There have been volumes upon volumes written in treatises on the nature of governments. And while I will not use this space to argue the merits of John Locke or Friedrich Engels, it’s been my observation democracy relies on a certain amount of faith to function. Not a religious faith in the fantastical or the mystical, but a secular faith which believes in the people who are our neighbors. The practical reality is a functioning society is held together by tenuous interconnected threads. It’s a belief the people we live with will more likely than not treat us with fairness and kindness, and if they don’t there are ways to make things right. It’s part of being a “community,” and the basis from which other sorts of faith in concepts like justice and equality flow from. We live in a community that’s built skyscrapers which touch the clouds, and put people on the Moon. But it’s also a community which many times fails us is some of the most tragic and unnecessary ways imaginable. Our closest neighbors have all too often disappointed us in their decisions and values, especially when those qualities are all too often based in ignorance, fear, and hate.
When I'm feeling good about the direction of the United States, when there’s something which genuinely seems like progress, it’s like a scene out of West Wing where the music swells and one can almost sense an American flag flapping mightily in their heads. However, in recent years, this feels more like a prequel series to The Handmaid’s Tale, where the very nature of truth and reality is under assault with a significant part of our community either not giving a shit or giggling at the madness. As election day approaches, I’ve thought about those moments. I’ve thought about which points in time I’ve been at either spectrum of emotions.
So I thought I would posit these questions tonight: Which moments in politics have been resonating points in your life, for either good or bad? Which moments stand out as times which made you angry, made you cry, or made you pump your fist in the air in victory?
The following list is in no way definitive. It’s just a points in time I can remember having a visceral reaction about. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
- Bush v. Gore: Never mind the timeline shift we had because of a butterfly ballot. Never mind the idiots who ran around saying there was no difference between George W. Bush and Al Gore. What was always the most jarring part of the 2000 presidential election was the fact the Supreme Court of the United States stopped a count of votes and wrote one of the worst decisions in its history in order to ensure a conservative victory. The same court, which routinely throws out equal protection claims for death row inmates affected by racial bias, found there needed to be uniform standards in how one counts indentations on a piece of cardboard. No one, with or without a law degree, will ever be able to square that circle, no matter how much they try. I remember the night after the court’s decision, when Gore conceded, and never feeling so angry (at that point) about an election. I drove to my college classes the next day and cried in the car, because the unfairness of it, and the general media consensus telling the public to just “accept it” and “move on” pissed me off to no end. I vividly remember Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” on the car stereo as tears came down my face.
- The first time: The election of Barack Obama signaled not only the first African American president, but also a time when the words “hope” and “change” were not merely slogans for many Americans, but something they truly believed was possible. Whatever the effects or aftermath of the Obama presidency may be, the optimism that millions of Americans shared on election night in 2008 was a sight to behold.
- A news organization that isn’t a news organization: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the offices of Fox News. With only a few exceptions, Rupert Murdoch’s denizens of cable encompass known liars, fakes, and genuinely awful people who whine about emails and spread conspiracy theories, like birtherism and Seth Rich’s murder, and would not know facts if it literally fell into their lap. This, by itself, is enraging enough. But the fact government officials and the rest of the Washington press corps, Fox News’ “colleagues,” treats the organization as legitimate many times, instead of more akin to a well-funded version of Info Wars, is one of the most disappointing aspects of modern politics. It is one of the main problems with discourse and the acceptance of reality by huge swaths of the public, since Fox puts on propaganda and the rest of the media bends over backwards, so afraid to be called “liberal” by a Republican.
- Bill Clinton becomes president: No matter Bill Clinton’s faults, I will always be grateful to him for getting me involved and making me aware of politics and government as a child, and the Clinton years seem like a golden age of American life in comparison to the present. As much as people made of Clinton for his “I feel your pain” campaign style, I remember my mother and her friends connecting to President Clinton’s empathy and feeling he was the first president in a while that understood what it meant to grow up poor, and actually gave a damn about whether people’s lives improved. I still remember watching him, Hillary, and Chelsea walk out to give the victory speech on a little 19-inch color RCA TV with my mother.
- The realization that many (white) people can be grossly stupid: The lurch of the Republican party and conservatism toward white nationalism and their own imaginary reality began in the 1980’s and has only worsened as the years have gone by. Donald Trump’s election is only the culmination of those tendencies in a white America which values their whiteness more than having health care or a social infrastructure which would help everyone, including themselves. There have been many moments along the road where conservative voters could have turned back, made a decision to be different, and self-assess. Whether it be the worst bits of the Republican revolution after the 1994 midterms, going with an idiot like Sarah Palin as being a “leader,” and finally going along with the fantasies of a proven liar and former game show host. While this, and all the dumb ass policies which have been borne out of it, is all maddening enough, what I find most disheartening are the people who should know better, and who do nothing ... or sit and applaud it.
- No longer in the shadows: The decision in Obergefell v. Hodges to recognize the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry has at its core an issue for which many people have spent hours upon hours screaming about in the abstract. What I remember are the face of the people affected. The crying couples who, maybe not totally but at least in the moment, felt like their government had finally accepted them and their families. When the White House was illuminated in the color of the rainbow on the night of the decision, it felt like a great civil rights battle had been won in the long war.