Tuesday night and Wednesday morning will be tense, and I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling this up here in Canada, where we don’t even get a vote. That said, I have to make an attempt to condition myself against what I feel to be the worst-case scenario, that being the election of someone I profoundly wish to be gone. I’ll say nothing more on that.
But what if it doesn’t go “my” way? What then?
I guess I could just hunker down and assume the worst of everything will be on its way. But I have to remind myself that sometimes, actually a lot of times, the Americans surprise me, both as a nation and as a people. So, while doom and gloom might be the easiest stick to reach for, I don’t think there’s any harm in considering how we might just get through this moving forward, despite who wins.
Approaching this Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, the atmosphere is charged with anticipation and emotion, and we’re not even Americans! While this period may bring some levels of uncertainty — especially given what happened in 2020 after that election — there’s got to be some good reason to have hope that things will turn out okay, regardless of who wins.
The United States has a strong history of strength and integrity in its democratic institutions. When you’re done laughing, consider the constitutional series of checks and balances designed to keep any one branch of the government — executive-legislative-judicial — from becoming too powerful on its own.. These branches operate independently but have co-dependency functions, ensuring that critical scrutiny will accompany any major change in policy direction. So there’s that.
Say what you want, but you can’t say the American public isn’t engaged with its democracy, albeit from seemingly polarized points of view. But, from my experience, most of any electorate resides in the “middle’ of the spectrum, and are not part of the more extreme viewpoints of either the left or right. Idealogues tend to be the loudest voices in the room. That doesn’t mean they’re the most numerous.
As this is true with the electorate, it can also be true in the legislature. Most members of the Senate and House of Representatives have shared concerns about important stuff that is important to the nation. People can, and often do, come together to find solutions to problems. I know the atmosphere of hyper-partisanship makes this difficult, but bipartisan work for the common good is still possible, and even laudable.
Americans have met big moments before. The Revolution, Civil War, two World Wars, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, two pandemics and Donald Trump, among other significant national challenges. And in each case, the nation emerged intact, united, and poised to begin anew, except for maybe in the case of my last example. But perhaps we’re just living through the shaking-out period that follows these challenges, and maybe Tuesday night will be a part of that.
Or maybe it will be the start of something worse, but dammit, I’m trying to be positive here.
So, regardless of the result, surely our notions and appreciation of things like democracy, civic responsibility, and community will still be intact, and have the strength to carry us forward, and beyond the immediate challenge, although I’m speaking as a Canadian with no say in anything that happens Tuesday/Wednesday.
Maybe this is all just another milestone along the way, a milestone reflecting the pluck and resiliency of American democracy and the American people.
A page in a history book of the future, rather than a chapter.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 