Tomorrow we vote.
This is how we decide who will lead us. We vote. And then we count the vote and we go forward with (most) people hoping that whoever wins does a good job. And we keep working to find the best way forward for us all.
There was always disagreement, and there was always agreement too. Keep working on the agreements until things get better.
John Wayne was an arch conservative. Look him up if you didn’t know that. He supported Nixon in the 1960 election for President, but when JFK won, Wayne said that he didn’t vote for Kennedy, but he’s my president now, so I hope he does a good job.
This has been a difficult year for many reasons. We are at each others throats over several things, and nature has chosen now to deliver us a pandemic.
It is times like this we realize that we still have to work together to overcome the problems that we face. And our problems should never be the other citizens because of their politics, religion, or diet.
We have so much to get done and together is how we must do it.
We have had some very tough times in this country. We have disagreed most of the time about something. We’ve even come to blows, with people beaten and killed in the streets; just like now. The Vietnam War and Civil Rights pitted us against each other. The anarchism of one hundred years ago had bombs being set off in the streets. And union men fought bloody fights to gain the working rights and regulations that we have today. And before all of those when the issue of slavery came to a head, we went to war against each other.
And looking back we wish the conflicts had not happened, but it is fairly easy to see that there was a right side in each of those fights. Imperfect yes, but more right than the other. Try to be sure you are on the right side. Many have been wrong.
But we got through all of these things. And together we march toward the future. We’ve never failed unless our unity broke.
Our secret has always been faith in majority rule. It goes to the core of civilization. Majority rule, with protection against abuse of the minority.
Every club we join, every organization formed from the people, we elect governing bodies and trust that more of us will be right most of the time. We make mistakes, and later we correct them. Sometimes that takes awhile. But bit by bit we forge a better country and world.
It is the founding ideal of our Republic. Let We The People choose our representatives and leaders to guide us. Let the losers remember that they would expect to lead if they had won, so they must respect the will of The People when they don’t.
We all think that we have a better idea of what should happen than do others, but we all can’t be right; at least not about the same things. So we compromise and work together. Nobody gets it exactly their way. But the whole effort brings a better country. If it is better for me but not for you, then I lose out on what you would contribute. Our victories must include us all. And often that means us accepting less than we want.
And at our core we get it. We thrive because of, amongst other things, we have faith in the democratic principles that inspired our forefathers.
This is ALL of our country. We can share and work together in spite of our differences. We can forgive each others name calling and ugliness and get on with the work of everyone’s success.
Peace to you all. I’ll see you all after the election.
Jack T Reason.