Why a 'Peaceful Transition' Matters

It was, in fact, our first President who said these words:

“What is most important of this grand experiment, the United States? Not the election of the first president, but the election of its second president. The peaceful transition of power is what will separate this country from every other country in the world.”

President Washington well understood that voters may choose differently between one election and the next. He knew that American patriots had not fought, bled, and died just to install one more monarchy on the Earth. Our representative democracy would not turn upon any candidate’s loss or disappointment but upon the consent of the governed. Always.

Today we are less than five weeks from our 2020 presidential election, and these words of Washington are exceptionally timely. His statement above, together with the requirements of the U.S. Constitution, are the guiding lights. They also give us a proper context for understanding the petulant presidency of Donald Trump.

When our President Trump was asked this week if he will accept the coming election result should he lose, he gave an unacceptable reply. “Well," he said, “we’re going to have to see what happens.” Wrong answer. 

He insists, instead, that we accept a Catch-22 of his own design: Either he wins, or else fraud must’ve been afoot. But these aren’t the only possible outcomes. There’s a third: An incumbent can also lose. This has been unusual in our history, but it has happened before.

Our Founders ordained that the people would be sovereign, not a king. They provided for elections as national rituals of central importance. In a pandemic, as now, the final count will surely take extra time to conclude, and it will require our patience.

And if you lose, you leave the White House in peace.

© Keel Hunt, 2020