Listening, Who’s Really Winning, and Protecting Our Election System
Wall of Empathy at 16th Street BART Station in San Francisco, November 2016
Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope. (Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities)
So much has been written and said about the seismic election on November 5th and its possible aftermath. I have had my share of emotions about it.
I started writing this post the day after the election. What I wrote then included a lot of venting. I suspect that’s the last thing you want to hear at this point! What I’ve tried to write instead are my reflections on how we might get through this time and remain hopeful.
Each of us has our own understandings about what this inflection point in our country’s history means. I offer three things that are helping me make sense of what’s happening and how to move forward— listening, probing into who most stands to benefit under the new administration, and protecting our election system.
Listen better. (Vasudeva to Siddhartha, as quoted by Richie in The Bear)
Since the election, I’ve had many conversations with friends and family, mostly distraught about the election results but with different perspectives. Here’s some of what I’ve heard.
There is a deep sense of pain felt for the many people who are and will be harmed by hate-fueled politics.
Feelings of despair for our children and future generations. The next administration and Congress seem set not only on doing nothing about human-caused climate change but reversing course on progress made.
Others voiced concern about people struggling financially in our country. They understood why many people living paycheck to paycheck voted for Trump as a stance against a system that has not benefitted them.
After 2016, there was much discussion about how we need to listen better to one another. The current political environment demands that we try again and make it a cultural practice.
Many need to be heard.
People struggling economically need to be heard. There is real pain, frustration, and hopelessness in the many communities left behind in corporate-dominated America. Those doing well financially must try to understand better the lived experience of those who are not.
Immigrants from our Southern border need to be heard. Knowing their stories stands in stark contrast to the extremely hateful, harmful language of those trying to exploit fear for political advantage.
Women need to be heard. Everyone should have the right to control their body and make their own health decisions.
LGBTQ+, and especially transgender people now, need to be heard. The mood after the election in our neighborhood, the Castro in San Francisco, was depressed and fearful. After Trump and others were elected with transphobia as a clear part of their campaign, it’s understandable to fear the worst. Everyone deserves to be who they are and love who they love.
Young people need to be heard. So many are suffering from anxiety, depression, and a sense of hopelessness. They’ve inherited the climate and other crises and will suffer from the increasingly severe consequences.
The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority. (Will Durant)
Social division has reached a frightening level in the US, fueled by the rhetoric of politicians. Pitting groups of people against one another and declaring others enemies is designed to distract us from who wins when we are divided.
Who is winning now?
The stock market provides one window. The day after the election, Tesla stocks surged, and with it, the financial wealth of the world’s richest person who is now one of the President-elect’s closest advisors. Cryptocurrency stocks hit new record highs. Bank stocks soared on expectations that there will be less regulation and more mergers and acquisitions. Private prison stocks rose dramatically.
Clean energy stocks plummeted.
Big money influencing politics has been true for a long time. Trump, however, takes it to a different level as a self-proclaimed ‘transactional’ leader. The stock market gave an early indication of who is getting in on the ‘deals’ and what lies ahead under the next administration.
Within a week of the election, Big Tech leaders cozied up to Trump. Not long ago, many of them forcibly condemned the January 6th riot he incited and his unbased attacks on election integrity. They also praised Biden for his actions on climate and are fully aware of Trump’s plan to dismantle them.
Corporate and the wealthy elite influence on politics is a concern shared across the political aisle. We can find ways to bridge differences and not let politicians and their ‘big money’ influencers continue to divide us.
Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be. (Sydney J. Harris)
Without free and fair elections, we stand little fighting chance of coming together for the change we need.
Just like in 2020, no evidence suggests the 2024 election was riddled with fraud. Harris took the high road for our country by quickly accepting the results, obviously in great contrast to the 4-year Big Lie about the prior election.
It’s going to take a lot to keep elections free and fair moving ahead. Protecting voting rights and the integrity of elections is paramount.
I’m inspired by people like my friend Angie, who organized many ‘get out the vote’ letter-writing sessions this year. She provided me with a list of organizations that are on the front lines nationally in protecting our election system:
Our family will give to one or more of these organizations. I encourage you to join us or recommend other organizations.
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We need to fight for the integrity of the election system. But it all can’t be a fight.
As my friend Anthony reminded me a few days after the election, there is one fundamental truth—we are all connected. As much as we must fight for communities that stand in harm’s way and nature itself, we have to find ways to chip away at the great political and social divide. If we don’t, the only real winners will remain large corporations and the most wealthy.
Fred Blackwell of the San Francisco Foundation recently wrote that this election is not an ending or beginning. What remains constant is that we are all connected.
We cannot and will not give up on working toward a more healthy, just, and sustainable society. We can remain hopeful by listening, seeing what stands in the way of progress with clarity, and fighting for our right to free and fair elections.