Almost everyone I know is moving a little lighter now. It feels as if a great weight has shifted, if not lifted. The drive toward a cruel, criminal government, rooted in the worst of the American past, has been soundly rejected by a stunning majority of the people. It is a cause for joy. And a call to continue to do the work necessary to create lasting change.
Much of the mainstream media and many moderate democrats are quick to emphasize the chaos of the economy as the reason for this shift. In so doing they are underestimating the depth of revulsion people have felt at the republican assaults on dignity and decency. The high price of gas and everything else was certainly a factor. But of more importance was the death and despair created by armed masked troops kidnapping, killing, and terrorizing people. Much of this spirit was captured by people in Minneapolis who chose to go to the memorials of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and press their “I voted” stickers there. Or, as James Talarico said in his acceptance speech as the new Senate from Texas, this election rejected “politics as blood sport” and showed the power of a “politics of love.”
Likewise, the policy implications are far broader than tackling inflation. This was as much a vote for peace as for pocketbooks. While the war on Iran crystallized much of the anger in the country against republicans, it comes with the recognition that the US has aided and abetted genocide in Gaza, committed war crimes on the high seas, and treated members of the armed services with callous disregard for their lives and safety.
Likewise, the mainstream media tends to characterize this tsunami of votes for democrats as the result of thousands of individual decisions. In so doing, they miss the extraordinary organizing that has helped shape these actions and give them larger meaning. Organizations, large and small, did the hard work of knocking on doors, holding countless conversations in living rooms, churches, and coffee shops, registering voters, and talking about what people want to see for their lives and their futures. This work, especially in the South, brought forward the candidates who offer real promise of a politics that reflects the experiences of black women and men.
It was also a referendum on the drive for data centers and the enrichment of a small billionaire techno class at the expense of our water, infrastructure, and the quality of our lives. The anger at Silicon Valley is not an abstraction. It has been given shape by the visible heavy-handed efforts to take land, overturn governance at the local level, and propose massive projects that threaten the quality of daily life for thousands of people.
As much as this election will influence what is now possible in Congress, the breadth of change in state and local government is also critical. For the first time in almost two decades, Democrats are now in control of a majority of states. This will greatly restrict the power of the national government and give states and localities the opportunity to press for more democratic, inclusive, and engaged policies that protect the lives of people.
We have the opportunity now to reshape policies and practices in ways to center care and compassion. Congress can assert its responsibilities to move us toward more peaceful and just policies.
But we should have no illusions about the commitment of right-wing forces to dominate the majority of people, to protect themselves, and to ensure their own power at the expense of the planet. They have been slowed, thanks in large part to this election and all those who organized, worked, hoped and voted. But they have not gone away.
The task in front of us is to make these victories matter on the long road to building a better future for us all.