What a presidential race! The winners:
- The moderator of the last presidential debate — Kristen Welker, who gave the public a chance to hear issues relevant to the economy, the virus and a bunch of issues relating to security and the right to vote.
- Associate Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett who, without notes, called the law as she taught it, thereby securing her seat in a politically divisive atmosphere which the Republicans, playing by the book, offered a master class in how confirmations should be conducted.
- The coronavirus — COVID-19, whose resiliency and progressive mutations will linger long past our ability to blame anyone, for it is taking on a life of its own often defying scientific understanding. And Speaker Mitch McConnell whose power realistically exceeds that of the US President in many arenas.
The losers top the list for this race — the media, big tech and the political parties who often appealed to the worst in us rather than Make Us A Great Nation Again. Rarely has it been seen in this democracy the confluence of stake-holders, suspect political operatives and titans of industry who colluded to tell their narrative of who they felt should be the president or run this nation, rather than let its people decide based on access to information which helped voters get an honest informed opinion.
The move to voting machines and digital possibilities should further raise doubt in the minds of society of whether such can be manipulated for a predetermined winner. The ABC series "Scandal" starring Kerry Washington was called such because a group of political operatives and "fat cat" spenders contrived to steal the U.S. presidential election by rigging and recalibrating electronic voting machines.
President Trump, whose race it was to lose with his frequent foot-in-mouth disease, often caused too much heartburn from his ardent supporters. Despite his efforts, 70 million of his supporters were strong in their undivided support for him, reinforcing the fact that these were not despicable, bigoted or misguided folks, but a nondisguised side of America that too many would like to shove in the closet and act like they weren't real.
We are witnessing a Trump Age — "Trumpage" which is not going away any time soon. The nation is not as divided as it is simply taking up sides for democracy versus creeping socialism.
Though folks are talking up the legacy of a Trump presidency, watching votes coming in, some realities came to the fore. Though traditionally Republican, Arizona may not have forgiven the president's attacks on its favorite son, John McCain. Georgia and much of the South are changing, but not as much as folks would like to imagine.
Jaime Harrison lost to Lindsay Graham, though more that $100 million was spent in this effort. A dormant but very real issue in this race is had he been elected, South Carolina would have had two black senators. What are the odds of that? The Hispanic/Latina vote was not to be taken for granted as in the bag for Democrats. From Maxine Waters to Steve Harvey, the dumping on Black support for Trump failed to remember Joe Biden's racist legacy, which was worst that anything Trump may have said.
What will likely happen is that "when all is said and done, there will likely be more said than done." Democrats were stuck with a wrong message pushing defunding police and socialism. They lost House seats and couldn't make a quick disposal of vulnerable senators on the Republican side. Republicans lost supporters in disclosing some Biden facts after over 30 million ballots had already been cast.
The push to declare a winner before all the votes have been cast is a disservice to democracy requiring that the Federal Elections Commission, not AP or news organizations, declare the winner. Election Reform must be had in the way voting is handled but not of the Electoral College which ensures that each state will have its say.
The biggest demonstration of voter suppression was by the media, Big Tech (Facebook, Google, pollsters and other would-be opinion makers) and advertisers who marketed the race with the outcome in mind they'd like to see as if part of the antithetical "prosperity gospel" admonishing followers to "name it and claim it."
The FEC and FCC should be required to review the criteria used to determine when an election is called for a news program. MSNBC, FOX News, CNN are truly opinions and event interpreters rather than straight news.
To ensure fairer elections, voting should be made representative by requiring that all votes to be counted, they must be by those who are eligible to do such, must be filed or postmarked by close of business on election day with mail-ins received by two weeks, and rules of eligibility clearly spelled out. A national uniform ending date is paramount.
In so doing, no race should be called without 90% of the vote tallied with no more outstanding votes to be counted than such a declaration would lead to a conclusive decision.
All legal votes must be counted, lest false assumptions be derived about whose interest are being served. Each citizen must appreciate their power which is in their vote.
Ada M. Fisher, MD, MPH is a former Medical Director in a Fortune 500 company, licensed teacher, retired physician, former county school board member, speaker, author of "Common Sense Conservative Prescriptions Good for What Ails Us Book 1" and was the NC Republican National Committeewoman (2008-2020). Read Dr. Ada M. Fisher's Reports — More Here.