It has been more than a month since the election, an election that Joe Biden won and Donald Trump lost. Unwilling to accept this fact, Trump and his minions have continued to lose ever since, in court case after court case. You would think that they would be getting tired of all of this losing, but four years ago, I can remember being in their shoes. I can remember the grasping at straws, hoping against hope, not accepting reality. So, as annoying as they are, it is their turn.

Today, is Safe Harbor Day, a day where Federal law has posted yet another milestone on the road to the Whitehouse. After 1876, Congress promised to accept all electors that the states have certified by this date and more than 270 electors for Biden have already been certified. Making him the president-elect. Next week (Dec. 14) the Electoral College will convene and will elect Joe Biden to be president. Next year (Jan. 6) Congress will open these ballots and Mike Pence is supposed to announce Biden’s victory. Whether he does or not, on Inauguration Day (Jan. 20), Joe Biden will be sworn in as our 46th president and Donald Trump will be just another private citizen again.

Anyway, in a year where not much right has occurred that is how it is supposed to go down. Something so complicated could still fail. We inherited this Rube Goldberg system for choosing a leader from our Founding Fathers, who apparently really didn’t know what they were doing, not having done it before. Still, it beats having a pair of septuagenarians duking it out mano-a-mano to the death. Well maybe, because that sounds like a great pay-to-view. A much simpler, a much more classically elegant method for selecting a leader would be by popular vote, but too many people have a vested interest against that.

Majority rule, isn’t that what democracy is supposed to be all about? Four years ago, not so much and even this year the margin was just too close for comfort. Much closer than the popular vote. It is not just with the presidency that the tyranny of minority rule has reared its ugly head. By far the most egregious offender is the Senate. In this august body just 17% of the electorate choses the majority of the senators. If this isn’t an oligarchy, I don’t know what is. This year in Georgia, the balance of that body hangs by a thread. Two run-off elections could flip the Senate, leaving the Democrats with the most tenuous of control over elective government. Assuming that both seats fall their way, which is a big assumption, what would the Democrats do with such an opportunity?

I’m glad you asked. First off, abolish the filibuster. It is high time that this segregationist’s tradition went the way of Confederate statues. This makes fifty the new sixty. After that the sky’s the limit. The GOP is decrying even now the perils of “radical” Democrats, but it was Abe Lincoln who first rode the wave of radical Republicans to office. Sometimes things have gotten themselves so screwed up that a little “radical” change is warranted. Will any of this happen? I doubt it. It just wouldn’t be the Democrat’s style, but I can dream, can’t I?