By Jerry LandersAnyone who has ever ridden a roller coaster knows the anticipation of climbing that first hill, watching the ground fall further and further away as the train click clacks its way to the top. When you go over the top, if you are a front row rider like I am, there is a brief moment where you and the other riders are suspended for one last moment of excited expectation. You take a deep breath, the train is released, and you begin to careen up and down through white-knuckled, stomach-churning twists and turns and loops and corkscrews…until you are returned safely to the start house.
This is a fairly accurate comparison to what is happening across the country as early voting gets underway for the 2020 Presidential election.
For example…
The confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barret got underway with all of the usual partisan shouting. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called the hearings “a sham.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DL) has adopted the left’s talking point and told Fox News Sunday reporter Chris Wallace that the mere filling of a vacant seat on the Supreme Court constitutes “court packing.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee has since voted Barrett’s nomination out to the full Senate with a 12-0 vote, with the Democrat members boycotting the meeting. By the time you read this, Judge Barrett will likely be Justice Barrett. Although they have done what they could to slow or stop the process, Democrats do not have the numbers to do so. Elections matter.
Also, Joe Biden initially refused to answer a direct question about whether he would take steps to add to the number of justices to the Supreme Court. While it is remarkable that a candidate for president would refuse to answer such a question, his response was even more striking, telling a reporter that “the voters do not deserve to know” his position on the issue. Biden has since softened that response by indicating that he “is not a fan” of court packing. Even more recently, undoubtedly responding to inside polling and his handlers’ advice, Biden now says he will form a commission to review the structure of the federal judiciary. Polling indicates that a clear majority of Americans are opposed to “court packing,” and whatever you think of confirming Judge Barrett at this point, Biden has recognized that it is a losing issue for hm.
After being diagnosed with, being hospitalized for, and recovering from COVID19, President Trump has returned to the campaign trail and resumed his campaign rallies. CNN reporter Jim Acosta could not bring himself to report on what the president actually said at a recent rally in Central Florida, but made sure to point out the lack of distancing and face coverings.
Even the Happy Days cast is having a reunion/fundraiser (minus Scott Baio, who blasted Howard and his castmates on Twitter) to chime in support of Biden. Maybe they should call it “Unhappy Days.”
Social unrest and violence continue seemingly unabated in cities across the country. On September 4, Portland, Oregon experienced its 100th consecutive day of protests, many of which escalated into riots. On October 11, the violence continued as protesters toppled statues of both Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. These protests began back in May after George Floyd died in police custody in far off Minneapolis. The protests heading into the Columbus Day holiday were called an “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage.” No word on whether George Floyd considered himself indigenous or not.
And in the midst of all this, depending on what science you choose to believe, the COVID19 pandemic is either waning or continuing its rampage.
Election Day is fast approaching. The roller coaster ride is just getting started.
Whenever the results of the election are known, whether it is late in the evening of November 3 or days or even weeks later, it will be just another signpost along the road in the life of our Constitutional Republic. It will not be the “end of the world as we know it” which both political parties and fringe groups are breathlessly prophesying.
After Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012, I and many others were disappointed. I told my wife the next day that I had to get up and go to work regardless. Millions of other Americans did the same. The walls did not crumble. The streets did not crack. And although the foundations seem to be a little suspect now with all the noise and static emanating from the media, the protesters/anarchists and the politicians, on the day after the 2020 election, after all of the white-knuckled, stomach-churning twists and turns and loops and corkscrews, the nation will get up and go to work. One side or the other will be disappointed, which is most certainly a gross understatement given the current climate, but the nation will continue to move forward on the timeline of history, whatever that looks like.
Take a deep breath, people…and hold on.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @jaljr.
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