The Electoral College vote has been cast with the expected result, but the bitterness that highlighted the 2016 presidential contest, pitting the left vs. both the center and conservatives will go on. The unprecedented attempts to delegitimize the ballot, even including death threats to members of the electoral college, (see, for example The Hill’s description of the threats to a young Michigan elector) indicate an unfortunate turn in U.S. politics.
The results as this article went to press indicated that Trump received 304 electoral votes, with only 270 needed to win. Clinton had 224. NBC news reported that “Anti-Trump protesters descended on state capitols throughout the U.S. in a last-ditch effort to persuade so-called ‘faithless electors’ in states Trump won to change their vote. Many of the Republicans casting ballots said they were inundated with calls and emails urging them to dump Trump… Only one Republican elector, Christopher Suprun of Texas, publicly pledged not to vote for Trump despite his state heavily favoring the president-elect last month. One other Texas elector also abandoned Trump in the final vote.”
While political and policy disagreements never vanish following elections, the broad post-campaign efforts, many organized and funded by leftist leaders, are unique.
The sides not only argue about specific topics; they disagree about the rules of their competition. As marriage counsellors note, learning how to fight is essential to preserving a relationship—in this case, living under the same government.
Not accepting the results of a fair election, using paid agitators to produce demonstrations some of which turned into violent riots, initiating groundless calls for recounts, and casting aspersions on the president-elect violate long-standing traditions that helped preserve the peaceful transition of power in America.
The debate is no longer centered over approaches to specific issues, such as how to spend federal dollars, or which foreign treaty to sign. The new conflict is far more fundamental. Centrists and Conservatives seek to preserve a free-market oriented economy and Constitutional practices; over the past eight years of the Obama Administration, leftists expanded their perception that Constitutional rules and restrictions could be severely bent, and that a more regulated economy was preferable.
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While centrists and conservatives tend to concentrate on specific issues, such as middle-class unemployment, over-taxation, crime, national security, etc., their progressive counterparts advance a broader agenda, which President Obama called the “fundamental transformation” of America.
As the New York Analysis of Policy and Government previously noted, actual political campaigns constitute just one battleground for progressives. Academia and entertainment, which those in the center and right tend not to emphasize as forums for political debate, are a major avenue for the advancement of leftist agendas. This increasingly outrages parents who do not wish to see their tax or tuition dollars being used to advance causes they disagree with, and tire of having to monitor television, movie and music programming for messages that trouble them.
The tenor of the political battle has changed radically. In the mid part of the 20th Century, a common refrain heard was “I totally disagree with everything you say, but I would fight for your right to say it.” During the past several years, the American left has increasingly sought to deprive their opponents of a forum. When conservatives complained of news bias on the part of the major television networks and newspapers, they invested heavily in talk radio, specialized opinion journals, Fox News, and internet sites. Angry over the success of those alternatives, progressives have repeatedly sought to enact various forms of censorship.
Despite the seeming finality of the campaign following the electoral college vote, more unprecedented disorder is on the horizon. The Hollywood Reporter quotes activists/entertainer Michael Moore on plans to disrupt the inauguration:
“If by some awful happenstance Trump shows up to be sworn in on January 20th, I will be there helping lead the national protest and non-violently disrupting the Inauguration of a man no one other than the electoral college elected — and I’ll also be doing my own thing as a private citizen (activities I won’t disclose now)… This impending disaster requires everyone to get involved now — all hands on deck! This is not a drill!”