After I voted on Tuesday I stopped watching any news for the next twenty hours. Too many disappointments in years past had trained me to take my shot and turn away. So Wednesday morning was like Christmas when I opened my computer and phone and saw not only how well the initial results had gone, but that races still being counted would most likely add to the forces gathering to slow, halt, and reverse as much of the damage of Trump and MAGA as possible pending a more thorough cleaning in 2028.
For all the rhetoric about fighting, democracy is a constant process of persuasion. Actual fighting is a sign of human failure. Argument can be healthy. Physical intimidation is not. Democracy is boring and intricate work requiring immense patience. When is immense patience ever in fashion?
Not everything is a long game, but a very long game underlies everything. Evolution turns on some instantaneous disruptions and chance mutations, but the overall process covers eons. Human affairs only seem to move at the pace of the Grand Canyon forming because we live such short lives and can imagine so many wonderful and terrible things for ourselves. You want a canyon? Drop a few nukes, and lets get on to the next thing! Pesky rival nation irritating you? Same answer!
A guy in the shop yesterday compared our old, slow computer system to Trump staring off into space, "trying to decide where to start a war next." But then he went on to say that he totally approved of Trump bombing Iran's nuclear sites, as if that had done any good at all. People are the biggest hindrance to intelligent democratic input. The coalition that made up the "blue tsunami" is a swirl of colors brought together for a short-term goal that too many participants may think has been accomplished. I have no idea if this guy was part of the tsunami or the failed breakwater that tried to deflect it. He did seem capable of critical analysis of the Trump regime, regardless of his failure to go far enough with it.
Both the right and the left are fracturing in the aftermath. We won't know for a while yet if the fragmentation on the right translates into diluted power in 2028. Of more pressing concern is the tension among Democrats regarding leadership and priorities preparing for January 3, 2027.
The right is known for violent rhetoric and policies of general cruelty, but the left has people who are more passionate about intellectual abstractions and perfect execution. On the right, the malcontents are more likely to troop in and vote the party when the time finally comes, whereas the left's malcontents are into protest votes, election boycotting (a.k.a. "letting the other side win"), and genuinely destructive infighting. This is because the left has a broader definition of individual liberty and a greater commitment to that diversity, but it makes it really hard to find voters with a solid enough grasp of political reality to keep experienced and productive politicians in the arena. The perfect is often the enemy of the good with them.
I'll admit that the good can be very hard to discern, particularly as we try to detox the party from corporate influence. Election finance reform will go a long way toward getting issues centered in the debate instead of inflammatory fictional dramas bombarding us constantly in 10- to 60-second videos. That still won't save us from freelancers flooding the internet with deep fake videos that they can make at home and release on social media to go viral on their own. It's the information warfare equivalent of using cheap drones to overwhelm multi-billion-dollar missile defense systems. Maybe the oligarchs will figure this out on their own and save millions in campaign contributions by going direct to consumer with this low-budget propaganda blitz. A vertical integration dream.
Busy few months coming up. Stay engaged.
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