Joe Biden has decisively won election as the 46th President of the United States. Donald Trump still refuses to accept the outcome, even though he begrudgingly authorized the GSA to release the transition funds. Various Republicans pressured him to face up to the reality of Biden’s win, but I’m not giving anyone credit.
The GOP, for all intents and purposes, backed Donald Trump and pretended that the election was still in doubt. Everyone—except the Republicans—agreed that there was an absence of credible evidence supporting voter fraud. It is a non-issue, stirred up by Trump himself to provide cover for his definitive loss.
The facts are clear. What part of 306 electoral votes and over 6 million more popular votes do the Republicans and Trump supporters not understand?
The progressive consensus is that Trump is laying the groundwork for a coup or simply perpetrating one more self-aggrandizing scam: continuing to solicit unrestricted funds from Trump supporters to “fight the election fraud” and create a super PAC.
His lawsuits are going nowhere and—apparently—he can redirect this money to himself and his interests, even to finance his lifestyle, if he so desires. Both issues are lost on Trump supporters. It seems they just want to give the guy money, regardless of its relationship to reality.
So what is happening?
Are we waiting for the man’s other shoe to drop, or are we waiting for him to commit some intolerable outrage as he walks out the door, burning the place down with a mic drop? He certainly tried, when he asked the Pentagon for options to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and his irrational request was rebuffed.
Just how dangerous can this wounded President be? (I know. The answer is, “What time is it?”, and, “Is someone checking?”)
One thing is certain: we are all being held hostage to his drama. By now, we know the price of wrestling with a raging egomaniac. It’s unwholesome, traumatic, and the endgame is—sadly—never pretty.
In the meantime, we are a big country and there are things we need to do.
Of utmost importance is winning the two Georgia Senate runoffs to gain a potential majority in the Senate (taking into consideration Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote as Vice President.) The runoff election hasn’t even occurred, and people are talking about West Virginia’s nominal Democrat, Joe Manchin, breaking ranks and voting with the Republicans to block progressive issues—defeating the whole purpose of gaining the two seats in the first place. Let the machinations and intrigue begin.
There is also infighting between the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the “moderates” or “Centrists.”
John Kasich, complaining about the Ohio loss, is lining up to bash Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for progressive messaging that he says cost the Democrats House seats.
AOC rightly—and more calmly than is warranted—points out that no representative running on The Green New Deal or Medicare For All lost their race.
Others have also pointed out that “Defund the Police” was not a Democratic Party slogan, but arose from the streets, for—obviously—legitimate reasons. This distinction hasn’t stopped anyone from blaming Black Lives Matter for basically existing, as if it were some sort of embarrassing inconvenience. It’s wrong to treat BLM as a crazy uncle to put back in the attic—rather than a galvanizing social movement.
Blaming anyone for unhelpful messaging misses the point. The focus should be on the useful message that was never delivered, not merely the failed one that was firmly rejected.
There is a tremendous mismatch between the varied needs of the American people and a binary choice between Trump and Biden. It’s chastening to learn that people’s true interests are based in conflict. A clear choice to one is the opposite for another, and a mixed decision for a third, especially when economic self-interest is the primary concern. Very few people vote against an economy that is serving them, let alone for someone who will take those resources away. This is what pollsters believe happened with Latinos voting for Trump on the oil-dependent Texas border. They “should” have rejected a President who disrespected them, but instead voted to preserve their jobs, concerned about the prospect of a Biden reduction in fossil fuel.
AOC is calling for more robust digital campaigns throughout the party. She has been slammed for doing so, as if she were advocating for even more uncomfortable progressive messaging, rather than simply calling for a more relevant system of message delivery. She suggests spending at least $200,000 on Facebook in the last week of an election: Many failing campaigns spent numbers closer to $2,000. Boomers and Millennials would like to pretend that Gen Z doesn’t exist, instead of seeing them charging up behind them in the rearview mirror.
Moderates versus Progressives, Establishment versus Black Lives Matter, Old versus New: How are these conflicts helping anyone, especially with a madman (with 70 million supporters) still in the White House?
For example, we need to address coronavirus, which, frankly, no one is doing.
Too many people are not cooperating and, after eight months, we can’t even get this aspect of the pandemic under control. Much of the populace still refuses to comply with the most basic preventive measure—wearing a mask. Apparently, America is the Land of the Free, as long as freedom is defined as making reckless choices and avoiding all responsibility.
The Biden team has a clear plan to address COVID-19 and will hit the ground running. However, individual and collective behavior is still the key to gaining control. An effective vaccine is certainly a reason for encouragement, but we need to slow the spread until it becomes widely available.
If we can’t manage a pandemic and restart an economy, how are we going to accomplish something exponentially more significant, such as advancing efforts to mitigate climate change?
Do we have any plans for addressing the issue beyond rejoining the Paris Accord, believing that something will happen in 2035 or 2050? The Georgia Senate runoffs will directly influence Joe Biden’s ability to reverse the damaging environmental policies enacted by the Trump Administration. Only so much can be achieved through Executive Order.
Foremost, we must address climate change with an eye to the economy, caring about the effects on both the winners and losers. We must invest in guidance necessary for the innumerable transitions that will occur along the way. This is not a laissez-faire activity.
Except for COVID.
COVID inadvertently showed us what a reduction in our economy could do for the planet, simply by stopping us in our tracks. How do we learn from this experience, honoring the sacrifices of all we have lost, in order to achieve similar ends—but this time not triggering the accompanying economic shock?
Hyper-efficient automation and globalization have decimated jobs across America and are the true culprits of our chronic conditions. Life is becoming increasingly difficult, and the downward spiral is only quickening.
Is anyone actually addressing these issues?
We can no longer afford missteps or offsets. A new infrastructure can’t offer promise, but results solely in producing more emissions and pollution. Instead, we need a Green plan that anticipates consequences.
Through investment and the concept of economic sustainability, the market will essentially facilitate a Green transformation—but the market itself won’t resolve our environmental concerns—at least, never in a positive way. It simply has no incentive to do so. Its imperative is to squeeze the last ounce of profit from any resource in its grasp. Simple human effort can not match its scope. I can’t personally recycle my way out of anything, without a reinvention of consumption and an ‘alpha-to-omega’ cycle of accounting for materials: there simply is too much product in production.
Human action alone can not offset these engines, but we can change their very conception and direction. That’s how we got here—through thought and imagination—and that’s how we’ll get from here to somewhere else.
It requires immense patience in resolving the seemingly insoluble and finding courage in the face of immediate need. It’s hard to care about the environment, when you have trouble finding a job, and feeding your family. It’s hard to vote against a tyrant when that tyrant is the best chance for keeping your job.
A focus on employment, education, and environmentally-beneficial productivity will lead us to a sustainable economy. The abstraction of “profit”—with its false sense of value and its illusion of control—withers in the face of an increasingly unsustainable planet.
It’s time to shake your head awake and stop watching the train wreck. A door is opening. Drop the infighting and run through it.
All of our dreams are possible once we reach the other side.
