An off-ramp to the endless highway of despair
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For years, I’ve felt like American politics has been stuck. Forever moving to counter an authoritarian threat, never really seeming to go anywhere.?
Even with all the day-to-day chaos of the Trump administration, and all that’s happened since then, it’s remarkable how little the overall contours have changed since Donald Trump first announced his presidential candidacy in June of 2015. Our politics have been defined above all by the looming threat of authoritarianism. Everything else had to be put aside as we all raced to fortify the system against a would-be autocrat openly aiming to consolidate power and — if he got his way — never let go.?
And, as our democracy traveled this endless highway, it felt like we were slowly losing something essential.
The sense that politics should be ever-changing and policies should be ever-evolving. That we are navigating history and building something together. That there's always the next election to change course and reimagine the future.
As months became years and years inched towards a decade, that sense of democracy being stuck, trapped by an existential threat, has been profoundly costly to so many of us.?
More than anything, it’s difficult to stay motivated, to do the hard work of resisting authoritarianism and imagining a better future — not just a less worse one — when it feels like you’re trapped forever on a road that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. There’s only so long we can all put aside everything else and just try to hold up the pillars of our institutions. I kept catching myself thinking that maybe our democracy would eventually die with a whimper.?
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I don’t know about you, but suddenly it really doesn’t feel like that anymore.
And I’m not just talking about the fact that there’s now a presidential candidate who wasn’t born in the 1940s (the first time since 2012). If you’ve spent any time on social media this week, it feels like a decade of pent up energy?is pouring out all at once. It’s remarkable. We’re seeing a mass yearning for politics to again be organic, dynamic, cathartic. Even fun.?
It feels like we’ve just shifted from one era of political history into another. Whatever that endless highway of despair was, I don’t think we’re on it anymore.
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More in a second on the implications of this off-ramp.
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8 个月Good afternoon all. Grace & peace be with each of us in our world. From Sunday to today, Friday-wowsers in terms of our political reality in the States. Appreciate your perspective Ben. As we all have become part of the evil/hate yet we continue to live in it. One must wonder why. Do we enjoy the reality aspect of a you know what show on social media? Perhaps as form of entertainment or do we really care? Who are the “we” & what does that “care” involve? Is it going to be a baited situation then a switched tactic for monetary prosperity? And for whom will the wealth be going to, exactly & why? Idk about others, I’m repelled by the bickering, name calling, finger pointing, & yes most of all the constant professional grade gaslighting. Own your actions or it will own you. It was nice to see our legally elected president retire with integrity. Would’ve sent a congratulatory card but well, it seemed too weird even in theory, sooooo. Anyone suggesting President Biden is a quitter has much to learn in our world as we all do too. My aunt Earl always says, “We aren’t promised tomorrow”. She’s basically encouraging me to be a better human being. We all should try too. Stay well & safe, Amy