“We,” America’s people, own America’s democracy.
The Constitution says so in its first three words: “We the People” “establish this Constitution.” Thomas Jefferson described “the people themselves” as the only “safe depository of the ultimate powers of society.” Our most significant power is our sovereign authority, expressed by voting, which John Lewis called “precious, almost sacred.”
Every four years our sovereignty is heard issuing forth from hundreds of thousands of polling places when we, the American sovereign, vote. We show the world, our founders, ancestors, defenders and ourselves how “the people themselves” nurture and defend America’s democracy.
By our sacred act of Nov. 3, we have held high the torch of Lady Liberty for all to see, including those we empower and those we do not. We have asserted our sovereignty, choosing truth, community and hope. We, Jefferson’s “the people themselves,” his “safe depository” of America’s sovereign power, have clearly spoken.
The American tradition is promptly to assure the world of the integrity of America’s ongoing democracy and America’s still vital sovereign, “the people themselves,” the “safe depository,” by previously contentious suitors for our grant of power aligning behind those We have empowered by our “precious, almost sacred” act of voting.
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It is time, as has been our tradition for over 220 years of America’s presidential, electoral democracy, and as we teach our children in the contests of life, to offer congratulations to the victor, to authorize critical resources to support the peaceful transition of the power of “the people themselves” to our new leader, and for America’s democratic life non-divisively to continue.
Abraham Lincoln rightly said “elections belong to the people.” More than 75 million of our voices, the collective wisdom, judgment and power of “We“ have said it is time to move on. “The people themselves” have spoken.
John Erickson
Brainerd
