Editor’s Note: This article was written by Crosscurrents, a small group of liberals and conservatives who convene regularly for discussion of current issues. Their aim is finding common ground and reaching agreement on recommendations we can share publicly.
Almost three quarters of Americans think that the health and viability of our more than 200-year-old democracy is seriously threatened.
Our group, Crosscurrents, a small circle of everyday Americans composed of liberals and conservatives of all stripes, primarily from South Carolina, has been in continuous dialogue about public problems since 2019. We have reached agreements in bipartisan fashion on possible solutions and published these in local newspapers on a wide variety of topics such as health care, gun control, police reform and many more.
We serve as a model and living proof that Americans of different persuasions can agree on facts and work together productively on public problems.
Because we have never been more deeply concerned about our country’s self-governance, we have felt it important to take a stand now on the importance of facts and truth-telling in our democracy.
At the heart of our current troubles is the growing loss of trust in our election system created by misinformation and inaccurate perceptions about our voting system, especially about our last presidential elections.
For this reason, our Crosscurrents group unequivocally asserts, based on accurate facts, that Joe Biden was duly elected and certified president of the United States in 2020. Likewise, for any remaining doubters that may exist, Donald Trump was duly elected and certified president of the United States in 2016.
No democracy can survive based on widely shared false information which masks the true realities. There is not a set of alternative facts and no alternative universe to live and thrive in. With wrong facts, we make wrong choices, and get bad results.
As fellow countrymen, we the American people need to acknowledge and act on these simple but fundamental truisms. We can and must move forward from here to build on factual common ground to address and solve our most pressing public problems.
To learn more about our Crosscurrents group, contact rogbernier@gmail.com.
Crosscurrents members who developed this essay are Starr Barnum, Roger Bernier, Greg Blackburn, Haim Bober, Bruce Bunevich, Rob Darling, Raymond Dominick, Mark Koenig, Laura McFadden, Michael Sacks, Michael Swiecicki, Suzanne Yuskiw.
