This Election is Not Over (as much as you wish it were).
Joe Biden hasn’t really won yet.
If you voted Democratic in last weeks presidential election, the sturm and drang from President Trump’s supporters may feel like the dying gasp of a vanquished foe. An attempt to find a toe hold on a crumbling mountain face when the summit is mere inches away.
But, imagine for a moment that the election had gone ever so slightly in the opposite direction. A reluctant media declares Trump the presumptive winner. Would you not be exhibiting the same sense of disenfranchisement and scepticism as those who so desperately fear a Biden victory? Would you not be just as angry and motivated to act in some way? Would you not hold onto the hope that the election wasn’t truly over and explore every possibility to “right the wrong”? Bring on the lawsuits!
So, where’s the difference?
Is it, perhaps, that on some fundamental level many of us believe those on the other side must either be corrupt or incapable of intelligent thought. It’s simply inconceivable that anyone could be a “good”, “thoughtful” person and actually support Trump and his policies. Do you still find yourself asking “how is it possible that anyone could support President Trump?” Think about it. Do you really believe that close to 50% of the country are morally and ethically so vacant? Or so easily fooled by those who are? If you truly believe that, what is your end game? What do you do about all those people Hillery Clinton described a few years ago as the “basket of deplorables?”
The inconvinent truth is that society is, by nature, in a constant struggle between what was, what is, and what is to come. Youth embraces change while the older one gets the more keeping things “the same” is valued. The tension between these two poles is what traditionally have prevented the tearing of the fabric of society. But, external factors can and sometimes does disturb this delicate, imperfect balance that leads to slow sustainable social progress.
The thing at work these days are a once in a century pandemic combined with the exponential change thrust on us by advances in technology over the past 50 years. These two factors represent a paradigm shift. One that destabilizes the value of broad categories of human labor, reduces the market demand for it and has resulted in rapidly accelerating wealth inequality. Also, the pandemic has created a class of at risk “essential workers” vs. those who can work safely from our newly appointed home offices. We should not be surprised to see the polarization that has emerged and grown.
If we are as smart we must stop staring slack-jawed in disbelief at those who see the world so differently than us and realize that they are often reacting to living in an ever increasing world of socioeconomic marginalization for reasons they have no control over. One that many don’t even believe exists because the world for us is so different.
We cannot rely on our political or academic leaders to help. To many, political representation is by definition inequitable in a society that values signalling, elite credentials and sophisticated language over blue-collar common sense. This was after all the main appeal of a leader who was more ascerbic than eloquent, disruptive than diplomatic and who’s lack of convention was worn proudly on his sleve.
Donald Trump is still President and almost half the country voted for him. There is still a chance he could rise like the Phoenix if a black swan event emerges to reverse Biden’s current position. No, the elections not over.
No matter what happens over the next several weeks, we must begin to build bridges by acknowledging that there are real problems in both the America of Donald Trump and the America of Joe Biden. We cannot hope to solve the problems of one without also acknowledging the problems of the other and we can’t rely on our political leaders alone to do so. We have to first be willing to cross the river rather than continuing to shout across it.