Doing or Not?

We are faced with many changes. Some are naturally pleasant; others definitively not. The Trump presidency looms and all portents suggest a hellish future of change and unpredictable calamities. I guess I simply do not trust the man or his grasp of our circumstances.

I know I am not alone in this fear and dread. We who feel this way are aware of history that tells us of the Holocaust, the Trail of Tears, the many revolutions that ended badly, and so on. Nearly all of these horrible happenings were done with good people looking on without lifting a finger to stop the horrors. They didn’t believe it was actually happening. For some reason they felt disconnected from the reality of it all. Years later they got it; all too late for them to repair anything but feel regret, deep, deep agonizing regret.

So the question remains what do we do about such circumstances? Do we take action? Do we sit idly by and observe history unfold? Do we attempt to alter the outcomes we fear so much?

Of course we wonder what consequences will befall us if we take any action to change the outcome. Do we go to court and sue? Or seek a friendly posse of millions to march on the scene and block progress? Or do we take up arms? And if the latter, how well do we accept the consequences of armed resistance from the authorities? This is, after all, the description of revolution. And it is outlawed, isn’t it? The definition of treason is heavy but easily penned.

So, pondering all of that, what is left for us to do?

And if there is a ‘to do’ list, there is the opposite of it in ‘what not to do’. So the question is to do or not to do. I know, it sounds like Hamlet, but really, folks, that is the question, is it not?

We can say ‘accept the results of the election’ as so many others have in past generations. But I wonder if then the stakes were quite this serious? Grotesquely serious? This is not about liberal or conservative. This is not about democrat or republican. This is about the order of law and constitutional government. Was this process of selecting a successor to the White House truly a lawful process? Or was it hijacked and distorted?

How much time do we spend determining the facts of the matter? How much is sour grapes and how much is ardent adherence to the law? The constitution? Arguments can be made in both directions.

I don’t want to be a spoil sport. I don’t want to be blind to facts. But I do want our government going forward to be legitimate.

Do we ask the Supreme Court to intervene and stay the election results until the facts are better known? And if so, who governs in the meantime? And how long is the meantime? Months? Years? Or do we stage a do-over election just to be certain?

The orderly transfer of power from one governing authority to another is a proud tradition in America. It is what we have done well since the beginning.

I don’t want to be labeled a do nothing or a sour grapes kind of guy. No; I want to be known as principled and diligent in my thinking and actions. How then the rest of the nation? What is a proper response?

Or are the next four years a gigantic learning opportunity of how to be an effective citizen and upholder of the laws of the land?

Can we have a discussion on this without blowhard shouting and foot stamping? I know I’d appreciate a calm, cool chat about all of this. Would you?

Just name the time and place.

December 28, 2016