ENJOY THIS ELECTION DAY EDITORIAL WITH A COCKTAIL OR TWO
I did not ever imagine I would find myself writing an editorial for HITS in defense of democracy.
But here we are: As a nation we are choosing between (a) carrying on genteel traditions like a peaceful transfer of power, free speech, bodily autonomy and freedom from political persecution or (b) plunging into the toxic waters of authoritarianism, mob violence, kleptocracy, would-be theocracy, contagion and chaos with no institutional guardrails whatsoever.
It doesn’t seem like a hard choice, but we are regularly reminded that Americans occupy different realities depending on which sights and sounds issue from their various screens.
As one more voice coming out of one more screen, I am asking you to take heart.
Nobody knows for sure how this process will end, but I feel guardedly optimistic.
I feel tentatively assured that women of all ages are furious and ready to reclaim control of their lives from the medieval misogynists occupying our courts and legislatures.
I feel cautiously sanguine that people whose ethnicities have been insulted, derided and threatened by demagogic dipshits will make their voices heard.
I feel gingerly confident that young people whose futures are obstructed by gaslighting goons will blow the doors off the polling stations.
I feel sorta kinda pretty strongly that we will come through this election, however narrowly, with a real, compassionate leader, having affirmed our belief in democratic institutions and sanity.
Later, there will have to be a reckoning about our politics and the informational bubbles we occupy. We will be obliged to decide if we want electioneering to remain a grotesque blood sport, a shabby reality-show spectacle, an empty circus of flexing and fear. We must ask if there is a way for us to tell the daily story of the USA without billionaire-owned clickbait.
But that’s for another day. For now, let us carry on with the quaint custom of Election Day and the quintessentially civilized process of registering our preferences at the ballot box.
For all its shortcomings, there’s a lot to be said for democracy. I think we should keep it going.
Stay safe, keep calm, vote if you haven’t, help someone else vote if you have, and we’ll see you on the other side.
