.

Return to normal.

And this is what I am waking up with this morning. This Presidency may be a "return to normal." It might not be – we have to be prepared for that.

But this election most definitely was a return to normal. We went to the polls. We voted. The votes were counted in one day and we got a result. The results were accepted with as much equanimity as one might expect, and certainly hope for. And the whole process to get there wasn't marred by having to drag it through the sordid underbrush of the legal system.

I guess, maybe, that's NOT a return to normal. What, after all, is more American than involving lawyers?

I'll tell you what is – voting for a President following the rules and guidelines and principles enshrined in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania over 200 years ago by a bunch of guys we call the Founding Fathers; getting the results before the sun rises over Independence Hall; and accepting them, if not with a shrug and a "meh," but with a grim smile and "see you in four years, you &#%*@."

Yeah, swearing is pretty American, too. But we mean it affectionately.

God bless the USA.