Note: I did a short podcast including this text and a song (“We Too Must Grow”) from my friend Joe Bridge. Check it out here.
This week I talked to a lot of people who have a sense of dread about next week’s election. In particular, they dread the possibility of another Trump presidency.
I had a similar experience, took a moment to feel the dread in my body, and then reflected. I realized my dread is about something bigger and scarier than the next four years.
It’s about inclusion.
This election is a referendum of the failure of the system.
The energy behind the new Republican Party is very clearly “anti-” the existing order. It’s people who believe that destroying the existing order and “rolling the dice” on what happens next will probably work out better for them than the status quo.
Which is one definition of a Revolution:
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but it’s probably better than the shit I’m dealing with today.”
And I hear you say: “What about the rich who just cynically want lower taxes for themselves?”
And I say unto you: “Selfishness and greed have always been a part of the human experience.”
And I hear you say: “If it’s really about inequality and wealth distribution, shouldn’t people be voting for Bernie?”
And I say unto you: “Reality has no place for your Should. It’s not about inequality. It’s about self-respect.”
And I hear you say: “The system hasn’t failed! Look at all our objective indicators of X, Y, and Z.”
And I say unto you: “Objective measurement is irrelevant to human experience.”
In a society, exclusion shows up as failure.
If more than 30% of people in a system think it’s failed them, then it has failed as a system.
It’s not about election day.
It’s not about who wins the electoral college.
It’s not about who wins the popular vote or by how much.
This is a fundamentally different conversation than the first elections I remember, when it was about issues like affirmative action (that pitted people against each other on racial lines), or the NAFTA (that sold out the blue collar middle class) or the Iraq War (that killed thousands of soldiers and mainstreamed our total lack of credibility).
“What direction should we go?” is a political question.
“What does it mean to be a country?” is a relational question.
The deeper question — the question behind the election — is relationship.
We need to accept that our system has failed and focus on rebuilding a national sense of inclusion and community.
Ankur Shah Delight: Community and Conflict 