November 28, 2020
Who Shall Govern?
By Kate Domenick
I was eleven years old in November 1960 when my father and I watched Richard Nixon concede the presidential election to John F. Kennedy. My father, a former FBI agent, shook his head. “Another victory for Mayor Daley of Chicago,†he said.
“What does that mean?†I asked.
“It means Mayor Daley stole the election,†he answered.
“Then why doesn’t Nixon do something about it?†I asked indignantly.
“Because it would tear the country apart, and no one wants that.â€
“Why not?â€
“It doesn’t work that way,†he replied. “Nixon is being a gentleman.â€
Of course, it wasn’t just my dad who felt that way. I heard his sentiment echoed many times after that election by teachers, news commentators, and my friends’ parents. The election might have been stolen, sure, but these things happen. Move on.
I didn’t agree with that thinking then, and I don’t agree with it now. Is it gentlemanly to allow an election to be hijacked right before your eyes? And what does “tearing the country apart†mean? A civil war? Why? Because someone finally pulls back the curtain on corruption that we’ve lived with for decades?
If the citizens are the body politic of democratic republic, voting is its life’s blood. Voting gives vitality to a free country, expressing the will of the people in a tangible way that, as we are often reminded, has consequences. Steal the vote and you sap America of its energy and purpose. What’s the point of living in a country that is ostensibly self-governed if our votes don’t count?
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/11/who_shall_govern.html