I drove to Chapel Hill to meet a friend for lunch the other day. As I turned onto the main drag, I was beset by carloads of students shrieking with joy, shaking their fists, and honking their horns. I was startled at first, but quickly realized it was in response to the mainstream media declaring Joe Biden to be the new president-elect.

My friend said that he doubted they would be celebrating for long, and we agreed that there is much to feel hopeful about. After all, media gaslighting and student victory celebrations are not the means by which the USA chooses a president after a contested election. The real decisions will be made in court, using facts instead of rhetoric, and with the U.S. Supreme Court having final authority. 

Even so, there is a lot hanging in the balance.

The facts are on our side. The evidence of cheating is so overwhelming that any honest person would seek to correct it. There is no shortage of outrageous statistical anomalies, videos, first-person testimonies, voting machine “glitches,” abuses of authority, and much more.

Furthermore, there are ample means to correct the problems. Just for starters, we can force recounts, review individual ballots for evidence of fraud (such as dead voters), examine ballot machines, press lawsuits, and, in states where fraud is rampant and with legislatures controlled by Republicans, we can send Republican electors to Congress that reflect the true vote of the people.

Through these methods, President Trump should be declared the winner of an election that he so obviously won.

Of course, correcting the election results will not mean that all is well; the serious question of how to repair the national rift remains. The left will not simply accept the corrected results and play nice. Should Biden be denied the presidency, their response will be intense violence, perhaps at levels not seen since the 19^th century.

Violence can be stopped, but only if the leadership has the will to stop it.  Establishment Republicans are not fighters; their natural tendency is to make amends and move on. But weak attempts at reconciliation have not worked in the past; each new election has brought increased partisan animosity and electoral corruption. And such tepid efforts will work even less in the future. We can no longer afford to buy peace in the short run by allowing further erosion of the civil order; as this election shows, we are already at the brink.

A nation must have the confidence to preserve itself, or it will inevitably fail. The rift will not be solved with kindness, but with strength. Two standards must be restored immediately. One is the rule of law; the government must come down hard on those initiating, promoting, and funding political violence. We have the laws on the books, but they must be enforced.

The other standard concerns our electoral process; the normalization of electoral corruption must end. The people caught participating in the fraud must be frog-marched to jail and prosecuted. The investigations must dig deep, getting at the high officials who are behind the corruption. The Constitution does not say that, once you gain political pull, you are exempt from the law. And the courts should not give “conciliatory” wrist slaps, but real punishments. People must once again realize that violating our election laws is a serious matter with serious repercussions; only then will confidence in the vote be restored, and only then will we be able to move forward as a single nation.

There is another possible outcome of this election to be considered. Although there is reason to be positive, we cannot be certain that our legal safeguards will work; strange things happen around Democrats. What if the corruption goes so deep that we cannot prevent Biden from actually taking office? Furthermore, proving the existence of electoral corruption is a low bar and easily accomplished, but finding enough evidence to prove that Trump actually received more votes will be much harder to verify.

Without absolute proof, events may turn dark. For, if we cannot win through the array of legal means at our disposal, we must seriously consider whether we have reached the end of our social contract. If we yield and the Democrats take over, we can be assured that there will never again be an honest election. After all, the cheating will have worked; why would they stop when they control all the levers?

We may still have a narrow Senate majority to fend off the worst of the Democratic agenda. But that majority hinges on two runoff elections in Georgia. Why will they not be stolen as well? Georgia was one of the worst offenders in the main election and Georgia law permits people to move to the state only a short time before the election and cast their votes. And even if we manage to hold onto those seats, we can expect additional cheating in 2022 to paint the Senate blue.

Once in total control, Democrats will assuredly act to make their majorities permanent. The rights that support our liberty will be reduced or eliminated. They will grab our guns and silence our speech. Property rights will become a privilege granted by government, not a God-given right; only government-aligned businesses will be allowed to profit. For the Democrats are liberals no more; it is now the party of Bernie and “The Squad,” with Biden a mere figurehead.

The Supreme Court will be packed to create a permanent left-wing majority. Our borders will be wide open for all to enter without even minimal vetting, and those who enter illegally will be given voting rights. We will not be a nation, but a decaying carcass for the rest of the world to pick. Perhaps Democrats will even act on comments made by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others about acquiring lists of those who oppose them. It is not hard to figure out what such lists will be used for.

In other words, we will become Venezuela-North, caught in a vicious downward spiral of disenfranchisement, tyranny, and impoverishment. With only one option left to restore the nation. A horrible one, one that I am hesitant to state publicly. Let’s hope it never comes to that. Yet, my friend and I agreed that, if the worst is necessary, let it happen soon, before they grab our guns, disrupt our communications, and drag the strongest of us off to some 21^st-century gulag. We should all pray for peaceful resolution, but there can be no peaceful resolution with corrupt radicals in charge. We can only make them submit to the rules or be reduced to serfdom.

A few weeks ago, that perspective was best left unspoken. Now, we must speak of it, as it has unfortunately entered the realm of the possible. The electoral theft was so audacious that our opponents seem capable of anything.

Still, my friend and I red-keller (pixabay.com)minded each other before parting, there are lots of legal means to exhaust before then. Be positive, do what you can to help, but be ready.

Jay Schalin is the director of policy analysis for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.

Image: d-keller pixabay.com