Losing an Election

I know what it means to lose an election. I have a great deal of experience in that regard. My first vote for president was in 1964. I voted for Barry Goldwater. If you don't know who he is it may be because there never was a President Goldwater. In the ensuing years I voted for such household names as Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and my favorite, John Anderson. If you need to look him up check out the election of 1980. In fact in a total of 12 presidential contests I voted for exactly 3 successful presidential candidates.

For most people this is probably not a major catastrophe. Most of us fulfill our democratic duty and vote in presidential elections. We pay enough attention to choose the person we believe is the best candidate. If that candidate wins we are happy and if he loses we may be sad for a day or two. As my faithful Republican Dad always said, "No matter who wins, I will have to get up tomorrow and go to work". For a vocal and perhaps growing minority however, elections have begun to affect us at the very core of our existence.

For me, elections really began to matter in 1980. Everyone loved Ronald Reagan and he had certainly been one of my favorite movie actors. I was really troubled, however, by the direction of his administration. I simply could not understand why he appointed a Secretary of Labor who was aginst labor. Why did he choose an environmental leader who was anti-environment? Also, why was the Secretary of Health Education and Welfare seeking to abolish the office he led? President Reagan's policies seemed designed to hurt poor people and increase the gap in our country between rich and poor.

My point is that losing elections began to have an impact on who I was. I became disillusioned, depressed, began to question myself, and yes, became angry. I won't even begin to get into the Bush/Gore debacle of 2000. I might add that even though I voted for President Obama I was also disappointed for some time that my preferred candidate Hillary Clinton was defeated. What is important here is that I believe what is going on among the opponents of Barack Obama today is that they are having difficulty with losing the election.

Some of the almost bizarre actions and accusations coming from the anti-Obama forces reflect this inability to accept the election results. The absurdly contradictory cries of socialist, communist, and Nazi are relevant examples. The questions about Obama's birth certificate, as well as continued insistence on the existence of death panels in health care reform suggest such people are angry that their candidate lost. They have perhaps begun to believe that their candidate is entitled to victory and anything short of that is so unacceptable that it must be overturned.

We hear cries of secession and states refusing to accept any health care bill that may be enacted. Folks are buying guns and establishing new militias to protect themselves from 'something'. The incredulous outcry over the President speaking to school children suggests a refusal to accept the legitimacy of the Obama presidency. These erstwhile patriots seem to believe that allegiance to their country involves somehow destroying the President of that country. In the recent address to a joint session of congress we saw that these attitudes can emerge even from those who are supposed to be part of the government apparatus itself. The outburst from congressman Joe Wilson reflects this deep seated anger that could threaten even the veneer of civility needed to operate our government on a day to day basis.

I am not at all sure what solutions can be offered to end this stalemate. The fact that this group represents a rather small fraction of the electorate is not particularly helpful. In our modern technological society it is clear that a small fringe group can exercize inordinate power and dramatically impact the day's events. Yet I do believe it is time for the most extreme in this group to step back, reflect, and as patriots give some thought to the future of our country. As the President has said repeatedly, he will entertain thoughtful, serious proposals from anyone at any time. I recommend that we all dial back the rhetoric, force ourselves to put together cogent arguments for or against major issues, and attempt to influence the debate in ways that are appropriate to the democratic process. If it is not clear what might be appropriate, let me just say that bringing guns to rallies, and shouting down elected officials to prevent them from speaking are not appropriate.

Let me finally say as one who knows what it feels like to lose an election that really matters, it is helpful to take a longer perspective. This really is a great country and it has survived many crises. One administration follows another, and amazingly the country tends not to fall apart in 4 to 8 years. That's one reason this country has always had the good sense to change parties every eight years or so. Again my Dad used to say, "it's time to give the other guys a chance". That might be good advice for those who seem to be having so much trouble with the new guy. Despite my concerns, our country survived the Reagan years and even the last eight years of George W. Bush. This country will also survive the eight years of the Obama administration, so calm down.

My advice would be if you want to be back in power in eight years, demonstrate that you have something positive to offer to the policy debate. Forego the rancor, the wild and inaccurate statements, and personal animosity. We still are all Americans and while we will not always agree we all love our country. It was my son who insisted, when I began to have my doubts about George Bush, that he was not evil. President Bush was trying to do what he thought was right for our country. We should accept that fact as true for every president and administration before we begin to formulate our legitimate policy criticisms.