The last time we had this choice to make, the stakes were plain. Over the course of four years, Donald Trump demonstrated, time and time again, his complete unfitness for the office of President of the United States. He was, and still is, racist, misogynist and childishly vindictive. He cozied up to dictators and belittled veterans. He was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. All of that, and too much more to mention here, happened before he denied the results of a fair election, incited a riot to prevent the peaceful transfer of power—for which he was impeached a second time—and was found guilty of 34 felony counts in a New York State courtroom.
Amazingly, we’re at that crossroads again, and the stakes for our democracy have only risen since Joe Biden won the presidency. But the feel is a bit different this time. In 2020, we’d been worn down by four years of bullying and lies, and to add injury to insult, COVID made going to the polls a risky proposition. When we voted, it felt like a last-ditch effort: Sure hope this works.
This time, there are other emotions in play, stuff we didn’t expect to feel even a few months ago. This year, with only weeks before election day, “the pursuit of happiness” has found its way back into the race—in the character of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. When President Biden passed the baton to VP Harris on July 21, he did more than cement his legacy with a selfless, country-over-party act. He awakened an optimistic, hopeful vibe that’s lied mostly dormant since Barack Obama first won the presidency in 2008.
Kamala Harris stands opposite to Donald Trump in virtually every way. Where Trump serves only his own interests, Harris has made a career of serving the public good. Where Trump offers bluster and half-baked ideas, Harris offers empathy and solutions. And where Trump’s campaign rallies are awash in the candidate’s unending self-pity, hate speech and threats of retribution, Harris rallies are forward-looking, energetic and joyful. It’s been a while since we’ve been encouraged to envision a future in which moving forward, and moving upward, is a right of citizenship.
At his most generous, Trump insists that America is a failed nation that only “he, and he alone” can save from imagined “carnage.” Harris says that America is an ideal, a promise—and offers to put in the hard work, alongside and on behalf of its people, to see that promise realized. When she and Walz talk to voters, they’re smiling, effusive, and above all, genuine. It’s easier to believe them when they say America’s best days are ahead, as opposed to the man who couldn’t care less for the pursuit of happiness—or the rest of the Constitution, for that matter. He values America only insofar as it allows him to hawk cheap, China-made goods branded with his own name.
When Obama won on November 4, 2008, it felt like a well of optimism and joy had sprung up beneath us. We were buoyed up by it, and when the hard work began on inauguration day, we went at it eagerly and with a reinvigorated sense of possibility. Now, our “joyful warriors,” Harris and Walz, are tapping that well once again, looking to restore joy and purpose to the American character. On November 5, let’s dig in and help them to do it. Let’s choose to help ourselves.
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