What I learned on the road to the White House

Election fatigue? Cynicism about the whole damn thing? Join the ever-growing line

This one’s a little different in tone and substance than some of my other musings.

It’s a longer-than-I-expected braindump on learning from election fatigue. Deep breath.

I’ve been a student of US politics my entire adult life. This election cycle has been the most bizarre and the most exhausting I’ve ever seen.

The hard part is I want to look away. I can’t. It hits every button I have about the news, about politics, about the psychological, social, economic and other drivers behind people’s choices and decisions.

So I look for sharp analysis. I look for context. I hang out and keep in touch with people smarter than I am. I read widely and deeply. And it’s still not enough.

I keep finding myself drawn to bullshit social media posts (“This proves he knows he’s losing!” - no, it doesn't, and he never will) and toxic both-sidesism in the MSM (“She’s light on policy” - I mean, come on). I tell my students that sometimes, bad experiences (teachers, managers, even romantic partners) can teach them as much as the good ones. It’s all about what you choose to learn from the experience.

I don’t trust the polls. I don’t trust the pols. I don’t trust the social media pundits or the MSM. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever felt that way. I’m a recovering journalist who still feels an enormous amount of empathy for what my friends and others in the industry are going through. So I’m choosing to make compassion my lesson in all of this.

Compassion suggests - demands - that I do trust voters. Trust and compassion are linked in my mind. I have to believe that US voters are at least as frustrated and exhausted as I am. And one thing I do know, in my bones, is that exhausted, frustrated voters choose change more often than not.

Not all change moves us forward. Some of it - especially this time - threatens to move the US and potentially the world several giant steps backwards to a very dark, dangerous time. We won’t know the results of the election on Tuesday night. We probably won’t know for days or even weeks until the inevitable lawsuits are settled.

And I’ll be honest. I’m terrified. If it does end up in the courts or in open violence - and both are highly probable - the outcome could be catastrophic. I’m not naive. I know that people make choices for all kinds of reasons, many of them mean and hurtful or spiteful or simply full of hate. That, too, is part of the human condition.

In 2016, we had friends over to watch the results on election night. They brought a big bottle of champagne with them. We never opened it. And given the way things went, they wouldn’t take it home with them, maybe because they didn’t want the reminder.

So here’s my learning this time: no pre-emptive champagne. No predictions. Just an expression of trust in voters to move away from anarchy and chaos and toward something better. America has its flaws. It’s also given us jazz and some of the world’s greatest artists, scientists, educators, and thinkers. As Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said and what you did. People will never forget how you made them feel.” C’mon, America. Make hope great again.