My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.

We are finally through this interminable presidential campaign, and now we must deal with the damage its divisiveness caused. As heart-crushing as it is for the Democrats to win the popular vote but lose the Electoral College for the second time in 16 years, I’m glad it wasn’t the other way around — we could be in a Constitutional crisis due to Trump’s bellicose rhetoric about rigging prior to the election. (If you follow alt-right groups like Daily Stormer, you know they were openly encouraging people to prepare arms for the possibility.)

The Electoral College is a clear example of the tyranny of the elite over the will of the people, and someday I hope we have elections where one person’s vote truly counts the same as everybody else’s. The Constitution isn’t likely to be amended, though, until after Republicans experience a loss like this.

We are in short supply of unity now. Our divisions are deep and old, some lasting from the unhealed wounds of the Civil War. I’ve been researching my great-great-great grandfather John Ressemann’s service in that conflict. I recently discovered he was in the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Regiment, Company F, which happened to have had over 60 men from Freeborn County in it, led by Captain Asa White of Albert Lea. (At least 12 of these men died during the war.)

John didn’t join until 1864, and it looks like he was drafted from his farm in Stearns County when he was 41 and my great-great grandfather John Jr. was 10. I don’t know if John Sr. ever left Minnesota during his nine months of service, but in that period the regiment was part of Sherman’s March to the Sea. Prior to that, they fought in numerous battles including Vicksburg.

It was the First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment, though, that made our newly-minted state’s most indelible mark on the Civil War. At Gettysburg, they charged a Confederate regiment four times bigger than their own in order to hold a gap in the union line for 15 crucial minutes.

Although they were decimated, they did not retreat until under orders to do so, leaving over two-thirds of their numbers dead or wounded on the battlefield. The next day, the remaining men took part in repulsing Pickett’s Charge, sustaining even more losses.

If you visit Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, don’t miss the monument to the First Minnesota that overlooks Cemetery Ridge. The statue of a soldier, ever-charging, faces toward Plum Rum with grim determination. The men’s collective deed is recognized as a pivotal contribution during a decisive battle in the Union’s ultimate victory.

So the next time a person feels like saying Trump isn’t their president-elect, or they want to deface an American flag, or they think about flying a Confederate flag or painting one on their tailgate, I wish they would remember those Minnesota men who marched on blistered feet nearly 20 miles in sweltering summer heat wearing winter wool uniforms and carrying 35 to 40 pounds of equipment, slept a few hours near the battle already underway and fought the next day at Gettysburg without regard for their own self-preservation but rather for the preservation of the Union.

Maybe we can muster up some hard work and sacrifice for rebuilding unity too. It’s not going to serve us to have another four years of the opposition questioning the president’s legitimacy (i.e. the baseless birther movement) and obstructing legislation at every turn the way Republicans have, a strategy which Representative Ryan and others mapped out at a dinner hosted by Frank Luntz on the night of Obama’s first inauguration. Although it’s tempting to go down that road and give tit-for-tat, Democrats should set a better example.

Obviously I’m apprehensive about the next two years of Republican-controlled Congress and presidency, but I’m hoping we can be reasonable about it. After eight years of hearing regular people irrationally call Obama a Kenyan Muslim communist and the first lady a transvestite, I hope we can regain our bearings. Lies and deliberate misrepresentations are hurtful and poisonous to cooperation and, thus, democracy.

We need compromise, not obstruction. Reconciliation, not alienation. Listening, not blaming. Comity, not disdain for politeness. Make our union strong again.

All my respect to Obama. He has faced crises and character assassination with unwavering grace and forbearance. Politics aside, he will always be a role model for that. I wish Donald Trump well, and I wish him to be held to high, fair standards as our next president.