On the eve of the election, the only thing of any relevancy is what we do not know. Among the no longer relevant are the last minute public statements … the various partisan narratives … the opinions of pundits … the results of polls. Whatever influence they may have had on the election is already baked into the minds of the voters.
Several decades of political involvement have led me to a basic truth. If your side wins, things will never be as good as you had hoped. And if your side loses, it will never be as bad as you feared.
At this point, no one … as in NO ONE … knows who will win the 2024 presidential election. We can all have our desires. We can also look at minuscule hints based on uncertain statistics, historical facts and gut instinct. But never has there been a presidential contest that is so close by every pre-election measure – in the popular vote and in every one of the so-called battleground states.
At this point, we do not even know how long it will take to know who has been elected by we the people – at least half of us. We certainly have no idea who will eventually win at least 270 votes in the Electoral College – although we can rest assured that one of the candidates will. It now all depends on approximately half the nation’s voters who will cast their ballots on election day and close out campaign 2024.
What we can know is that regardless of who wins, America will remain America – the greatest democratic Republic in history – and at the same time a sharply divided nation. Neither President Trump nor Vice President Harris are unifying candidates. Either will lead from their partisan and philosophic bases. The principles, passions and issues that have increasingly divided America over recent decades will continue – and will remain to be the subject of divisive national dialogue and debate for the foreseeable future.
When such stark division will end — and America will again be the UNITED States — is the biggest unknown of all. In the meantime, stay calm and be happy to be living in America where political division is a fundamental right.
So, there ‘tis.