Democracy lives

For a while there, I was wondering what was wrong with the American electorate during Tuesday's mid-term elections.

After all, nearly two million people in Georgia cast their ballots for a grossly unqualified former football player who could barely articulate an intelligent sentence to represent their interests in the United States Senate. 

And it wasn't just Georgia. Election deniers and erstwhile extreme right-wing snake oil salesmen were running for offices all across the country: Californian J.D. Vance ran for the Senate seat in Ohio; television doctor Mehmet Oz from New Jersey was running as another carpetbagger for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania; and election denier Ron Johnson was seeking a third term in Wisconsin.

Every election I hear how smart the American people are when they go to the polls, and yet I was holding my breath this time as incompetent candidates were seeking powerful offices and coming unbelievably close to winning their races.

All of this reminded me of something I read years ago about the creation of the Constitution, where some of the Founding Fathers wondered if they could indeed trust the voting public. One delegate, Gouverneur Morris of New York, feared poor people without property (property was being considered as a qualification to vote) would sell their votes to the rich.

Morris was afraid the the country would "abound with mechanics and manufacturers who will receive their bread from their employers" and suggested that "the ignorant and dependent can be as little trusted with the public interest" as small children.

Imagine if there had been fear-mongering FOX News back then. Holy cow.

Anyway, Tuesday's elections came and went. Despite predictions of a red tsunami that would flood the House and Senate with election denying, Social Security stripping Republicans, nearly the opposite happened. John Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania who has a Master's degree in business from Harvard University as well as a hoodie from Carrhart, knocked off Oz to win the seat and essentially give the Democrats control of the Senate.

That is fortuitous for the country that has had to wade through currents of lies and misinformation from both sides of the aisle. But President Joe Biden can continue to offer judges and cabinet heads for Senate approval. Those who are still denying that Biden won the election in 2020 – without evidence, mind you – can just shut the hell up.

Indeed, as of today, the House of Representatives is still up for grabs, with the votes of about 20 seats still to be totaled. The Republicans have a paper-thin edge for control at this moment, but it could change. Wouldn't that be something in what was supposed to be a red tsunami year?

All of this gives me a moment to consider that the American electorate might be just smart enough. Yep, too many whackos got too close to gaining office (Vance and Johnson come to mind).

We're not out of the woods yet. We might never be. Democracy – and the will of the people – managed to survive this time. Nevertheless, in order for it to continue to survive, diligence must also be sharpened. We have to decide if democracy is worth fighting for. That means expanding voting rights, not constricting them. That means ending gerrymandering and redlining.

It means not voting for former football players who think part of their family comes from Mars (See here).

It means democracy lives.