America: Where do we go from here?
Me enjoying breakfast at a local community spot, Lovick’s Cafe. My grandfather owned a fish market next door to this business for many years in the 60s and 70s. At Lovick’s Cafe there are hundreds of people of all walks of life breaking bread Monday through Saturday, regardless of political or religious affiliations, age, race or sex.
The nation is probably as divided as it has been since the American Civil War in the 1860s. The supposed blue wave tsunami that was predicted by the media and pundits did not materialize in the numbers that they proclaimed. The White House may be changing parties, but Republicans picked up several House seats and look to maintain a Senate majority come January.
Despite COVID, lockdowns, a battered economy, partisan hoopla, racial issues, social unrest, riots, and a huge backlash against Trump, the nation is still bitterly divided, almost down the middle of its population. The polls were wrong--again, and many are losing faith in journalists, news, media, and the entire political system.
I am here to remind us that things are not as bleak as they seem. Since the year I was born, 1980, we have alternated between Democrats and Republicans in the White House and Congress. My business, family, and future remain steady and bright, because of God’s grace and my own work ethic and desires. Not because my “team” won or lost an election.
Our political system has many checks and balances built-in, so the minority and majority can be heard on a variety of issues. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, Independent or Green, there are ways to affect the system and have a voice. North Carolina is a prime example of balances since we elect primarily Democratic governors and Republican presidents. In this election, North Carolinians definitively chose Roy Cooper for Governor but also increased the Republican share of seats in our General Assembly.
After the fog eventually clears from this mess of a year, the attention will be focused on more local and municipal races. Next year, the City of Kinston has a mayor and two city council seats up for grabs. The midterms will also be coming up soon, in just two years. Overall, for a country of over 300 million people, with 140+ million voters, many things went smoothly in this year’s election. However, there are certainly some issues with the system that need to be addressed, and the presidential race is not quite over yet.
For one thing, this year was totally unprecedented, with the pandemic and the way that impacted campaigning and voting. Mail-in ballots have caused much confusion across the country, and we need solutions to ensure that doesn’t happen again. One possibility would be to require them to be postmarked at least 7-9 days before Election Day so that counting is not so drawn out and confusing. Americans deserve to know who won on Election Day.
In reality, there should be no real issues with voter suppression or counting votes. There are two weeks of early voting, multiple locations, and the options of mail-in and absentee ballots, along with voting in person on actual election day. People have every opportunity to make their voices heard.
However, we should also get serious about Voter ID laws, so that everyone can be easily and correctly identified at the polls. We show our government (free or paid) issued IDs at airports, booze it or lose it campaigns, for pseudoephedrine, and more. A lot of the election fraud accusations would be eliminated should Congress encourage our states to issue free IDs for the purposes of voting, and it should be a uniform system that works across the country. Other nations that are far less advanced than our own even have similar measures. Censorship is also a problem, stoking division and picking political favorites while silencing others. Big Tech must be held responsible, as I have discussed in previous blogs.
If everything seems insane this year, you should remember that the common sense taught by our parents around the family dinner table has often gone out the window today---in fact, the family dinner table itself has gone to the drive-thru window for many homes. Most people are living on their phones and social media accounts, instead of living their real lives and talking to real people around them, including their kids.
If people taught their kids and family members to respect our Constitution and values, and treat others with respect, we would not see nearly as much chaos on all sides of these tumultuous elections. The nation has been through other times of strife, even beyond the Civil War, and we have always figured out a way to make it work. Respect and American unity begin at the local and community levels, and we will have to dial back the insanity a bit and start to find some common ground again, if we can, in the coming years.
Keep in mind, social media has many of us living in crazy echo chambers, where we only see tailored content that fuels our current worldview, and the media pushes controversies to get the ratings and imprint their personal agendas on viewers.
We have to stop letting this push the narrative, and stop losing our collective minds as American citizens. With recounts and possible lawsuits, the presidential election is close to being over, even as President-elect Biden addresses the nation.
Hopefully, America will awake in the morning like we always do, looking for a brighter future. And we can gather around the breakfast table as friends, family, and neighbors.
As we should.