UPDATE Nov. 16 2024:  Please read this paragraph, and the last comment from me on this page as well.  This post originally was published on Nov. 9.  Subsequent there have been many comments.  I would encourage you to read the comments, including the links included.  I’ve read them all.  In addition are these posts from the past few days: Armistice Day (Nov. 11); Remembering (Nov. 12) and Senate District 47 (Nov. 14).  I will continue to post as usual, but will likely not send out any notice of new posts until the New Year.  Stop by once in awhile, if interested. [As of 11:48 p.m. CST Thursday Nov 14, 2024: Kamala Harris vote count is 73,169,047.  Updated data from CNN.com]  Have a good Thanksgiving and Christmas as this most unusual and uncertain year in American history winds down.

*

Nov. 5, 2024, Presidential Election was the family photograph of the United States of America.

The photo represents who we, the people,  are at this point in our history.  By now you know the picture conveyed by over 142 million citizens marking their ballot for President of the United States.  The whole world knows who we are and where we stand.  At the very least the picture is bewildering.

Nearly 70 million of us didn’t agree.  Below is the latest vote total for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz (as of Friday morning Nov. 8, 2024 from CNN).  I simply want to emphasize that there are tens of millions of us who did not agree with the outcome of Nov. 5.  Yes, we lost.  But don’t count us out.  Kamala and Tim did an incredible job.  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris still have over 80 days in office.

(The winning number was about 4 million votes greater.  The number were eligible, but didn’t vote at all, was nearly 100 million.)

As you have already noted, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and Joe Biden have graciously conceded.  We’ll proceed as we had for all of U.S. history until the last four years of chaos.  I have heard not a single report of any voting fraud this year.  Doubtless there were some isolated incidents, but not many.

There is much more election data available from many sources, of course.  For Minnesotans, here’s the report on local races.

For the moment, I’ll simply stand by my own earlier recommendation to vote Harris/Walz and any Democrats this 2024 round.  I think Kamala and Tim ran a superb campaign, and I was a strong supporter of Joe Biden, even after the debate problem.  They all brought a positive tone and accomplishments to government.

I encourage a careful read of Army Talk 64 and careful attention to the nuclear bomb in our midst Project 2025.  Now is not the time to be silent.

Can Fascism happen here?  Here’s what I wrote on July 15, 2016, after the first day of the Republican National Convention.  At the time I knew almost nothing about DJT.  I had never (and still have never) seen a single episode of The Apprentice, and knew only that he had no public service experience at all.

Christian Nationalism: I would urge you to take the time to read this long article from Vanity Fair Oct 2024. Thanks to Kathy for this.   The title is “Bad Faith”, and is about the Evangelical Religious Right, the Catholic Church, and Christian Nationalism Vanity Fair Bad Faith Oct 24. Readers know I’m lifelong Catholic and you’ll find me in church on Sunday morning.  Most Americans aren’t Catholic.   So, what, in my opinion, does “Catholic” mean in this context?  It certainly doesn’t mean the people in the pews.  The church as I define it here is the hierarchy of the United States church, mostly Bishops and Cardinals, who are almost all white men, mostly old, never married, who are the messengers and bottlenecks to communication about belief and faith, holders of power and authority.  This church is no democracy (except of course no one can be forced to join or remain in, or even contribute).  Hierarchy (and by extension Priest) selection is directed from Rome and depends on the administration (Pope) in charge at the time of their appointment. The current movie “Conclave” is an excellent primer, and while based on a novel, seems to reflect a very possible future reality.  It is important to understand this, since the “church” is obviously a major player in all things relating to government in this country – all legal, of course.  (Jim, in on-line comments below, offers a few more interesting observations, as does Larry.)

COMMENTS (check for more at end.  The first comments came before I published the above post):  

from Dick: there are eight comments at the Election Day post.  I wholeheartedly recommend any and all posts from Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American) and Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse).  (Linked are posts from both after midnight Nov. 9, 2024.)  There are other very credible sources as well.  I refer to them from time to time here.  Check them out.

from Fred:  My conservative friend Bill sent a fairly mild jibe at me yesterday. He ended it with “Are you still there?”  I wrote a reply:

In the big picture, the election seems more than a setback for progressivism in the US. It is a game changer. I would argue that US Progressive movement that started with labor and farmer revolts in late 1800s and continued to grow, eventually captured the dormant Democratic party at the century’s turn. Note: I’m not including the former Confederacy here; Progressivism never darkened the doorstep of the Deep South and Bible Belt.

Clearly there were high points and low points during the 20th century, but the Dems maintained progressive ideals with success. Moderate Republican administrations didn’t much bother with them. But Nixon’s Southern Strategy marked a change later codified and modernized by Reagan. That move locked down southern conservative support for the foreseeable future and linked it with moderate GOP leaders. Trumpism harkens back to the Jim Crow South and encouraged militant Christians to rally against the secular state. White men marginalized by the liberal culture climbed on board early on. They understood that the target of the Make America Great Again folks was mid-20th Century America, when everyone, particularly racial minorities and women, knew their place.

Meanwhile post-WWII Dems from Kennedy/Johnson (LBJ is an anomaly, a southern Dem conservative with liberal policies) maintained a modernizing progressivism that underpinned the Carter, Clinton, Obama and Biden years. But instead of broadening their natural base, Dems became advocates for every splinter movement and demographic with an ax to grind. They saw it as their duty to help out the downtrodden and even found more groups to save: LBQGT, Black Lives Matter, policing the police, suing local and state governments for financial redress and my least favorite: paying off college student loans. Kind of like when the Wall Street debacle threatened mega-banks deemed too big to fail. A progressive bail out of the collegiate-debtor class made sense to Biden, but not to tens of millions of the blue collar Americans.

Guess it is time to turn over the government to Trump, Musk, RFK, Bannon and the Murdocks. What could go wrong.

from David, responding to Fred:  As Fred and I have discussed many, many times, there is an element of the MAGAs who are flat out racists. Trump gave them license to come out of the shadows. However, I’m not ready to believe that half the US population is ready to head to Walmart the next time there’s a sale on Tiki torches.

 I have a friend who is a poster boy for the low-information voter. I suspected he was a Trump supporter but never really discussed politics. We were on a long hike Wednesday and he admitted that he voted for Trump and hoped that wouldn’t affect our friendship. His main reason for voting Trump was how the economy impacted him personally. Being retired on a fixed pension, he feels the pain of inflation and believes that Trump at least talked about his plight. He’s a strong Catholic who is uncomfortable with transgender issues. He can’t understand why Democrats are so hellbent on things like drag queen story hours in public libraries or using terms like, “pregnant people.” The toxic news environment has turned him off of pretty much all news, Fox included. He wasn’t even aware of Trump’s “they eat cats and dogs” comments but agreed that it’s a ridiculous thing to be talking about instead of the real issues surrounding immigration.

The Democrats need to take a hard look at how they can reach out to folks who were supporters and now reject them.

from James, about Democracy’s future:

Unfortunately, the history of democracy has never been secure.  The Greek democratic states lasted 300 years or less; The Roman republic held on for 350 years but the last 40 years were of one triumvirate after another.  Our democracy has been around for 236

years, a bit short, but not unusually so.  So an end to our democracy shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.  And it ends as the others

with a “strong man”: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,  though Trump really isn’t in their league.  But who knows what follows

an elderly Trump; the Vance dictatorship?

We can, of course, try to recover but history isn’t on our side…

Carol responding to a post “I blame the media“: Haven’t read this, but… the finger-pointing folks are really lining up.  Not nearly enough finger-pointing at the VOTERS, however… who made the choice to be uninformed and vindictive and self-centered, and to follow a despicable cult leader.  (At some point, anyway, they still had choice.)  It’s not really the job of the media or anyone else to knock these people down and spoon-feed them.  All sorts of information was out there at their fingertips.  Whether they chose to care about facts is on them.  They follow someone who literally lies every time he speaks, but then they get their undies all in a bundle because Harris once said she was against fracking, then changed her mind.  Because she can’t show receipts from when she worked at a McDonald’s many years ago.  Etc.

This country has gotten so fat-assed lazy and irresponsible.  Only caring about guns, drugs, and who can “entertain” them the best.  It’s nice that Harris got endorsements and appearances from all those big-name celebrities.  But it shouldn’t matter whether someone named “Bad Bunny” tells you who to vote for.  (I suppose soon they will need to compete for the Santa Claus endorsement.)

We’re a spoiled rotten, entitled country – devoid of any understanding of history or critical thinking – that is certain nothing really bad will happen to us.  And it’s pretty clear by now that nothing is going to change until we get knocked down and run over.  But by then, will we be unable to even get back up.

But if you really need to find something to blame, blame the educational system.  Blame a mentality that despises educated people.  Blame a mindset that thinks truth is suspect and lying is hysterical.  And blame a society that still thinks having a penis – and the size of it – determines your value.

BLAME THE VOTERS.

More comments below

from Kathy: “The end” from Neal Gabler, Nov. 6, 2024: Neal Gabler

from Carole: Thank you. Also listen to Bubba on X talk about the importance of values and good character.  (Dick. This is excellent, about 5 minutes, over a million views.)

from Judy: Thank you for this piece.  I could never imagined an outcome like this.  I am reminded that in the 1950’s when I was in HS in Duluth our school principal would not allow “Negros” to attend.  If they lived in our district and a few did they were sent to another HS.  I fear Tues reminded us we are returning to such an era………….

from Brian: Later today I’m flying off to Berlin to see some great credit union friends.  I met them while I was in Bolivia working with credit unions. I love languages and really enjoy speaking German.   Well, you know Germany’s story:  they survived Hitler; and I sure hope we survive Trump!  Scheiße!  I really enjoy your posts, thanks so much!!

from Sue: I am persuaded that, after running a brilliant campaign and working like a slave to win over the country, Kamala Harris ran smack into Western civilizations’ entrenched patriarchy. She could not get elected because she is a woman. End of story.  And from Joyce: I absolutely agree; it’s the misogyny. Even women can be misogynistic; my own mother, who despised women in positions of power, and often told me that anything a woman could do a man could do better, was a perfect example.

from Donna: I have not read your newest post but have listened to Jon Stewart’s show with Heather Cox, an historian and thought you might find some hope in this recent filmed interview of Jon Stewart’s Weekly Show Podcast  .

from Sandy: Thanks for all your words of wisdom about the election!  We were devastated for sure and I guess we were surprised that so many Americans voted for a convicted Con Man and Felon.  What he wants to do to this country is very scary and troubling for sure.  I dont think the people that voted for him really thought he would do things he plans to do.  We will have to hopefully put in some guardrails and hopefully before Biden leaves he and congress will take some much needed steps.  Take care and my dad would be so heartbroken with this Trump victory for sure

 

from Remi:

I have never been so glad to be a Canadian.

NORTH AMERICA’S CITY LIVABILITY INDEX

1 – Vancouver, 2 – Calgary, 3 – Toronto, 4 – Montreal

“Canada’s strengths are its public services, particularly its healthcare and education systems, which consistently earn top scores. The country is also more stable politically and has less violence than does its southern neighbor.” (The Economist)

WHICH IS THE MOST EDUCATED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD?

According to ISCED (UNESCO), Canada is the most educated country in the world. 63% percent of the country’s adults have completed higher education.

Dave, Nov. 16: Predicting the Fure, Nw York Times: NYT Adam Grant Nov 12 24

Dick Nov. 14, 2024:  I published the Election Day post right before 10 p.m. Central Time on Nov. 5, just before the polls closed on the west coast.  The Family Photo post (this one) I published on Nov. 9, after the Presidential Election results were called for DJT.  I mention these times only to point out that I wanted my opinion on the court before the counting of votes began, and after the winner was declared.  It is just my opinion, and matters only to me.  The final comment, above, came yesterday.

The last e-mail of today brought this column of Heather Cox Richardson.  (Donna’s response, above, has a link to a long video interview/conversation between professor Richardson and Jon Stewart.  The interview is very well worth your time.)

I am visualizing this time in U.S. history as like being in the eye of an immense hurricane, larger than anything we’ve ever experienced.  Like a real hurricane, if it hits, it’s too late to prepare.  It won’t discriminate between good people and bad people.  We’re neighbors, everywhere.  You just don’t know.  If it hits your neighbor, it will hit you, too.

Today we’re all going about our normal business, sun is shining and nice day here.  We know there is something going on, but we’ve got 67 days until inauguration.  Let the good times roll.  Then comes the hurricane, or maybe it will fizzle.  Or maybe your house will evade it, or maybe not.  We don’t prepare by pretending it’s no problem.  Let the buyer beware.

If you wish, take the time these coming weeks to browse my little writing from 2008-09 called Uncomfortable Essays to the Peace and Justice Community.  It’s accessible here.  It’s over 40 pages, divided into two or three page “chapters”.

The people have spoken, and it only the people who are accountable for what happens in the coming two years.