Today is a prime example of why we have checks and balances built into our Constitution. Why we have a Federal system of states, not a popular democracy, and why states not the Federal government run elections. Why the electoral college system still matters, and the dangers of centralizing government power, and the imperial presidency. People need to know they have a voice, and concentration of power in and of itself is dangerous.
When it's over, we're going to see why a 200 year old document is still relevant, and we are going to judge the character of our current elected servants.
We're going to need to reflect why so many Americans feel disenfranchised and have lost faith in our institutions, why so many of our elected officials are more concerned with accumulation and retention of power than in awe of their responsibility, and why my friends on the left and the right of me are struggling to accept that the other is generally a person of good faith, and to put themselves in each other's shoes.
Then we are going to move forward.
I cannot tell you that were I in office in the Capitol today exactly how I would have handled such a stunning situation. But I can tell you, I hope before God I would have handled it in a way that my parents and grandparents, and when they grow up my 5 and 7 year old daughters, would be proud.
Our framers did not believe in political parties or partisan factions. Today is an example they were probably right.
Today stands as a reason I stood up two years ago to run in a race with longest of odds, in a losing effort for US Senate for a 3rd party which has never won a Federal race, to make sure you had a choice in your vote, your voice was heard, and our elected servants remembered that elected office is not a career path, is not about them, it's about doing what is right because it needs to be done. I ran as a Libertarian because I believe in the golden rule, and in principles of freedom, of liberty, and personal accountability.
I ran as a Libertarian not because it was a likely path to win, but because it was the right thing to do, because long odds for something that needs to be done are the very reason it is worth doing, and average people need to do something different if we want different outcomes.
Mr. Trump, this was not leadership, or even slightly acceptable. I hope tonight is making that clear to you. Today happened on your watch. You wanted the top job, the buck stops with you, and only you.
Mr. Biden, I hope the lesson you are taking from today is one of personal humility. I hope you ask yourself of every action you are about to take from now on: how will this be viewed by those who voted - and rose - against me? And I hope the specter of political party has no place in whose outstretched handshake you accept.
To our Congressional and executive leaders. Your infighting needs to stop. If you cannot work across the aisle, if you cannot tell the hard truths to your own voters even when they don't want to hear it, there are 300 million Americans who can do your job. You are each culpable here, and you brought us to this with a failure of leadership, and an abdication of power to the imperial presidency and partisan politics, and erosion of the powers of the states and the citizens.
To each of my friends, as you think about the fragile knife's edge that is the political history of the world we stand on, consider always in the course of human history: There but for the Grace of God Go I.
What are you going to do differently tomorrow?