For most of our history as a nation”winner-take-all’ didn’t define the American election process. The election was more of a “winner-take-leadership” sort of contest. The prevailing candidate was put in charge of juggling the balance of power.  Above all, the framers of our system feared centralized power, and believed from experience that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  So they distributed power across three branches of government.  Thus elections couldn’t decide the nations identity but only its course. That is until this election.

The Supreme Courts stunning ambiguous ruling about the immunity of the Executive Power against certain forms of accountability has thrown this contest into a new sense of binary when it comes to the election outcome.  The Executive branch looks more and more like a winner-take-all independent operator.   In this new binary if my side wins I will nearly swoon in relief and have a quiet party of celebration before moving on.  But if my side doesn’t win then what is the good decision.  Depending on your level of involvement, there will be grief. 

Anyone who has lost some one close to them knows you can’t outsmart grief’s work through anticipation.  When it comes to politics however, you can manage grief by what comes out of your mouth and what your actions will and will not be. We are advised not to take action on major life decisions in the midst of grief and it is good advice. This Project recommends you renew your personal ‘covenant of good’ now before the fog and funk of election results settle in. 

One definition of a covenant could be an objective stable statement of personal value that exists to guide strong old brain emotion. A firestorm of rage and anger and ill considered actions are a risk in this tinder dry political narrative being indulged in by some candidates. This writer is committed to nonviolence, mutuality, connectedness, democracy and universal individual human dignity. These are aspirational attributes but any action I take that violates any of these aspirations hurts me more than benefits me no matter the outcome of the action. Your Covenant of Good’s values can be a critical point of reference for you in potential future political grief. What is your Covenant of Good? Carry it with you into the next administration and spread the good word. The political realm is the servant of this nation’s covenant and not the other way around. If you no longer know what our nation’s covenant is, there is a good place to start.