Above: The Flag of the United States of America
Image in the Public Domain
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I, as one trained in historical methodology, prefer to think, speak, and write in the past tenses. This tendency spills over into the rest of my life. Therefore, when thinking, speaking, and writing of an episode of a completed series, for example, I do so from the perspective of one looking at the past. I also place that episode in context of that series, for context is key to interpretation. I know this from my historical training. This is how I think, speak, and write. To expect me to do otherwise is to expect me to be someone other than myself.
Many people have attempted to transform me into someone other than myself. All of them have failed. They have not transformed me into a fundamentalist, a social-cultural historian, or anything else I find repugnant. I have maintained my integrity as myself, sometimes at a high cost. I have decided to accept the advice (ironic within the context of Hamlet),
This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
I have long been reluctant to issue statements about unfolding events. I have wanted to watch them play out before commenting on them. I have had opinions, of course. I have “cussed and discussed” in private. And I have kept almost all of that between God and myself.
Today, however, I am ready to make the following statements, in no particular order:
- I continue to reject debunked conspiracy theories and those who peddle them. I reject the vast majority of conspiracy theories anyway. I prefer Ockham’s Razor and have a healthy respect for objective reality.
- I reject politicians and pundits (especially Donald Trump and cultists thereof) who lie at least every other time they speak or tweet.
- Donald Trump and cultists thereof are menaces to the republic.
- Counting votes cast within the scope of the law is crucial to the democratic system. Doing so is not a threat to that system. If counting votes in a state in which one’s preferred candidate is winning is okay, so should counting votes in a state in which one’s preferred candidate is losing.
- Presidents of the United States of America come and go. The United States of America persists.
- Nobody who uses totalitarian language and tactics (certainly not routinely) is worthy to be the President of the United States of America.
- Remember that members of the United States military swear loyalty to the Constitution, not the President, of the United States of America.
- As many leading Republicans lament, voter suppression has become a major tactic within that party. Whenever a political party’s base keeps shrinking, that party’s responsible path forward, for the sake of the country, is to broaden its base, not seek to decrease the number of voters.
- The United States of America will be stronger when both major parties accept objective reality, including science, such as that of climate change and COVID-19.
- People are entitled to their own opinions, but never to their own facts. Objective reality is what it is.
- The United States of America should have a finely-honed election infrastructure.
- Given the Electoral College and the state (Georgia) in which I reside, my vote may count this year–for the only time since 1992, my first Presidential election.
- I support the abolition of the Electoral College. Every vote should count. I grant that this is easy for me to write, given that the Democratic Presidential nominee has won the popular vote in every election from 1992 to 2020, except for 2004. I also note that the Democratic Presidential nominee lost the election in 2000 and 2016. Furthermore, I acknowledge that John Kerry would have become President, despite coming in second place in the popular vote count, in 2005 if he had carried Ohio in 2004. I try to avoid hypocrisy. “Every vote should count” is a mater of principle for me.
- Bigotry should have no place in electoral politics. It does, unfortunately.
- I have spent most of the last four years tuning out the news most of the time. My refuges have included cat videos, Bible studies, hagiographies, and science fiction. I have tuned out most of the news to preserve my spiritual and emotional health. I may pay more attention to the news on a regular basis soon, if the political atmosphere becomes less toxic.
- I stand by every statement I have made about Donald Trump on this and other weblogs I maintain.
- I anticipate the administration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. I do not envy them, however. They have their work cut out for them.
- This country and the world will suffer from the effects of the Trump Administration for a very long time.
- Whenever a political party becomes indistinguishable from a religious cult, something has gone terribly wrong.
- I, as a matter of principle, refrain from participating in a political cult.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 8, 2020 COMMON ERA
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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