ELECTION SELECTIONS

The people have spoken and the traditions of the American electoral process have been followed again. It may be true that undue influences affected the outcome of the various races for office but, again, the people have spoken.

I haven’t looked at the numbers of the popular vote in the presidential contest, but I have a feeling that at least 40% of the voters didn’t vote for the winner. In my estimation that is a sizeable minority. And it is possible that the minority could be an extremely vocal and powerful force when the time comes for votes in the House and Senate. We still have a representative form of government, and those representatives can be influenced. If power of the new office holders seems to be running amok we need to remember there will be another election in two years and again in four years. As Mr. Obama has said “Things will change.”

In our local and state elections the results were much the same. Democrats ruled the day in Delaware except for our “moderate” Republican congressman who won his ninth term. He’s a wishy-washy sort, more Democrat than some Democrats. Some long term incumbent Republicans lost their races because they made spurious and untrue accusations against their opponents. In other words they stooped to the level of dirty politicking often shown by the other party. They may have lost anyway, but in their losses this time they dishonored themselves and their party.

So now what? The new administrations will take office in a couple of months and be hit with the realities of the enormous responsibilities and problems faced everyday by the folks currently in office. They will need to learn that if the policies they put in place are ineffectual then they can only blame their predecessors for a short time. It might work for a year or two but after that the people will want to see more than smoke and mirrors. Then a midterm election comes along.

A lot of damage to our Country can be done in the next few years. A lot of damage was done in the middle years of the F.D.R. administration. America recovered. Huge damage was done during the War Between the States. America recovered. Damage of another sort was done during the Clinton years. America’s recovery from that had been going along fairly well but may now be delayed somewhat. That remains to be seen. The point is this. The system we have works. It may not always work the way we like it but it will work. If too many changes are attempted in the set up of the system there are remedies available to reinforce the original intent and practices of the system.

So we need to be vigilant. We need to be vocal. We can’t be a silent minority. Use the system. Use it locally, on a state level and nationally. The people may have misspoken this time but in our Country we get to speak again.

Congratulations Democrats and have a fine day.