What Comes Next?
In my experience, some of the worst decisions in life happen when, before making a decision, a person does not ask themselves the question, “What comes next?” When contemplating an action, especially if the action is emanating from some strong emotion or feeling of grievance, do we take the time to game things out to their logical conclusion, determine what may happen next, what is likely to happen, and then decide that the probable outcome is worth it?
There are so many crimes that we have heard about over the years and our immediate thought was, “How did you think that was going to turn out?” “What did you expect? That was predictable.” Duh!
How did you think you were going to scam people out of their money with your fraudulent investment and just walk away with their money without consequences? How could you possibly have thought that if you just kidnap your estranged significant other at gunpoint and “reason with them” that they would choose to come back to you? What were you thinking? How did you think this was going to turn out?
As we approach our national day of reckoning on November 5th, I think it is incumbent upon every American to ask themselves the question, “Based on what the candidates have said and done during this campaign and in their public life, if they are elected, what comes next?” I suppose, conversely, one might also ask, “If they are not elected, what comes next?” Will they respect the expressed will of the voters or insist on an alternative outcome that suits them better?
I would submit that it is not a reasonable proposition to suggest that only the votes cast for you are legitimate, and that every vote cast for your opponent is rigged. That would mean that there were 81,268,867 illegitimate votes cast for president in 2020 and only 74,216,747 legitimate votes. That type of thinking is anathema to our democracy.
The late poet Maya Angelou famously said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” As our nation wrestles with their choice for president in 2024, the most critical question every voter needs to ask him or herself is, “Am I willing to accept the responsibility for the outcome of this election, and the conduct of the person who wins, no matter what?” Are we willing to put the entire future of this Constitutional Republic in the hands of a person who tells us, every day, that they intend to govern unconstitutionally if elected, and will call for violence and bloodshed if they are not?
I think every voter who cares about this country and its future, who honors our past and thinks greater days are yet to come, and who wants to bequeath their hopes for our country to their children and grandchildren needs to answer these questions for themselves. “Based upon all the input and information I have at my disposal, if a majority of my fellow Americans vote as I do, will we be pleased with the outcome? Will our country survive? If not, what comes next?”
Our country is certainly not perfect. Becoming “a more perfect union” is aspirational. We’re not there yet, but we can reasonably assert that if we decide to blow the whole thing up just because things don’t go our way, we will never get there. Ask anyone from another country who has lived through widespread civil unrest or a revolution before. I’m guessing they’ve heard and seen the signs before and what they see here now may feel eerily familiar.
I think these questions and your answers to them should accompany you into the voting booth on November 5th and follow us in the days that come afterwards. May God have mercy on us and on these not yet United States of America.
Submitted by Rev. Stephen Tillett, Pastor of Asbury Broadneck United Methodist Church in Annapolis, MD, author of Stop Falling for the Okeydoke: How the Lie of “Race” Continues to Undermine Our Country, Political Analyst for The Lavonia Perryman Show (910 AM Superstation, Detroit, 2020-2023)
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