Moving Forward

It is pretty remarkable to me that post-election, when historically a certain degree of optimism and hope have traditionally taken root, most people with whom I have spoken--whether disappointed conservatives or happy progressives-- have little confidence that President-elect Biden's promise to try to end our poisonous politics is achievable. This skepticism is a problem (though understandable).

Regardless of our personal politics or confidence that Biden can succeed, it is in all Americans' interests to give him an extended, solid chance. Neither sports teams nor congregations, nor families or businesses, stay strong or thrive when they are divided against themselves‎. Nor nations. It will do America no good for the zero-sum politics of the last several decades to continue. See [here] and [here] for illustrations of how apart we have come and how broken our politics are.

Better angels should be the operating principle going forward in America. Even if Biden is successful in fixing our broken politics, there will be setbacks along the way. Two steps forward and one step back is the best we can hope for, and of course about half of America will see what the other half sees as a step forward differently. But there is common ground if political one-upmanship is put aside. (Hear that Mitch? Alexandria?) "I told you so" won't be helpful. "If at first you don't succeed" might be.

It was hundreds of little things and a few big ones that got us to where we are in America today, a nation that struggles to convincingly demonstrate to too many Americans--for instance because they are one family illness away from financial ruin-- that America remains the land of opportunity. And it will require hundreds of practical, consensus-oriented little things to restore America to where we were in my youth. My guess is that such a restoration--where most Americans expect things to be better for their children than they were for them and America is seen as a guiding light for the world-- is about a fifteen year project. I don't expect to see things fully restored before I am at least gumming my food, but it would be nice to be confident we are on our way.

Maybe, just maybe we can get back to governing steadily and well, which I think is actually what politics is supposed to be for. We have had way too much politics these last few decades and not nearly enough good government. Here's hoping...