Opinions

The election is over. But we’ve all got work to do.

It’s over. OK, maybe not completely over, but for most reasonable people, the presidential race is in the rearview mirror, and the only important thing now is how the heck to share a 24-pound turkey over Zoom.

I realize that for some, this election will take some time to put behind them. They fought for candidates who didn’t win, and that’s never fun. They are now faced with senators, representatives, a president and a vice president that they feel do not represent them. And all I can say is, welcome to America. This is how it works. Get used to it.

For those still buying the idea that somehow this whole election was stolen by the Democrats from the Republicans, I can only ask what they are smoking because I want some. There are actually people in this country who believe that the Democrats are dumb enough to rig the election for president while forgetting to rig down-ballot races, thus ending up with a president-elect facing a divided Congress. I think we’ve all seen how well Congress functions on a good day. So leaving a divided Congress in place was a bit idiotic of the Democrats, don’t you think? I mean, if you’re going to steal the election, steal the election. Don’t pick and choose which parts of it to steal while leaving in place other parts that will hamper the efforts of those you stole it for.

I can understand on some level why there are people in this country who believe the Democrats are so stupid that they would rig only half an election. It’s not as though either party presents itself as wildly intelligent, but the Democrats certainly come out looking the worse. Republicans seem to be able to present an almost monolithic front when pushing to meet their goals. They may allow some of their rank — such as our Sen. Lisa Murkowski — to wring their hands in public and say how concerned they are with the direction the party is taking. But when the rubber hits the road, the votes are always there. And the handwringing is all for show.

The Democrats, on the other hand, represent such a widely diverse population that it is hard for them to decide unanimously on anything other than how much they feel Donald Trump is destroying America. This makes it almost impossible for them to ever present a monolithic solution to any problem. Let’s face it: The Republicans are your straight-laced parents. The Democrats are your college friends — wild, diverse, at times insanely unintelligible and at other times absurdly funny.

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am much more like the Ds than the Rs. I like to think they mean this as a compliment, though I prefer not to question it too closely. But even looking at it from my perspective, the view is pretty starkly clear. The Rs seem to believe, against all historical evidence, that left alone, corporations will eventually do the right thing by the people. The Ds clearly believe, again against most historical evidence, that you can really have a party of the people, by the people and for the people and it will provide protection, health care and sunshine and butterflies in our old age. I refer the Rs to the robber barons and the Ds to every revolution, from the French to the Russian, to show how problematic their beliefs in their purest form can be.

I am not a professor. I am a reader. And while I may not have all the technicalities down, I think that we can broadly agree that neither party holds the complete answer. So let me make a bold suggestion.

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Someone out there in the political universe should start a party that combines the best of both the current parties we are stuck with — we could call it the Demrep or the Repdem party. Maybe we will end up with a hideous hybrid. Or maybe we will end up with a political philosophy that will actually help America move forward without the need for the hateful rhetoric and damaging battles we refer to as campaigns.

America is not broken. But a system that demands that you offer your loyalty to a party that only represents your most extreme beliefs without providing a sensible middle ground is a system that is broken. And it will eventually break America if we don’t fix it.

Elise Patkotak is an Alaska columnist and author. Her book “Coming Into the City” is available at AlaskaBooksandCalendars.com and at local bookstores.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.

Elise Patkotak

Elise Patkotak is an Alaska columnist and author. Her book "Coming Into the City" is available at AlaskaBooksandCalendars.com and at local bookstores.

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