By Andrew Malekoff
The highly anticipated, dreaded “red wave” failed to crash down on America’s shores after the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Genuinely surprised political commentator-comedian Bill Maher quipped, “How about the American people! I didn’t have faith. They proved me wrong. At the end of the day, they looked at democracy like the catalytic converter. They’re not quite sure what it is, but they know it would be bad if it got stolen.”
Democracy!
Former Federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, an appointee of former President George H. W. Bush, referred to the 2022 midterms as “the most important elections in our nation’s history and indisputably a resounding victory for American democracy.”
The people have spoken.
A multitude of American patriots let it be known, peaceably through the ballot box, that they are fed up with the open embrace and mainstreaming of election denialism, white nationalism and political violence.
An undeniable hallmark of Donald J. Trump’s presidential legacy is lifting the taboo against exercising race-based hate and political violence.
He did so by a steady a drip, drip, drip of direct messaging (“Fine people on both sides”), inciting violence (“Stand back and stand by”) and polluting democracy (“I alone can fix the system”).
But it didn’t begin with Trump and it won’t end with him. “The way in which our primary system, gerrymandering and social networks have coalesced to steadily poison our national dialogue,” said commentator Thomas Friedman, “polarize our society into political tribes and erode the twin pillars of our democracy: truth and trust.”
Trump knowingly nudged it along, animated the hate and sanctioned its uninhibited expression.
What the midterms revealed is that information matters.
Kitchen table economics and local crime statistics were pushed hard by the GOP. Critical issues for sure. However, they were advanced only to ramp up fear and anxiety; a “scared straight” approach to campaigning. What was left out was the broader context of election denialism, voter suppression and political violence, all aimed at undermining democracy.
Context counts.
Voters of all ages and backgrounds proved they are more sophisticated than to be taken for granted and held hostage by the narrow political focus of a self-serving few, to decide what kind of nation they want to live in and raise their children.
The preservation of democracy, America’s crown jewel, requires mindful attention, careful cultivation and eternal vigilance.
On Nov. 8, 2022, American voters demonstrated that they are up to the task, aware, awake and ready to act – to vote.
Like it or not, the United States is going to continue to get browner, not whiter; more diverse, not less. We need to be more thoughtful about how to create enduring coalitions among various groups, not ephemeral, politically expedient or transactional alliances only, but enduring relationships based on shared values and aspirations.
We need always to seek common ground to counter polarization that only leads to the kind of government that discourages and squashes individual freedom of thought and action.
It is only through shared human values and a commitment to united efforts that will we deter the ongoing amplification and advancement of hateful ideologies.
We would do well to consider Martin Luther King Jr’s notion of the beloved community, a community in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate.
We must protect and preserve our most profound guard rail — free and fair elections — and the right to an unimpeded, confidential say-so with our consciences in the privacy of the ballot box.
We cannot allow miscreants posing as government officials to orchestrate the overthrow of a democratically certified election through lies, threats and intimidation.
In recent years, the fever of hateful division has been accentuated by a series of mutating viruses with names like Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and QAnon, all of which were emboldened and encouraged by their super-spreader ex-president.
We must continue to seek justice and accountability and, especially so if we are to remain a democracy in the aftermath of Jan. 6, when people died and more than 140 law enforcement officers were injured. Some permanently.
We must actively reject political violence and reinforce the stigma against it.
Inflation? Crime? Gun Reform? Reproductive Rights? Education? Climate Justice? National Defense? Health Care? Yes. Yes! Certainly. All of the above! Yet, to be clear, nothing will be fixed if we no longer have a functioning democracy.
Extremism is on the rise. The lunatic fringe group known as QAnon uses the slogan, “Where we go one, we go all,” as they openly encourage stockpiling guns in preparation for war against their fellow Americans. Donald Trump opened the basement door for them to step out into the light of day and they’re not going away anytime soon.
Timothy Snyder, in his remarkable pocket-sized book “On Tyranny,” recalled that democracy failed in Europe in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. He expresses concern that it is weakening not only in Europe but in many other locales in the world today.
“It is that history and experience that reveals to us the dark range of our possible futures,” says Snyder. “A nationalist will say that “it can’t happen here,” which is the first step towards disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but we will stop it.”
American patriots – voters — slowed it down in the 2022 midterms.
Thank you!
FUN FACT: A catalytic converter helps to reduce airborne pollutants that could harm people as well as the environment. Democracy is a way of governing that depends on the will of the people.
