The midterms were normal
????Welcome to What Could Go Right?, where we're pleased to see American democracy shining bright after Tuesday's midterms. We do not celebrate partisan gains or losses in this newsletter, but we do take a position on election deniers and certain ballot items. ??
What Could Go Right? is a free weekly newsletter from?The Progress Network?written by our executive director, Emma Varvaloucas. In addition to this newsletter, which collects substantive progress news from around the world, The Progress Network is also home to an?anti-apocalypse conversational podcast also called?What Could Go Right?.
The midterms were normal
“These are, of course,?not entirely normal times,” wrote The Progress Network (TPN) Member Matthew Yglesias in?Bloomberg?over the weekend. “They couldn’t possibly be, given the context of Trump’s stubborn lies about the 2020 election and the horrors of January?6.” The tension was exacerbated by the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in the days leading up to the midterms. This view of “not normal” is likely what?The?Washington Post?editorial board had in mind when they?ran an op-ed, also over the weekend, with the title “This is not a normal election. Voters should keep that in mind.”
But now the midterms have arrived, and while you may be disappointed or excited or both about the results, the midterms themselves were quite?normal, the Democrats' unexpected performance aside.?As?The New York Times?opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo?wrote, “The nightmare scenario was that we’d be mired in election-rigging conspiracies, lots of intimidation, perhaps even violence.” That has not panned out. American democracy lives on.
Plenty election deniers won, but?plenty lost, too, such as Don Bolduc in the New Hampshire Senate race as well as several in gubernatorial races, like Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano, Michigan’s Tudor Dixon, and New York’s Lee Zeldin. "A?significant bloc of voters," wrote?TPN Member Yascha Mounk in?The Atlantic, split their ticket on Tuesday, showing a?clear preference for moderate candidates.?CNN?anchor John Avlon put it more bluntly: "It's the extremism, stupid."
We should absolutely keep a watchful eye, and push back, on anyone now in?government who sows distrust in the country’s elections. But there is the irony that any election deniers accepting the results of their own wins simultaneously endorse the working of the system. The “it’s only broken when my side loses” narrative can only last for so long. Indeed, according to exit polls from Edison Research, “8 in 10 voters said they were very or somewhat confident that elections in their state would be fair and accurate.”
Another sign of the nation’s democratic health is just how many voters want to participate in it. We’re waiting for final voter turnout tallies, but early signals are pointing to, once again,?historic numbers. Midterm turnout reached a 40-year high in 2018 at 49 percent. This year is likely to top that. When the chips are down—perhaps especially when—Americans show up.
While large majorities of Americans agree that democracy is under threat, they also?agree that it must be protected, even if that protective energy has become?wildly misdirected in recent years. That may seem like pale comfort, but as Jonah Goldberg wrote in?The Dispatch?newsletter this week, “This is a good country full to the rafters with decent people. Are we perfect? Of course not. Have we sinned in the past? Obviously. But if you actually believe in democracy, you have to believe that Americans can correct their errors.”
As for how the House and Senate will end up, we don’t know yet, but Yglesias finishes his piece with a good reminder that despite all the rhetoric, “the basic underlying patterns of United States?politics and policymaking have been extremely normal—up to and including Biden’s ability to work with Republicans on several significant pieces of bipartisan legislation.”
A night of firsts
In other midterm news,?CNN?compiled a?list of historic firsts, including:?
It was a successful midterm, representation-wise.?Here?is the list for Latino firsts, and?here?for Asian Americans, both from?Axios.
Other notables
?? Maryland and Missouri have legalized cannabis; Arkansas and North Dakota voted against.
?? Michigan voters?codified abortion rights—you might remember?from our?Roe v. Wade?coverage?that Michigan was one of the states where the upcoming election would prove decisive, and it has. (Michigan?also voted to expand early voting access in the state.) Kentucky voters?rejected an amendment?that would have added language to the?state constitution that it does?not?protect?the right to an abortion, and Montana voters?rejected a measure that would criminalize?health care providers for not providing "life-saving care" to infants born at any stage of development, including as the result of an abortion. Abortion remains illegal in Kentucky and legal in Montana.
???Alabama, Tennessee, Vermont, and Oregon?voted to change language?in their state constitutions that allows for enslavement or involuntary servitude as part of criminal punishment. The last state that had this on the ballot, Louisiana, voted against after lawmakers directed voters to reject the measure's ambiguous language. We'll see if a better crafted version?comes back up in the future.
How come no one cares about COP27?
Google searches for COP26, last year’s international climate conclave, registered a spike that COP27 is nowhere near matching. It looks like barely anyone is looking it up. Public interest aside, some productive things have already emerged from the meeting.?Forty countries will produce?detailed plans to reduce worldwide methane emissions by at least 30 percent of 2020 levels by 2030. That’s nothing to sniff at: if achieved, that would prevent more than 0.2 degrees Celsius of warming, says?EcoWatch.?
For the first time, led by Scotland,?Europe has started to pledge cash?for developing countries hit hard by climate change. The money, plus a United Nations?early disaster warning system?now in the works, could significantly help the Global South in particular save lives and prevent and recover from costly damage. And, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $1.4 billion to?smallholder farmers?in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which is good news for?creating a food-secure future.
Before we go
Brazil avoided a coup in late October when Jair Bolsonaro, the outgoing, Trump-style president, finally greenlit the transition to winner Lula after two excruciating days of silence. “It’s a low bar to clear, but an?important achievement nonetheless,” writes Francisco Toro in?Persuasion. This shift in power is also positive for potential climate change action, as Lula has promised to prioritize ending deforestation of the Amazon. In Brazil as well as in the US and Europe,?things are generally looking up?when it comes to climate policy.?
After two years of civil war, the Ethiopian government and the leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have?agreed to stop fighting, with an eye toward establishing permanent peace.
Below in the links section, self-resurrecting coral, gene-edited future foods, lab-grown blood, and more.
?—Emma Varvaloucas
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Other good stuff in the news
Found good news we should hear about? Drop a link in the comments!
Energy & Environment:
Science & Tech:
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Economy:
TPN Member?originals??
Department of Ideas?
Is Thailand the new weed capital of the world??|?From zero tolerance to decriminalization, Thailand’s recent u-turn on its cannabis laws is lighting up a billion-dollar industry. | Foreign Correspondent
Why we picked it:?It's an interesting and balanced look at the current cannabis situation in Thailand. It also accurately reflects what I've seen on the ground here (including all the loveliness of the Thai spirit). Some new weed rules may be forthcoming, but as one of the dispensary owners in the video says, there's no going back—the genie is out of the bottle, and the bottle is broken. —Brian Leli
Until next Thursday, in the immortal words of Harry Caray, "Cubs win!"???
Here to connect brands with customers | Demand Generation
1 年Emma, 100 percent!
Ruwatex Africa Ltd
2 年https://youtu.be/07w9K2XR3f0