Well, it's the day after election day. 2020 has obviously been a monster in so many ways. We still don't know the full outcome of the election, and likely won't for perhaps a few days, maybe longer. It's not over, and I am trying to remain hopeful. I still think it's likely Biden will win, but the Senate takeover is less certain. The Blue Wave either didn't really happen, or it was met with an almost equal Red Wave. And that's disappointing, to put it mildly. I know people are really struggling with this. It's similar to 2004 and 2016 in a lot of ways, and the feelings are similar as well. How can so many people support these people after all we've seen and heard?
Pollsters and both parties are currently unable to understand what is going on with the current electorate psychologically, especially on opposing sides. That is what might be troubling me the most. If we don't understand how we got here, how can we begin to fix it? Avoid it from happening again?
I've been struggling with this is a philosophical way lately. If you know me, you know my first degree is in philosophy, and I have a great interest in it, particularly in moral philosophy. For most of my life, I have prescribed to the Hobbesian concept that humans are animals that will tear each other apart if given the opportunity. That is our natural state. But ethics and the social contract is where much of our evolution now takes place. Lately, partly brought on by age and having kids (I don't really know why?), I have been questioning whether we really are savages. I still believe ethics occupies that realm of "potential", but have been more hopeful about humankind's ability to rise above that preconceived nature.
Now, yet again, I question my new-found hopefulness. What are we? What is going on here? Our "side" is not winning hearts and minds. At least not enough. Why? That's the biggest question I think we need to be considering. Why is what is so self-evident to us not so to others? Is it really as simple as 40%-ish of our entire country doesn't realize we can rise above our animal state? That our ethics and social contract entails working together for a common betterment? Yes, there are racists, misogynists, bigots, homophobes, transphobes, xenophobes, neo nazis and fascists. But I just don't know that I'm ready to accept that almost half the country are those things. Even if they are, until an actual, physical revolution occurs, the path is still to change hearts and minds (and hopefully before it comes to that).
I'm not in a place yet where I can begin to tell anyone how we do this. Win hearts and minds. All I can say right now, while bouncing between sadness, fear and anger, I am still not willing to give up on hope. We find our people and we start to take stock of what matters to us. We are what stands in the way of greed and selfishness and oppression, so we cannot give up on that. I know we are all tired from what this year, these past few years have thrown at us. We long for something to let up. To return to normal. Exhaustion comes in many forms, but like the pandemic, these stressors are not likely to disappear any time soon. Even if the political landscape changed in the way we wanted, it still wouldn't just erase the parts we don't like.
So maybe the first hearts and minds we need to change are our own. Thich Naht Hanh says that suffering comes from the disconnect between what is and what we think ought to be. So the role of morality (to turn things into what we think they ought to be) is by definition, wrought with suffering. My people, it is time to put the oxygen masks around our own mouths first. We must take care of ourselves to get through this, and then we can begin to try to once again take care of others. To have the strength to remember hope, and to gain the ability to change hearts and minds.
Right now, in this moment, I feel the hope and strength necessary to deliver this message. Later, I may not. So this is a thing we can do for each other. I hope that this gives at least some comfort to anyone that is feeling anxiety about where we are. I do believe we can get through this, no matter what happens. And if nothing else, remember this quote from Patton Oswalt that his late wife used to tell him: It's chaos. Be kind.
There are indeed racists, misogynists, bigots, homophobes, transphobes, xenophobes, neo nazis and fascists and the bell curve tells us there always will be. I don't subscribe to the idea that nearly half our country's population fall into one or more of those categories, but the only other conclusion that would explain this voting behavior to me is equally as disturbing...that half our country would rather vote for a (wannabe) tyrant than someone from the other party. I wonder if the situation were reversed, would it be the same. Most likely yes. I don't think this is something Trump brought in us. It's something that was always there that he has mined for all the political gold its worth. Hobbesian tribalism is still very much at the core of who we are I think.
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