Democrats are expected to be good winners. After a Democratic win, the media will ask the Democrats about their plans to reach across the aisle when they arrive in congress. The media will question Democrats on how they will "unite the country," as if they were the ones working 24/7 to divide it. They will ask about--and expect--bipartisanship going forward. Many Democrats will fall for this framing from the media. I understand. They want to be uniters, not dividers.
Democrats are expected to forgive and forget how Republicans did nothing while our highest values were trampled on by Trump.
Even if an opponent lied about health care and supported hateful and violent rhetoric from Trump, Democrats are expected to forgive and forget. They will talk about being a representative for all the people in the district, not just the people who voted for them, because that is what you are supposed to say as a good winner.
Red and Blue Being Good Sports. AP photo CBS News
Democrats are expected to be good losers. They aren't supposed to demand investigations of voter suppression, hacking and campaign election fraud. There will be pressure to conceded rather than fight the results. The mainstream media, Republicans and some centrist Democrats will want Democrats to concede --even when there isn't an overwhelmingly clear winner or loser!
Howie Klein said the other day that many Democrats have to win by 6-8 points because of the gerrymandering and voter suppression. That's insane.
But here's the deal. Democrats don't have to be good losers. We can be suspicious about all results that weren't projected blowouts for the Republicans. We SHOULD be suspicious. If the shoe is on the other foot this evening Republicans will be demanding investigations.
Democrats don't have to be good winners. We can be winners who don't forget about the bad things that happened. I want winners who will change things so the people who follow them can have fair elections.
If there isn't punishment for abuses of power and law breaking in our system the problems continue. That is what happens when we only"look forward not backward" after a win. If we don't investigate and prosecute the people involved, the problems never stop.
Some problems, like breaking norms that weren't laws (e.g. disclosing taxes) need to be made into laws.
Democrats don't want to be like Red Hats at a Trump rally, mindlessly screaming 'Lock him up!' about their opponents. We actually do believe in the rule of law and the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. But what if their opponents actually committed crimes?
We need a chant that assumes innocent until proven guilty. Something that applies to both real and false allegations of wrong doings. How about:
"A Full Investigation Means Justice For The Nation!" (Nah, too many syllables, but at least it rhymes.)
Full investigations take time. People have short attention spans. Our people won't be in office until January. The good news, if you can call it that, is that Trump and his people will continue with their violent rhetoric, law breaking and lying every single day, win or lose.
As Sam Sedersaid, the Trump fever won't break if they lose. They didn't relax when they won. They are angry winners because they knew they didn't really deserve it. When they lose they will scream and cry like Trump. Everyone will be to blame but themselves. It will all be so very very unfair.
In The Squire of Gothos a powerful child-like being was punished by his parents who then apologized to the crew for the damage he had done. When his parents took him away he whined, "But why? I didn't do anything wrong. I was winning, I was winning! You saw!" Sound like anyone you see on TV?
Post election we need to stay vigilant and keep track of people to investigate.
Newly elected Democrats will need to hold various members of the GOP accountable for their role in enabling this dangerous child with power. This includes holding people accountable who knew about various crimes, had the power to stop them, but didn't.
Finally, we can't let law-breaking, resigning Republicans fly off onto Lobbying World free as a bird. Yes, I'm alleging Republicans broke the law. I know of six Republicans who broke campaign finance laws in connection with money they got from the NRA that was really from Russia. Which specific laws they broke and how much they knew is still unclear, but that is why we need investigations.
Win or lose the GOP will continue to damage to the country until they are prosecuted for their crimes. Mueller's findings will push Trump into new levels of craziness between now and January. Get ready to demand full investigations.
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