O Tempora O Mores - Election 2024

Donald Trump will once again ascend to the highest office of the land.? All of us who understand our form of government know that he has been elected pursuant to our Constitution and pray that he will govern pursuant to our Constitution.

As many of you know, I listen to sermons in church.? A recent sermon at the Paulist Center discussed the toxic polarization which smothers the American people.? It was so obvious on election day.

There are many among us who are old and lonely and scared that the world is changing far too quickly.? Covid increased social isolation. Some are alone for holidays. No one meets them at the airport or the train station or takes them to a doctor’s appointment.? There have always been old and lonely people, but their numbers in our population are now a greater percentage than in decades gone by.? The Surgeon General has identified loneliness as a national crisis.?

The world those of us in our 70s knew is no longer.? Our social fabric is torn. Robert Putnam has written of those who bowl alone. David Brooks speaks of “weaving community.” ?This is not unlike those who were humiliated by the Weimar Republic and sought out a strongman to restore Germany to greatness.? Older people yearn for a nation not unlike that in which they were raised, where there was a greater sense of family and community, much of it centered around churches.? Many of them voted for Donald Trump and accept all he says and represents (or misrepresents).?

Some of us remember when the price of gas was $0.30 a gallon and the cost of a hamburger at McDonald’s was $.15.? Of course, the minimum wage was just about a dollar an hour.

On the other hand, there are many among us, including many of my readers, and my neighbors and friends, who do not accept as fact that the world as we knew it growing up was that good.?

Looking at history, one knows that 150 years ago, signs in Boston windows advertised “No Irish Need Apply.”? Then, 100 or so years ago, Congress passed laws aimed at limiting the numbers of Italians and Jews who could enter the country. In those first decades of the 20th Century, people who thought they knew what was good for all of us succeeded in passing prohibition, aimed at Europeans who come from cultures where drinking a beer or glass of wine is an important aspect of life.? The condescension of the ruling class towards the ruled with respect to the prohibition issue was crystal clear.?

The condescension of the Washington-centric ruling class towards the ruled is an important factor in today’s politics.? It is as simple as Hiliary Clinton’s referring to a “basket of deplorables”, to Barack Obama’s suggesting that certain people were “clinging” to their bibles and their guns. Some who are highly educated look unfavorably upon those who are not. This causes great divides in our nation as those of us who live in cocoons of intelligence and prosperity often appear to be condescending towards those who do not. Even the Washington Post chimed in earlier this week.

To some, the identity politics which has strangled the Democratic Party of my youth can appear to be quite exclusive to those who are not included. To many, it appears that the culture wars turn off and turn away many traditional Democrats.

The degradation of our political discussion has reached new heights. Grown men wearing suits mock their fellow citizens and profit from the difficulties of others.? Is this a role model for young men and women interested in public service?

Lincoln gave the famous “House Divided” speech taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew in 1856, before he was elected President, yet it was his election in 1860 that precipitated the secession of a number of southern states. I doubt that we will ever again see states secede if they are unhappy with the results of a national election, but this is a nation which is divided almost 50/50 with respect to a number of issues and our politics will continue to be dominated by toxic polarization. No wonder 7 in 10 Americans suggest this year’s election had been stressful.

The election is over! Billions of dollars have been spent.? Families have been divided. All that is now behind us. President Biden is committed to a smooth transition. It is time for mending and weaving. We are a strong nation. We will endure.