The things we have in common

It's over. Despite the last bit of unseemly flailing about by the administration, the election is over, and when the last votes are counted in what will prove to be the most transparent election in history – despite the propaganda suggesting otherwise – Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States with 306 electoral votes, the same number Donald Trump got in 2016.

The results of the election absolutely should be verified and confidence in the foundation of American democracy, the electoral process, should be affirmed despite an unsubstantiated attack from the highest office in the land. The fact is that when the Trump Administration's own task force looked for fraud in the last election in which Hillary Clinton received three million more votes, they couldn't find any significant issues.

Each state manages its own elections right down to the local level, and to suggest dishonesty in a system in which poll watchers from each party are part of the process, is to discredit Republican officials in states that Biden flipped as well as Democrats.

I've been reporting on government for 30 years from the highest level right down to city councils, and despite the labyrinth and foibles of elected officers, I find that most of them are honest people trying to serve the greater good, and when you get into the nuts and bolts of administration, they generally make sound, informed decisions.

I know where I live and who reads this column and I know I'm in the minority. I laughingly described myself as a wild-eyed liberal to a conservative friend once, and she corrected me; “No, you're a moderate.” But in North Dakota, where 65% of the population just voted for Donald Trump, comparatively, that makes me a crazed leftist. In South Dakota and Montana, where this column also runs, Trump won 62 and 57% of the vote, respectively.

“How do you survive among all those conservatives?” I'm asked often. Well, from a journalistic standpoint, we keep the front page and the opinion page separate. News is news. Opinion is opinion, and newspapers are the most democratic private institutions in the country. We actually pay to print and mail critical letters to the editor. If we make mistakes, we run corrections.

But it all comes down to community. I always say (and believe) that folks would give you the shirt off their back and never give a thought to politics. It's a big deal on cable television and social media, but on the streets and in the fields, it's abstract.

An emigre asked me last week why her hometown had tilted so hard to the right, why Trump and his bad behavior got so much support— nearly 80% of the vote in our county. “Well,” I said, “They abhor the bad behavior but they like his policies and really are concerned about socialism.”

Can we admit that there's been a whole lot of fear-mongering about socialism, amplified by a small minority in Congress? The reality is Joe Biden was elected; he's a moderate with a history of good relationships with Republicans. He'll need them because while this election was a referendum on Trump's unsteady and disconcerting behavior and his inability to control the coronavirus that is wreaking havoc through our communities and economy, Democrats lost ground in the U.S. House and are unlikely to have a majority in the Senate when run-off races in Georgia shake out.

Plus, while got Biden got 75 million votes, Donald Trump got 70 million. That's a message that better come through loud and clear. To move forward will require compromise from both sides, and that's what most Americans want. Compromise and progress. Stability. There are hot-button issues employed to divide us but far more things unite us. We want safe communities where Americans can make a decent living, get a decent education, have the opportunity to advance through hard work in a system that isn't rigged against them by big-money players, and in the end, we all want the peace of mind of a dignified retirement. Along the way, we don't want to fear bankruptcy because we can't afford healthcare.

It's time to turn down the heat in the kitchen. It's time for American citizens to take responsibility for the information they consume and share. There's a lot of fake news out there, but the majority of it comes from shady sources and not the traditional media. Research. Question all stories. Look for and identify bias. Know the difference between opinion and news. Challenge your beliefs.

Remember that we're all red white and blue. Joe Biden is calling on our better angels, and when our better angels unite, America is unstoppable and truly is a beacon of hope and freedom.

God bless America.

© Tony Bender, 2020