What Tomorrow May Bring

It's been quite awhile since I've written anything here. This blog is intended for legal and public commentary, not political discussion. In the past few years, certainly since my last post, public life has become so completely polarized and politicized that it approaches the impossible to speak about any topic without any political inference taken, even if unintended. But now, on the eve of the 2020 national election I feel I have been silent long enough and must say a few things some will read as political, though as I write the words I do not believe they are, at least in the traditional sense.

That is because the choices facing voters are not typical political options, between parties, policies or philosophies. We are not choosing between dueling visions of marginal tax rates, government intervention in our lives, or foreign policy approaches. Sure, our choice for President will profoundly affect all the policy vectors of the next four years, but the meaning is far more significant: We are choosing fundamentally whether to maintain our democratic norms, what principles we stand for and whether we hold any values consistently and without hypocrisy. That is what is on the ballot this year.

I had hoped, four years ago, that the weight of office might bring out whatever hidden strengths Donald Trump possessed which had not been evident in the 2016 campaign. The last four years reveal instead that he is neither capable of nor interested in governing the United States in a competent or honest fashion. Without recounting all of the innumerable scandals and outrages of this administration, it is beyond serious dispute that the Trump term has been an assault upon truth, science, allegiances and allies, among many other institutions and norms. Now that Election Day is upon us, the President wages war upon the vote itself and the very foundations of our republic. It is that serious. I had sought to avoid hyperbole and exaggeration, and to observe without comment as all this developed. Now, after so many unprecedented, boundary breaking events--the June photo op in front of a church holding an upside down Bible with peaceful protesters tear gassed en route; publicly pillorying critics, whistleblowers and demonizing the press; cozying up to dictators while eschewing longtime allies--there is no other way to call it: Donald Trump is simply a would-be despot with authoritarian longings who cannot and will not govern the greatest republic in world history with the sober resolve our Founders intended. And again, without lapsing into the political, he has been aided and abetted by the US Senate, which history shall judge equally harshly.

Once more, this is not political or partisan: this is about capacity, character and fitness for office. I would write the same words about any leader of either major party or any other: Republican, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Independent. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had won in 2016 and committed any one of these offenses--had made the same overtures to Vladimir Putin, for instance and distanced us from NATO? Or if Barack Obama had behaved in such a fashion with late night vengeance and rage tweets? This is not normal no matter who does it, and loyalty to country calls for all of us, apart from the farthest fringe, to condemn this behavior and the phenomenon of its acceptance in leadership. Thus of all the public Trump critics, I most admire the outspoken Republicans (past and present) and other conservatives who decry the overtaking of their party and philosophies by this malign and dangerous force which has disfigured and eaten it like the parasitic cancer of the body politic this administration will be remembered for being. In the voices of the Lincoln Project we hear the heartbroken anguish of the jilted, betrayed believer, who has been deserted despite loyalty and devotion. It is easier for longtime Democrats and political left-wingers to speak out against the Trump administration. When Jeff Flake, Mitt Romney and Steve Schmidt do so it reflects true principle and patriotism, which is what we urgently need to restore.

I know the President has his dedicated supporters: their visibility grows and their voices rise as Election Day approaches. I fully support their First Amendment rights to believe, speak and vote as they wish. I have encountered many of their convoys with flag-emblazoned trucks on the highways and boats offshore. I know that they must value very different qualities in a leader, and seek a very different type of country, than I do. I ask all who ardently support Donald Trump, with respect for their minds and reverence for their rights, what their vision of our country is? What does this man and his regime stand for which appeals so strongly to them? For their sake as much as that of all other Americans, I hope for a change which comes peacefully, quickly and completely.

I've seen enough militiamen marching in US streets un-condemned by the President. I will never get over seeing children huddling under space blankets in cages, knowing now at least 545 of them have parents who cannot be found following deportation. I read that a group known as the Patriot Front coalesced post-Charlottesville, vowing to take up arms after tomorrow, no matter the outcome, in order to remake our country into a white, Christian identity state. For these reasons and others like them, I will be working as a Poll Watcher locally tomorrow, and as needed at the Canvassing Board thereafter, to do my small part to ensure all votes are counted for as long as is necessary to conclude a proper, legal election and a peaceful inauguration in January of whoever may win. Maybe I'm missing something, but there's nothing political in any of that.