I was asked yesterday by a friend who I was going to vote for. An innocuous question, to my surprise, asked in a decidedly acrimonious voice. It was as if whomever I voted for, if it wasn't the same as the person he voted for, our relationship, perhaps even our lifelong friendship would suddenly fall into doubt. 


First, like many Americans, I'm sick of the tsunami of pathos, ethos, keiros and personally interpreted numos, and the almost total lack of the only kind of argument that has any truth value, logos. Hey, not everyone has to be a slave to the social propaganda thats flooding the internet. Just because it's on the social internet and lots of people "like" it doesn't mean it's true. In the end, I'm mainly disappointed. I'd like to cast my vote based on facts rather than, sigh, innuendo. That being said, I constantly remind myself that the president, unlike a dictator, has much less power than people seem to think. Luckily our nation's forefathers had the good sense to create a carefully balanced government, where even the most despotic couldn't easily turn our nation into a dictatorship. Roll over President(?) Putin. 


Second, democracy, despite what is roiling about in both social and political media, is neither dead, nor even close to it. The fact that our minimum two-party system has survived such acrimony, and, through the election process, our candidates have been incisively vetted, giving citizens a chance to vote for the kind of limited CEO of America that we prefer, testifies to that. 


Finally, the USA has in the past, and I expect will again this year, rally behind the new President (whoever he or she is) and Congress, and begin once again working towards solving the problems facing our nation and people. If there was ever a definition of "unAmerican" it would be not doing so. After all, for good or naught, we're in it all together and it's only for four years. As for criminality in high office, think former President Nixon. 


Democracy is not only alive and well in the USA (despite some individual political candidates and their "election machines" efforts to thwart the process), it is doing exactly what it's supposed to do: Help us choose the best leaders possible. It's up to Americans now to respect that process, put away the banners and street demonstrations, and enlist all available resources to work together, leaders and citizens alike, for the betterment of our nation and people. And democracy is a good public platform from which to publish.