It’s Only Fair If We Win

On the asphalt playing fields of St. Ignatius grade school and on the summer grass-dirt of Veterans Park I learned some important life lessons.

The first, of course, was that I’d better find a way to make living that was not in the area of professional athletics. But I also learned to be my own honest referee. To for example, not claim a touchdown when I was tagged a yard short of the goal line, which in itself was a hazy concept running on an imaginary line from the back leg of the swing set to the little maple tree (and NOT the big maple tree which sat a few yards behind and to its left).

And, of course, starting around, say, age five all of my colleagues and I just naturally accepted the final score, whatever that turned out to be.

I bring this up now because it turns out that Republicans apparently failed kindergarten. They won’t say what should be obvious: that they’ll accept the outcome of the fall election. The apparent party line is that they’ll only accept results that are “fair” and fair is code for Trump wins. The latest prominent Republican to take this line is Sen. Marco Rubio, who knows better and is saying this because he’s auditioning to be Trump’s running mate. Whatever you might think of Marco Rubio you can’t think the man has an ounce of self-respect.

Now, I’m sorry to say that if you’ve been watching the polls it’s starting to appear that, if you define “fair” as “Trump wins,” the election is likely be pretty damn fair.

But this speaks volumes about what’s happened to the Republican Party because the irresponsibility of it is just beyond the pale. All evidence is that the 2020 election was fair and the results were correct. But it’s also highly likely that, if Biden does win, he’ll win by an eyelash. So, what these “mainstream” Republicans are doing is setting up their country for a crisis. If he loses, Trump will no doubt claim, without evidence, that the election was stolen. We know what happened on January 6th, so expect a repeat, if not worse. And even if we somehow avoid violence, since when did it become acceptable to undermine the validity of our very system if it simply doesn’t produce the results you want? Unfortunately, I can answer that. It became acceptable in late 2020 and now, among Republicans, it’s not only acceptable but expected.

I have my problems with my own party now and then and I’m not shy about airing them out, but what’s become of Republicans is just pathetic. I expect this kind of childish thing out of the likes of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, but Rubio is supposed to be an adult. Did these guys learn nothing at recess?