Conservatives won, too
With the election season finally winding down (Georgia’s senatorial races remain in January), it certainly appears that the voters have spoken, and their message is clear. As of today, pending all the legal battles that may be pursued by the White House, it looks like the presidential race was based on the person, and the senatorial and congressional races at both the national and state levels were based on policy.
As one pundit said, “The voters were the corporation that fired the CEO, but they kept the controlling board.”
Was it because of the economic stimulus programs, tax cuts, deregulation efforts, Supreme Court justices, Israel, NAFTA, and the wall? Conversely, was it the Muslim ban, the health care challenge, Charlottesville, Puerto Rico, gun violence, family separations, relationships with authoritarian leaders, DACA, the impeachment, George Floyd, Lafayette Square, or the coronavirus? Only the voters know.
The big news is the Republicans have potentially held on to their control of the Senate, and they have picked up several seats in the House, too. Not ironically, these positive Republican results have also proven to be the norm in most state House and Senate races. The American voters are holding on to conservative policy values while seeking a different CEO to lead the country.
Wall Street loved the outcome of the race, but that’s primarily because Wall Street doesn’t typically enjoy major political change. In fact, they prefer checks and balances or even political gridlock.
According to one POTUS enemy, Mitt Romney, the president has the right to pursue every legal avenue available to him, and Romney believes if those efforts don’t change the outcome, “The POTUS will accept the inevitable.” Romney is concerned, however, about the rhetoric regarding corruption, and allegations of stolen and rigged votes because he believes it discourages confidence in our democratic processes.
The use of those terms also taints the current class of elected Republican leaders in both the state and national House and Senate races. No Republican is suggesting that they be removed due to illegal vote counts.
Conservative columnist George Will, another non-POTUS fan, described the president’s rhetoric as “calculated to preemptively delegitimize the election.” Will also accused those currently seated Republicans as “complicit due to their silence regarding this rhetoric.”
I did appreciate Will’s recognition that this is the sixth episode of governmental failure in the past 20 years which includes the intelligence failure of 9/11, the Iraq debacle, the 2008 financial crisis, what he described as lack of preparation and feckless leadership during the pandemic, and now the inability to adapt to a pandemic-based election process that diminished public confidence both nationally and internationally.
Even though it appears the president-elect will be swimming against a conservative political tide, Joe Biden seems to be approaching his coming four-year term with a steady hand and with an attempt to heal and bring our country together emotionally and politically. Will quoted Lincoln’s speech as he urged, “my dissatisfied fellow countrymen” to “think calmly and well,” and then Jefferson, who said, “Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.”
I’m more or less seeking harmony for my children and grandchildren. I’d like to be able to enjoy talking with my neighbors without wondering why they took political stands that went against our country’s deeply held beliefs regarding freedom for all people. I’d like to know families will not break out in tumultuous arguments at holiday Zoom get-togethers. I’d also like to know that our country’s path is one of at least attempting to be that of a model-setting, tolerant, loving country that cares about all our citizens.
Finally, it would be nice if we are taking steps to help control things like nuclear proliferation, climate change, and most of all this dastardly, pain-in-our-collective-hearts pandemic. I long to be post-COVID, and I’m exhausted from all the tension.
Nick Jacobs of Windber is a Senior Partner with Senior Management Resources and author of the blog healinghospitals.com.