Count The Votes All The Votes

The Election Is Over

The results are in. Trump is still whining. He says he had an early lead. Because of that, he won. 

Sorry! It doesn't work that way. To quote Yogi Berra ,“It ain’t over till it’s over” --  In baseball you've gotta play the whole game. In racing you've gotta finish first. The early lead doesn't matter. In elections you've gotta count all the votes.

When my son was three, if he was losing at a game, he would end it and declare himself the winner. It was funny. He was three. He's an adult now. He doesn't do that anymore. It leads me to believe Trump never grew up. 

I remember waiting for election results growing up in Wisconsin. Early results came from rural counties, and Republicans would always have a big lead. I asked my father if this meant the Republican candidate was going to win? He said no. We had to wait for the vote to be counted in the cities. We had to wait for all the votes to be counted. 

Because of that, none of the candidates would look at the early results and declare victory. They knew better. 

Win or lose, the candidates accepted the results. Winners were gracious and talked about uniting the people. Losers conceded and talked about how they were grateful they got a chance to express their views. And just like in sports, they declared they would be back next time stronger than before.

So, what are we getting now? Conspiracy theories and threats of violence. He's saying the results had to be rigged. After all, the candidate from the other side couldn't possibly win based on the merits of their policies. They're flawed because of their age or gender or religion or race.

"What Berra meant was that we need to stay aware, to stay focused, and most important, not to give up. Stand for your values, stand up for yourself." -DAVID L. ULIN LA TIMES

I can only work for, and hope for, a return to the sanity of that earlier time.