Here We Are, Again

Voting: It’s fun and it matters

Once again we are reminded that America is a country divided.

It was nice, having a few months of hope around the 2024 election. Rising from the ashes of the June debate, Harris jumped into the fray, running a fantastic campaign, building a coalition from AOC to Liz Cheney.. And yet, somehow, we lost.

Grief, anger, outrage ensue. I get it. We love to believe that we are the America that is represented by Thomas Jefferson when he wrote “we hold these truths to be self evident”, rather than the Thomas Jefferson who owned slaves and repeatedly raped Sally Hemings.

Do I believe that mainstream media and social media have had a deleterious effect on democracy? Of course I do. Do I believe that the GOP spends way too much time on gerrymandering and voter suppression and fear mongering? Yes, I do. Would I rather see us attempt to live up to the ideals that we profess to believe in rather than scapegoating women and people of color and anyone who’s not a white manly man? Of course.

But here we are. There’s no workaround, no life hack, no TikTok video, no meme that’s going to make this any better. We are now at the point where all that matters is the work we do next. We need to sort out how we want to resist, how we want to continue to create space where we can all breathe, and create, and be seen as fully fledged human beings.

So what’s next? For me, it’s focusing on creating community over the next few years, not only so we can take back Congress in 2026, but also so we can build up our civic engagement at the local, county and state level. Because there’s more to politics than electing a president every four years. We need to get back to reality.  Social media will not help us turn our cities into our homes, not have an impact on the policies that shape our day to day lives.

But we also need to to find a way to step back and see the bigger picture. How do we have CEOs making hundreds of millions each year when the federal minimum wage is stuck at $7.25 per hour? Why do we want to ignore the daily signs of global warming despite the fact that we’ve had scientific consensus for three generations? Why do we want to disbelieve the experts, the scientists who now have more equipment, data, analytical capabilities, and sheer knowledge about the world than in any time in history? And speaking of history, why are we in a rush to repeat it?

A large piece of me is fearful, and fear always makes me angry. I want nothing more than to rant, to lash out, to bemoan the failings of my fellow voters. In short, I want to take it personally.  And yes, it not only feels personal, it is personal, when I see my rights as a woman being stripped away, when I see the leaders of this country diminishing women for their own gain. But it’s also systemic, entrenched in how our systems work. And we must find a way to look at both things.

In short, we need a vision, we need a strategy, and we need tactics to help us attain our goals. The Democratic Party has watched for decades as the GOP deliberately and systematically launched the Southern Strategy, the Contract on America, built their own media outlets, gave up on their respect for science, for expertise, and even on the norms of substantive debate and governance. We’ve been playing defense for decades.

I’m not smart enough to create all of that, but I do know that it is needed. And we, as rank and file democrats need to demand more from our party. When we know the long term vision, when we see each step in the strategy, then it is easier for us to back the party wholeheartedly, to understand that compromise now is simply a step to achieving a larger vision over time.

VP Harris ran a truly inspirational campaign, short though it was. She and her team clearly had a vision, as we watched tactics evolve and messages shift as Election Day neared. At the same time, they were magnificently opportunistic, responding quickly and cleverly to real time events. They demonstrated that even the Democratic Party can walk and chew gum at the same time.

For me, in the next few weeks, I want to figure out how to get back to basics. To engage with my neighbors, my city and county and state leadership. I need to find out what my community needs and what my local politicians need. In short, I will be talking to people, asking questions, listening, offering to help.

We all need to learn who runs our cities, our schools, our spending. We need to engage with leaders and help them understand that we want roads and schools and libraries and public restrooms for EVERYONE. We need to stay focused on solving real problems, not imaginary ones. We need to demonstrate that we are NOT afraid of change, not afraid of people who appear at a surface level to be somehow different. We need to model embracing the richness and diversity of life and humanity. Most of all, we need to show the world that we prefer to live in a world of hope and grace, that we embrace joy so fully that there is no room for fear.