When George W. Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 presidential election by the US Supreme Court, Al Gore accepted the result, congratulated Bush on his win, and pledged his support. With a questionable 537 vote margin in Florida and a loss of the national vote by over 500,000 Democrats weren't happy with the outcome, but they largely accepted the result as the will of the people.
The 2008 and 2012 elections were contests between two capable and honorable advocates for the conservative and progressive points of view. When Obama won both with a majority of popular and electoral votes I felt that we were on the verge of significant progress toward our goal of a more perfect union.
In 2012 the Clinton/Trump contest seemed like a foregone conclusion. Although Clinton wasn't my perfect candidate, she seemed to be a clearly better choice than Trump. When Trump won in spite of losing the popular vote by over 2.5M, Democrats were shocked but once again accepted the result. Hillary Clinton conceded and congratulated Trump in spite of his constant personal attacks and claims of fraud.
Biden's election 2016 was too close for comfort, but his win with majorities in both the popular and electoral vote re-affirmed my faith in our democracy. It seemed like we would be able to leave the chaos of the Trump era behind and return to something closer to a normal competition between conservative and progressive views. But that didn't happen. Trump refused to accept the result and attempted to remain in power via numerous court challenges, behind the scenes pressure tactics, and incitement of the January 6th insurrection.
As we head into 2024 it appears as though we may have a Biden/Trump re-match for this fall's presidential election. Other than hard core Trump supporters, there doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for either candidate. Most Democrats would prefer a younger candidate and non-Trump Republicans would prefer almost anyone else.
Polls are predicting a close election, and even though they are notoriously inaccurate this far out, it's disturbing that there are so many voters who are willing to go another round with Trump. Regardless of what you think of Biden or his policies, Trump's promises of retribution and disregard for our institutions is promising another four years of chaos and a presidency that could threaten our democracy.
In my opinion, there's only one choice in a Biden/Trump race. This shirt is the first in a new series that is intended to show support for traditional American values of democracy and the rule of law. Wear this shirt, start a conversation, make a difference.