Our Advanced Democratic Republic Is Greeting the Electoral College Vote With Calm and Maturity. Not.

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

15 December 20

Not.

ood morning! Today, in a quaint relic emblematic of the genius of the Founders, in state capitols across this great republic, the Electors will gather for the purpose of helping the president* lose the 2020 presidential election for the 238th time in a little over a month. And all across this great republic, citizens have treated this event with the cool equanimity that comes so naturally to a mature self-governing people.

In Washington, the D.C., via the Post:

One of those arrested was 29-year-old Phillip Johnson of the District, who was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with at least one of four stabbings that occurred. For most of the day, police largely kept opposing factions separated, at times frustrating the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist organization that supports Trump’s attempts to reverse an election he lost. Confrontations broke out after dark, when Proud Boys and their supporters ventured near Black Lives Matter Plaza and were prevented access by police, many using bicycles as mobile barricades.

And in Washington, the state, from the Olympian:

One person was shot and three arrested after two protest groups clashed near and on the state Capitol Campus in Olympia Saturday afternoon, according to the Washington State Patrol and Olympia police. The shooting suspect, a 25-year-old Shoreline man, has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault, according to the State Patrol. The victim was transported to an area hospital by a private party, said Sgt. Darren Wright. Details about the victim were still not known as of Sunday morning.

(Let us pause for a moment and pay homage to the work that "clashed" is doing in that paragraph. This is very similar to the "clash" between me and that car last December.)

And in state capitols in places like Michigan, from the Detroit News:

On Sunday night, House and Senate officials sent notifications about the closures to members and staff. At 2 p.m. Monday, the state's 16 presidential electors will convene in the Senate chamber to cast their votes for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Some are expecting protesters in support of Republican President Donald Trump to gather outside the building, which will be closed to the public.

Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said Sunday night the Senate closed its offices based on "recommendations from law enforcement." The decision was not based on anticipated protests but on "credible threats of violence," McCann said. "Due to safety and security concerns, the Senate and all Senate spaces in downtown Lansing will be closed Monday, December 14," the Senate notification said. "The Capitol, Binsfeld Office Building, and Senate offices within Boji Tower will be closed."

Luckily, we have prominent national leaders who work for calm.

“Why not look into this if in fact the evidence that we have is true?” Flynn opined. “We definitely believe that it is true. And there is clear, clear evidence. And so what we have to stop doing is saying [there is] nothing to see here, you know, we’re going to continue to march down the road towards a false inauguration, which the country will not allow that right now.”

And religious leaders, too.

“We come to Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day with troubled and heavy hearts. Our nation is going through a crisis which threatens its very future as free and democratic. The worldwide spread of Marxist materialism, which has already brought destruction and death to the lives of so many, and which has threatened the foundations of our nation for decades, now seems to seize the governing power over our nation.”

And so, on Monday, we enact a constitutional vaudeville first instituted to make sure that chattel slavery would continue in perpetuity. It's an amusing little quadrennial ceremony, and it might be a problem if we weren't such a highly developed democratic republic.