Awe Topsy - 5

What mass grave?

This is the toughest election autopsy in this series (Awe Topsy, 2, 3, 4).

For one thing, the composition of the Senate isn't over until the two Georgia senate runoffs are finalized.

Democrats need both to have effective control of the US Senate (VP Kamala Harris can cast the deciding vote in case of a tie). 

For another thing which is a repeat performance, the polls were once again ghastly.

But the most important thing is that despotism has metastasized in the sense that the despotic minority is now at an existential threat of about 70,000,000 voters.

What that word means supports this election autopsy:

"despotic

A ruler who governs with an iron fist, caring little for the welfare of the people, can be called despotic. Dictators and tyrants are often described as despotic.

Despotic is the adjective form of the noun despot, which means "tyrannical ruler." If you live under despotic rule, you probably have few rights and may fear your government. Use despotic to describe rulers that rely on brute force (or the threat of it) rather than the rule of law to keep order. Even if you're not the emperor of your own small kingdom, you might be a despotic boss, intimidating your employees. Might you consider switching to benevolence instead?

adj belonging to or having the characteristics of a despot

Synonyms:

despotical

adj characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty

“despotic rulers”

Synonyms:

authoritarian, autocratic, dictatorial, tyrannic, tyrannical ["tyranny", meaning "cruel or unjust use of power"]

undemocratic

not in agreement with or according to democratic doctrine or practice or ideals

adj ruled by or characteristic of a despot

“moved from a feudal to a despotic order”

“his administration was arrogant and despotic”

undemocratic
Synonyms:

not in agreement with or according to democratic doctrine or practice or ideals"

(Vocabulary dot com). Historically, when this condition arises in a society the society is said to be suicidal:

"Toynbee wrote volumes about two dozen or so civilizations that we only think about when we are in a history class or a library, however, unlike us he didn't just skim the surface, no, he followed ugly all the way to the bone:

"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."

(A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee). What? Suicide? Murder? ... He was no ordinary historian was he?

That is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, as a world famous encyclopedia points out:

"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority.

(Encyclopedia Britannica, emphasis added). Previous posts in this series have zeroed in on the question of what "tyranny" and "despotic minority" meant to him."

(How To Identify The Despotic Minority - 14). Yes, we have nationalism, yes we have militarism, and yes we have a despotic minority (the missing ingredient heretofore is the advent of massive tyranny ... our national tyranny in embryonic at this point).

This election autopsy is also composed of the reality that the largest vote total in history was not for the despot, but was instead for a traditional candidate.

So, not only is there a physical pandemic impacting the USA, but there is a national-soul infection that will erode the nation's character mentioned in the Preamble to the US Constitution ("the general welfare").

UPDATE: An article in Newsweek, authored by Tom Rogers, points out that this election was closer, in terms of relevant votes, than the 2016 election:

"In reality though, the election results were far closer than Biden's nearly 6 million popular vote margin would suggest. The combined total vote margin for Biden in three critical states—Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin—amounted to only 44,000 votes. This is even fewer than the 77,000 that Trump won by in 2016 across Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that gave him the presidency. If Trump had in fact won those 44,000 votes (a tiny fraction of the 150 million cast), the Electoral College vote would have been a 269-269 tie, and the election would have been decided by the House of Representatives. As I have pointed out several times over the last six months, the state delegation-by-delegation vote in the House would have resulted in Trump being reelected."

 (Newsweek, Tom Rogers, emphasis added).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.