Well worth reading - "A Permanent Republican Minority" - Harold Myerson

[The Magistrate]

1. The Right, Sir, Does Not Accept Elections They Lose Are Legitimate

They do not subscribe to the tenets of Democracy.

In their view, an election is simply a device by which their natural right to rule is given the trappings of an expression of the popular will of the citizenry. It is not by any means a thing which could possibly put into power by the popular will of the citizenry anyone other than themselves. Any election result which does not ratify their holding power must therefore, by definition, be illegitimate, and they will not and by their lights should not recognize it as binding. When such a thing does occur, they must do their best to continue functioning as the true rulers of the country they know themselves to be, until such time as an election with the proper result can be contrived....