Tags
2020 Elections, President Donald Trump, Tell Others What You Think About the 2020 Election Results, The Meaning of the 2020 Elections, What Did the 2020 Elections Tell Us?
The country has ‘spoken’ again.
And again, we must listen.
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What I heard:
Our country chose to take a step away from the decision we made in 2016.
By reversing Donald Trump’s 2016 electoral victory, the country chose to replace this President.
While the voters selected someone quite different from President Trump, I believe the country nevertheless remains deeply divided, perhaps even more so than it was in 2016.
My hope is that we will listen to each other, we will begin to understand others’ points of view, we will be willing to reexamine our own points of view, and we will begin to find ways to bridge some of our differences.
*** *** ***
What did you hear?
For readers of MillersTime, I hope you will consider commenting on what you believe the 2020 election results have told us. (I’ve limited my answer above to that question to 100 words.)
You can post your thoughts by clicking on the Leave a Comment section above. Use your name, initials, or post anonymously, whichever you feel most comfortable in doing.
Thanking you in advance for taking the time to share with me and the readers of MillersTime what you understand to be the message(s) from the 2020 elections.
Bill Plitt said:
So it’s not news that we are deeply divided and have been for sometime, even before 2016. We generally spend more time with people who are like us. Reaching out to others is often challenging geographically. I work for an organization in Palestine who have a mantra of “Refusing to be Enemies” and “Loving your neighbor. I learned much from this Palestinian family facing daily challenges to their human rights.
When we moved to Peachtree City, GA. last year, we put up a sign that repeated the words “Love Your Neighbor as yourself”. So far, no one has ever directly commented about the sign, yet practice such love on a daily basis, even though we may be political opposites. My next door neighbors have Trump signs in their front yard and we, Biden and Georgia senatorial candidate promotions, along with “Black Lives Matter”. We agreed many weeks ago that we would continue to have a conversation, and have. I have learned much about what I believe in the process, as well as understand a bit more why my neighbors have their beliefs. That’s a start, though I know they are hurting right now, just as I was for the last four years. We agree to find common ground in the coming days.
So to answer your question directly, I understand that some state officials have declared victory for a particular candidate who won the popular vote with no more ballots to count. A few are still counting and some recounting. For those who are done voting with wide enough margins as determined by AP and the State Coordinators, their tallies yield electoral votes which give Biden/Harris enough votes to declare victory. Some of those outcomes have been contested in court by the Republican party, but none out of nine so far have ruled in their favor. There is a pattern, and most officials, even in republican controlled states feel that recounts will not alter the outcome sufficient enough to change the electoral tally. On December 14th, the Electors will ballot. Until then, the Trump supporters may continue to contend in court, and either expose “fraud”, or run out of “juice”. In the meantime, chaos reigns. So what is new? Biden is proactive and searching for Republicans who refuse to be enemies.BP
Land Wayland said:
This country was deeply divided long before 1776. For many reasons, the North was inhabited by people who had different ideas about most things than those who moved to the South (role of religion in government, importance of education, ownership of slaves, relation-ship of the colonies to the British government, import-ance of self government, appropriate size of local government and whether taxes should be levied to pay for it). The Articles of Confederation, which embodied Southern ideas, failed because it failed to provide any enforcement methods. This intellectual war is still being fought. It has been the source of both some of the worst (slavery and continued racism, the drive to exterminate native americans) and the best (voting by all, the economic rights of the lower and middle class, inherent equality before the law of everyone). They have agreed on some things (freedom of speech, no religious tests in government, everyone must serve in time of war, the government must provide and control essential services such as education, transportation, crime and fire supression, court and legal system, property rights among others), but the differences in political and social importance of each way of thinking leads to extensive debates before most decisions are made.
That is the primary reason why America has flourished…no decision is ever made quickly or lightly (except Prohibition). Those who wrote the Constitution were well aware of these contending ways of thinking and they created a frame of government that had debate and compromise and limited authority built into it.
Carrie said:
One of the hardest things for me personally over the last few years has been how difficult it has been to be a conservative. I get screamed at even by friends, called ignorant and stuck in old beliefs. I worry that our educational system has gone downhill and Americans forget history. As you know, for most of my life I was a Democrat. Now I feel they have gotten too extreme for me. I am so sad we are so far apart
Lydia said:
So many thoughts. I think it’s a good idea to remind folk that 70% of the country feels unrepresented by either party. I’m also going to plug here that Michael has a book coming out in the spring that discusses one reason why the modern version of this horrible divisiveness was created and how to go about solving it. Hint: no silver bullets and a lot of personal responsibility. Stay tuned!
I think Republicans have been hijacked by the Christian “right” and whatever it is that Trump seems to represent (fear? hatred? conservative judges? libertarianism? the power of a marketing genius to use our obsession with celebrity to convince a country that he could do the hardest job on the planet?), and I think Democrats have been hijacked by an inability to make a decision, an inability to stand for something for fear that they leave someone out, a drifting to the far left because the far left is willing to take those stands and people will take a decision, any decision, over vague centrist promises…
I hope that at least the country has found a leader who can help us take a deep breath for a moment so we can begin the process of healing and coming together — at least enough to recognize that having hard conversations and making hard compromises is part of how democracy works. And if that works, then maybe so many of us won’t look at the future as something to be feared, which forces us to look backwards for safety.
Nancy Cedar Wilson said:
Please, folks!
Watch “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix!
It delineates how we have devolved into divisive, hate-filled camps through social media. It’s a documentary by Tristan Harris that lays out how shockingly easy it is to hook users into deeper and deeper conspiracy theories–and how difficult it will be to climb out of them–nigh impossible-unless we want to save our democracy which is in extremis right now!
Anon-2 said:
The candidate of Big Tech, Big Pharma, War, Inc., China, the billionaire class, millionaire athletes, and coastal elites appears to have won this election. No, the Republicans have not been “hijacked”. The country has been “hijacked”. It was regular Americans and Trump vs. the establishment, and you can’t beat the establishment. Has anyone stopped to ask why Loudon, Fairfax, Montgomery counties are the wealthiest in the world? Not Silicon Valley, not the Permian basin.
So congrats to 47 year “Blue Collar Joe”, a man barely able to finish a sentence without a teleprompter, and the real candidate Kamala, who couldn’t even sniff a primary victory. After four years of lies about Russia, and not ONE question of the Biden families wealth….(Imagine if the laptop was Donald Jrs. anyone dare disagree with me?). A man who based his campaign on the fine people hoax, and by extension calling me a white supremacist……healing, my ass.
Over under on how long it takes to be at war in the M.E. again?
Anon-2 said:
BTW…..yes, I’m angry….but you didn’t need to board up your businesses…..they were boarded up because Democrats would have melted down had Trump been reelected. Don’t blame them, Big Media has them all convinced “literally orange Hitler” is evil; who can blame the sheep for rioting?
Denise Candea said:
“Fairness to women” includes the right to control our own bodies. I volunteered 15 days at polling sites in SW Florida and the vitriol directed at me by hundreds of Trump supporters about abortion was appalling. I was called a baby killer dozens of times. I was also called a pedophile twice. For the record, I am neither.
I spent a number of hours with a “proud boy”, who was really an ‘immature” boy. His shocking lack of knowledge (he confused the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the Civil Rights Act of 1866) was stunning. He is part of a cult. An armed cult, as he repeatedly reminded me.
I did have normal conversations with several Trump supporters who were woefully unaware of what Biden and most Dems stand for. This tells me we need to communicate better and promote our ideals through a wider variety of media. The Democratic Ivory Tower that is MSNBC, needs to move out of their safe home offices and see what is happening outside the cities, especially NYC and DC.
Trump was an abomination. He shredded norms, laws and decency in this country. He was extraordinarily gifted at identifying our fault lines and exacerbating our divisions – the opposite of leadership. If he had promoted masks (as simple as that) he would have been reelected. That said, I think we needed him to prove just how fragile and racist this democratic republic is in order to be able to take a stab at fixing it. And I guess we needed covid-19 to show just how ineffective a leader he is.
Move over Boomers. We have had more than enough time in power. It is time for us to step aside and let a younger more diverse crop of leaders assume leadership roles. They are raring to go.
Anon-2 said:
Congrats Denise! You got Kamala in there, a woman of zero accomplishments. Google needed 47 year Joe to get her across the finish line……yeah boomers, step aside!!!!! Amazing how NOW they are covering the Hunter Biden story, when big tech would suspend you for mentioning it just a month ago)…..bye Joe, it’s Kamala we can control (she couldn’t even win a primary). But don’t you dare criticize her policies, you racist misogynist!
Yeah…masks would have helped. We are wearing more masks than ever now, and we are spiking. Funny how this pandemic is following the curve of every other pandemic. Trump’s failure was to actually listen to Fauci. He told me to go on a cruise in March. MARCH!
Again…all you people with #RESIST in your profiles……you got the candidate of big tech, big pharma, China, War, Inc. big media, Hollywood elected. More like #OBEY.
How many peace deals in the ME has Trump orchestrated? Oh, not possible….
I’d say John Kerry owes Trump an apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjgQuVH6X_4
Good job, swamp, you live!
Robin Rice said:
The best I would be able to do is to add David Brook’s Sunday commentary. This sobering time.
Richard said:
R,
Thanks for pointing out the David Brooks article, which I think is the most balanced and best thing I’ve seen…both sides of the divide would do well to read it and act accordingly:
What the Voters Are Trying to Tell Us by David Brooks, NYTimes, Nov. 5:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/opinion/trump-biden-voters.html
Larry Longenecker said:
Just like in 2016, I believe voters voted against the other candidate rather than for the winner. In addition, I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the skills that you need to win an election are not the same skills that you need to govern.
Richard Hovey said:
The country has “spooked” again.
Liz Frost said:
Thanks, I have felt no one can speak there mind on an issue. Discussions on policy or issues are a “no no” unless the group are on the same page.
I miss the open discussions on issues and news, or policy. Different “points of view” and experience sharing , to me, was educational.
Personally, I feel like a northerner visiting the south during the 50″s during the Jim Crow. No one talked about the 4 different public bathrooms or the invisible line not cross on a bus.
Anonymous from DC said:
What many people don’t understand is that the country was divided before Trump started running for office. As I perceive it about half the US population believed in and adhered to political correctness. The other half thought that political correctness is inequitable. Nothing has changed except that the media has shown that this division is more intense than they had anticipated. Therefore President Biden is forced to deal with the problem and he said that he hopes to unite the nation rather than perpetuate the division. Let’s hope he has some luck in doing so.
I wish you peace of mind, good friend.
Anon-2 said:
Biden may not have much luck “uniting” us. He launched his campaign on the “fine people” hoax. By extension, he has called me a “white supremacist”. He’s the racist…his running mate in 08 was the first “articulate and clean” AA to run. And “you ain’t black” if you vote for Trump. Ask im about 711s. But…the media got their guy, Joe the Corn Pop Slayer.