Heading toward 1861? Why the next few days really matter

I was a very strange child.  There is no disputing this fact.  While my fellow cohort in Mrs. Butler's first grade class was reading "See Spot Run" and mastering the art of subtracting single-digit numbers, I was eagerly devouring on a daily basis the 12-volume series of hardback books on all the U.S. Presidents that my Grandma Vickie and Grandpa Tom had given me for my birthday that year.  Why was it, I wondered, that none of my classmates was impressed by the fact that I had memorized all the Presidents in chronological order, along with their political party affiliations, the exact years they had served in office, as well as the years of their births and deaths?  Not only did I learn much about the Presidents during my first grade tenure, but I also gathered valuable information about solitude, tribalism, alienation, and the urgent need to adapt to the whatever unsuitable environment in which one happens to finds himself. So, being the eminently rational first-grader that I was, I also decided, in the name of adaptability, to become an avid sports fan.

Essential first-grade reading for odd little boys

Now we find ourselves in a Presidential election year, that time where my interest in the Presidents and sporting contests intersect: after all, the way elections are covered in our media as a sort of horse race, aren't they the ultimate sporting event?  Although, at the time, I didn't think about first grade and how I became interested in Presidents and sports, this fascination with both topics probably led to my master's thesis at Cornell University being focused on how Presidential public opinion polling data was reported over time, including the increased emphasis on the "horse race" aspect of the reporting.

All this explains why I have gladly accepted the role here at my workplace, high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, as the resident American who takes it upon himself to explain the election of 2016 to people from across the globe who for the life of them can't understand why such a powerful and important country uses something as bizarre as the electoral college to choose its supreme leader.  During one of my electoral conversations one of the questions someone asked me was, "What past election does the election of 2016 look like?"  My answer might surprise some.  With each passing day this election feels more and more like the election of 1860.

In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln faced off against three other candidates. The country was sharply divided over the issue of slavery and the rights of states.  Many, especially those in the South, believed that unless their wishes were reflected in the final vote, they would not accept the election.  And, as we know, the winner of the election, Abraham Lincoln, did not accede to Southern demands and wishes and in 1861 a Civil War we did have.

In 2016, we also face a United States that is sharply divided.  Donald Trump has done a masterful job of gathering support by stoking racial enmity and by pitting one group of people against another, widening this divide. Even worse, just the like the Southern firebrands of 1860, Trump has asserted that unless he wins, the result of the election is invalid. These kinds of assertions made in 1860, helped lead to the war of 1861. While I am not predicting a Civil War, there is no telling what kind of chaos will result in 2017 from the irresponsible and dangerous claims made in 2016.  For these assertions alone, regardless of any political philosophies held by the candidates, Donald Trump has disqualified himself from the Presidency. Any candidate who risks unleashing events today even vaguely similar to those of 1861 is a person of such selfishness and is a person who possesses such contempt for our country, that he is not fit to serve as dog-catcher in the most remote and canine-infested hamlet of Arkansas, let alone President. And any citizen who votes for a candidate who rejects our electoral process and is willing to unleash an 1861-like fury is also planting their flag in the ground on the side of a Confederate way of thinking by proclaiming their disdain for the Constitution, our democratic system, and the very notion of America.  How ironic it is that the Republican Party of 2016 much more closely resembles the Confederates of Jefferson Davis than the Republican ideals of Lincoln himself.

Sadly, no matter who wins, the damage to our country has been done and this damage will continue indefinitely. We will have upheaval and continued disintegration, regardless of the victor.  If Hillary Clinton wins, Trump supporters will likely engage in acts of retribution and violence to resist what they've been told is a rigged process.  Republicans in Congress will continue to obstruct all forms of legislation; many of them have already said they would never conduct hearings for any Clinton nominee for Supreme Court throughout her entire term, in clear violation of their Constitutional obligations. If Donald Trump wins, he will disregard the Constitution in multiple ways he has already outlined with great clarity and will embark upon his efforts to eliminate the concept of equal treatment under the law for all Americans that has been a hallmark of this country since time of Lincoln.  Providing equal treatment under the law for all Americans, whether they be the African-American ex-slave of the 1860s or the Mexican immigrant or the practitioner of Islam of today: that was the one extraordinary and positive result that came from the horrors unleashed in 1861. It is not a matter of speculation that it is Trump and his modern-day Confederates who intend to erase Lincoln's enduring legacy.

This is why the next few days really matter.  We stand, like those in 1860, staring into a great abyss. We face a choice and neither result bodes well for our country. But when faced with this terrible choice, I have no alternative but to stand against the Confederates of today.  I will never cast a vote for those who reject the legacy of Lincoln and his commitment to our Constitutional form of government and the creed of equal treatment that I have held dear since I first encountered them as a first grader in the precious books on the Presidents my grandparents had given me. What we will lose, if Donald Trump is voted President, are these fundamental Constitutional values and principles, though not always adhered to or lived out in our history, that have served as a reminder to us of the greatness we should aspire to as Americans.  Let us heed the words of Abraham Lincoln, who delivered them to the nation at his inauguration, on a cold day in 1861, just before war broke out. In his final, futile plea that America remain unified and faithful to the vision of our founding fathers, he urged his fellow countrymen to work peaceably together and listen "to the better angels of our nature." On Tuesday, let us all summon our better angels as well and reject the messages of intolerance that have been shouted across the land during this version of the 1860 election we've been living through.