America is resilient, they say.
We’ll see.
In every presidential election since 1840, when William Henry Harrison defeated Martin Van Buren, only to die of pneumonia 31 days into his tenure, there have been at least one million Americans who voted for a losing candidate and undoubtedly harbored varying levels of displeasure with the outcome.
Dukakis voters were able to live with George Bush the elder. Bush backers moved on from a loss to Clinton. Gore followers, who suffered the most excruciatingly close defeat ever, accepted George W. Bush as their president (at least the vast majority of them). McCain and Romney voters survived under Obama. And these are just recent examples.
America has always managed to look forward and to move forward.
This seems different.
There is a division in the country that transcends politics, arguably deeper than at any point since the Civil War, which ended 155 years ago. Deeper than the political upheaval of the ‘60s. The soul and conscience of the nation have been damaged.
The question: Is it fixable?
Civility; rationality; the ability to agree to disagree: gone. When something as objective as the number of votes cast for respective candidates is a matter of such vitriolic contention, what chance do we have on matters requiring actual contemplation?
Boston, Washington, D.C., and other cities erupted in joy when Joe Biden was initially declared the winner. I saw Gen Xers dancing in the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan while truck drivers of all descriptions leaned on their horns, prompting roars of elation. It rivaled any Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration I’ve ever seen. People reveling in the results of the election.
We have also seen tens of thousands march in support of the losing candidate.
While neither of those occurrences is commonplace, as isolated incidents they are not necessarily overly problematic. What is troubling is that contempt has been taken to a new level. It is no longer, “I disagree with you,” or even “I don’t like you,” but rather, “I hate you and everything you stand for.”
In a recent letter to parishioners in the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley wrote, “We are now at a moment when a new beginning is not only possible, but urgently necessary. The work at hand calls us to respect the opinion of others, to dialogue about differing perspectives, to seek reconciliation where there has been estrangement, to work for the healing among people of our country.”
Saying that one side of the political spectrum bears all the blame for the mess we’re in would be recklessly presumptuous. And, really, does it matter? Isn’t the more important issue, How do we get out of this mess?
President-elect Joe Biden has the unenviable task of leading that hopefully not-Sisyphean effort. When the dancing stops and the work begins, those who are pleased with the prospect of a new resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. would be well served to not lose sight of a few critical facts and suppositions.
Approximately 73 million Americans, or almost half of all voters this year, cast their ballot for the incumbent. They are not all racists, homophobes or white supremacists. Some were prompted by their 401(k); others by the “I’m no politician” schtick (ignoring the fact that politics is what makes government work). Whatever.
Those numbers support the notion that the centrist Biden was the sole Democrat among the dozens who sought the presidency who could win the general election. And he may well be uniquely suited to perform what is most needed from our president in 2021: eliminating the hatred. In time, politics will take care of itself; what we need now is to turn down the temperature.
We need an adult in the White House to help us address racial, sexual, and economic inequalities that are crippling our nation.
That work will be arduous and painstaking — and critically important.
I hope we’re up to the task.
Given what we’ve become, I’m not optimistic.
Ted Grant is the publisher of Essex Media Group and The Daily Item, and can be reached at: [email protected].
