The Aftermath

Dear Reader,
Election Day has passed, but it seems that the conflict still lingers. I’d like to talk about that in a pragmatic, nonpartisan way. That’s a tough needle to thread; I’ll know I succeeded only if I get ticked-off letters from both sides of the aisle.

Half of us think the victor has been decided, maybe even more than half. But not all of us. Some of us feel that the votes haven’t been counted fairly, completely, correctly, or fully, and that the true victor has yet to be recognized.

I don’t want to get into that issue. Whichever side I take, there are half of us who will agree and say “amen,” and the other half will think “no way.” Neither side is very persuadable, it seems, so I’m not going to waste my time trying to persuade.

Instead, I want to point out that there is one principle that everyone agrees on, both the red and the blue, and that is that all legal votes must be counted, and no illegal votes can be included in the tally. Listen closely and you’ll hear it said on both sides; no one disagrees with this.

Our country is a nation of laws. We have processes for resolving disputes over which votes count. We need to let that process work as our Founders intended. We need to trust that the system will work. The votes will be counted, the disputes will be resolved, and a winner will be declared. Whoever that person is, we then need to rally behind him and do our utmost to insure his success in leading our country.

Please, everyone, let’s dial it down just a bit. Give the process a chance to work. We will get there, just as we have before.
Patrick J. Wood
Publisher