WHAT DO WE DO NOW ?

Mr Trump has been alleging that ballots intended for Trump were somehow electronically and fraudulently switched to Biden, and that many of the votes cast for Mr Biden were illegal and were dishonestly allowed to be counted. He suggests that at least 6 million votes were wrongly tabulated, and that he won the election “by a lot”.

We should not forget that those 79 million plus votes were not just for Joe Biden, but were also cast for Kamala Harris. Vice-President elect Harris has a great deal to do with the number of citizens who turned out to vote in this particular election. Without her it is unlikely that the outcome would have been the same. Her mere presence made the difference, and she is not an invisible figure in the background. The world has a great deal to thank her for.

Kamala Harris

Be that as it may, the question remains, what do they do now? The prime objective, would appear to be to deal with the pandemic and its appalling consequences to the physical health of the nation and to its economic survival. Just as it is in every country round the world. To make this happen, they must, at the same time, create some sort of unity of purpose between all the political representatives chosen to govern and the people who elected them. Given the disruption and continued animosity between citizens and the obstructionist policies engendered by the present administration and his party followers, they have a very great task in front of them.

Whenever the Star Spangled Banner is played, or America the Beautiful, or My Country ‘Tis of Three, Americans become very proud, stand up, sing heartily and cheer. They sometimes weep with pride and joy; although, it’s usually at some sporting event but sometimes during times of adversity, to cheer themselves up. They get all choked up. Most Americans grew up in schools where they recited the pledge of allegiance to the flag most every morning; but, although they sing and recite the same words, they appear to have a very different idea of what being an American Citizen entails. They have become isolated, exclusionary and as egocentric as followers of the most narcissistic citizen of them all, spouting America First and Make America Great Again.

It will be a very arduous endeavour to remind them of the words they have long cherished in recital and song:

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

 

My country, ‘tis of thee

Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing

Land where my fathers died

Land of the pilgrims’ pride

From every mountain side let freedom ring

 

America, America

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining asea

 

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God,

Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

 

And of course, there is the Gettysburg Address proclaimed by a Republican President.

“… a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

All of these pillars of America are toped off by the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

Thus, the building blocks for Mr Biden and Ms Harris, to re-establish the unity of purpose they require, are all there. The wall on which they are inscribed and enshrined is a bit crumbly and in serious need of re-pointing, but re-point it they must. It is not Mr Trump’s wall of division and exclusion, but a memorial wall of remembrance defining what American’s have sacrificed in order to be what they have pledged to be.

The very symbol of America, standing in the upper bay of the Hudson River, declaims: “..Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free; the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The contrast of these last two images should be enough to make one wince in despair at the current state of affairs. That golden door has more than somewhat lost its lustre. It may seem cheesy and hammy to call upon patriotic speeches, lyrics and oaths to make a point, but it’s simple and direct, and if filled, like a detergent, into the cess pool brains of those baseball capped proud boys, it might take effect, but it will require, just like the covid vaccine, several doses to be effective.

 

Let us wish them luck in answering the question, what do we do now?