PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

That is a question that rises to the fore in the remarks from one Donald Trump who, again, is setting out to blame everyone but himself for the status of the presidential election, including that fact that he may well lose.

His remarks, as he himself would say, are “unshackled.” For his personal benefit, they are designed to raise questions about whether the American system is worth preserving. He would answer “no>’

For me, the question boils down to this: Is governing still possible in America? Can those we elect find the smart middle ground?

In some ways, positive compromisE is already decaying as neither side – neither the Rs or the Ds – know how to work to find answers to tough questions.

But Trump makes it worse.

If he loses, count on the fact that Trump won’t quit as he leads protests and demonstrations against Hillary Clinton. There is even the prospect of Trump-induced violence on or after election day — he has directed his supporters to monitor polling places, a recipe for conflict.

The Arizona Republic endorsed a Democrat for president for the first time in its 125-year history and what happened — the newspaper’s management received death threats.

Trump’s legion of followers, apparently not sufficiently put off by his boasts about groping women, appear to be planning to vote for him, then, when he loses, oppose the new Clinton Administration at every turn.

In its normal expression, opposing those in office is the stuff of being the “loyal opposition.” In the extreme – Trump’s extreme – that is the stuff of “revolution.”

Read this from a Wall Street Journal editorial published on October 17:

“No presidential candidate should portray U.S. elections as illegitimate, and Mike Pence was right to say Sunday that the GOP will ‘absolutely’ abide by November’s election results. Hillary Clinton is not going to steal the White House like Lyndon Johnson stole a Texas Senate seat in 1948. Voting irregularities are real, and cheating sometimes happens, especially in machine cities, but voters should have confidence in the electoral system. There’s zero evidence that the process is compromised across multiple states and precincts.

“It is a further indication (as if we needed it) that Trump has no commitment to the American political system. He is perfectly willing to delegitimize democratic institutions as a campaign tactic, squandering a civic inheritance he does not value. Even before his current troubles, he said that an electoral loss would be prima facie evidence of fraud and encouraged supporters to monitor majority-black polling stations in Pennsylvania. Now he is entering uncharted territory. By preemptively questioning the legitimacy of his forthcoming shellacking, Trump is stepping outside the four corners of the constitutional order, on the model of autocratic strongmen he has publicly admired.

“Trump’s final appeal is also corrupting a portion of the public and crossing moral lines that won’t be easily uncrossed. There are certain qualities of heart and mind that allow for self-government — civility, tolerance and mutual respect. In his rage and ruthlessness, Trump is inviting Americans to drink from a poisoned well. One problem is the risk of physical violence — the possible influence of unhinged rhetoric on an unbalanced mind. The broader result is radical polarization in which citizens question the legitimacy of elections and view some fellow citizens as enemies.”

So, for those – me included – who hope for a return to the business of governing after the election, lose heart.

It doesn’t appear we will get there. Rather than work to find middle ground, we are in for even more polarized and divisive politics.