The Election
The upcoming election terrifies me.
I truly believe that the American people will reject the fear and incompetence of the Trump Administration. In fact, I think the outcome will be so overwhelming, that all of the worries about Republican maneuvering to somehow “steal” the election will be washed away in the tidal wave. This isn’t going to be an overwhelming election in support of Joe Biden. It will be an election of rejection of Donald Trump.
And my belief is not just a “heartfelt” desire to believe. The poll numbers back up my prediction. Joe Biden is running a couple of points ahead of Trump here in Ohio, and running well ahead in the “Blue Wall” states, and Arizona, and in North Carolina, and is even close in Florida and Georgia. And before everyone gangs up and says, “well the polls said Hillary would win too,” those polls were never this good. The final polls in late October showed Hillary winning, but were all close to the margin of error. The Comey letter nailed the coffin shut.
1984
But we were all burned in 2016, so it’s more than normal to be worried again.
And even if Biden wins, I am certainly worried about how far the Trump Administration would go to “rig things” in the two months from election to inauguration. McConnell is already showing the brazenness of pulling a “1984”. Black is white, yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend, and while Obama couldn’t nominate a Supreme Court Justice ten months before the election, Trump can put one in today even as we vote. All we need is the Ministry of Truth and the Orwellian nightmare will be completed. Maybe we already have one too: look at the Centers for Disease Control.
No, my terror comes from the possibility that for my whole life, I may have completely misjudged America.
Compassion
That’s because I believe that Americans are at their base, a people of compassion. Americans are the ones willing to give when tragedy strikes. And it’s not just money, but food, supplies, labor and time. They are the folks with boats who showed up in Houston to save thousands flooded out in the hurricane. Americans have been checking on their elderly neighbors throughout the pandemic. They are the twenty-something’s who never thought about politics, but went into the streets to march and make sure that the lives of their Black friends mattered. They are people who go out in the middle of the night to find lost dogs.
But somehow many Americans can’t extend that same compassion to Central Americans whose situations are so bad that they are willing to risk the journey here. Americans care about their “fellow Americans”. What they struggle with is the peoples they don’t know, and are now being taught to fear. The President said Monday that if Joe Biden were elected, people like Senator Cory Booker would be in charge and might come live in the suburbs. That’s suburban high school football All-American; Stanford University tight end and Senior Class President; Rhoades Scholar, Masters from Oxford, Law Degree from Yale; Cory Booker. Oh, and yes he’s a Black man.
Most Americans would love to have Stanford University Football Alum next door. Most Americans would love to have a highly educated and successful man on their block. And I believe most Americans see well past Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric. By the way, Cory Booker can live anywhere he wants, but chooses to remain in urban Newark, New Jersey, where he was Mayor. And it’s not a penthouse suite: it’s a townhouse in Newark’s Central Ward, just down the street from a drug rehabilitation center.
In Their Heart
So here’s my belief: most Americans, even those with Trump signs in their front yards, are compassionate. Some have been taken in by the rhetoric and propaganda. They are scared of the “browning” of America; a nation that looks very different from what they thought and were taught was the past. Change is always hard, and often creates fear. And America is confronted by change, demographically, economically, and environmentally. The fires are worse, the droughts are wider, and the floods are deeper. We can’t ignore them, or pretend they aren’t important because they only happen in “Blue” states. But they are scary for many Americans, and hiding from those truths is an easy, if ineffective, alternative.
I also think most Americans have a strong sense of right and wrong. And, even with the screen of Fox News, most Americans see that a lot of what Trump has done is wrong. They excuse it somehow to justify their support, but they still know. In 1964 Barry Goldwater ran for President under the slogan, “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right”. He lost in the worst electoral landslide up to that time. Americans know “in their hearts” that something isn’t right with Donald Trump. I think most will make that clear in their vote.
Confidently Terrified
So what am I really terrified about? What if my doom-saying friends are right, and I have misjudged my country so badly. Is America not exceptional, not the place of compassion and hope I have believed in my entire life? What if America really is a nation of fear, and hate, and selfishness?
Yeah, I don’t know what to do about that.
I’m going to do all that I can to get Americans to turn to their “better angels” and choose compassion over hate, acceptance over racism, generosity over selfishness. And I hope I don’t have to wake up some morning this early November with the realization that I’ve been wrong. There is nothing worse than seeing clear evidence that your faith has been misplaced.
I’ll cross that bridge over the River Styx if I come to it. Right now I am waiting for the “righteous might” of the American people to be felt. And I’m pretty confident I’m going to be right. So confident – that I can’t sleep. I’m writing this essay at two in the morning. But that’s OK. Here’s my challenge to Americans: come Election Day show me what you’ve got!
