Trepidation and Possibility

The most fraught campaign since the Civil War comes to an end

Is the sun rising or setting? Photo by Jack B on Unsplash

Tomorrow we will know.

We will know if the reactionary forces afoot in the country are as strong as they are loud, or if we will permit ourselves the ebullient possibility of a new day.

We will know if democracy can survive rampant deception, information silos, and a legacy press that failed miserably to meet the moment when the stakes were highest.

We will know if obscene wealth can steamroll the political process, or if people matter more than dollars.

We will know if the country can be fooled one more time by a hollow strongman, or if a decisive number of voters just can’t bring themselves to go there when they have to make the choice.

We will know if Donald Trump has a special pull with the electorate that no one else has, or if he will be buried by the politics of individual rights like every other MAGA candidate since the fall of Roe.

We will know if the most extraordinary presidential campaign in memory, run by one of the most extraordinary candidates to seek the job, will end in a celebration worthy of the rollicking events she has held over the past hundred days.

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This has been a nerve-racking election. For the many who channeled their fears into action, we can go into tomorrow knowing we did everything we could to preserve the country we love. Tomorrow that activity will be done. All the postcards will have been sent, the donations will have been made, the doors will have been knocked, and with the exception of those involved in the extensive effort to get voters to the polls, there will be nothing left to do but wait.

Waiting is hard. It is the hardest part, because what happens next depends on the collective judgment of a subset of voters in a small number of states. It is out of our hands.

Amidst uncertainty, it is natural to imagine the worst. The ghosts of 2016 still haunt us. Trauma motivates our fears.

The most important thing we need to do tomorrow is prevent an outcome that would be devastating to our rights, our security, and our well-being. This defensive objective is what forged a remarkable pro-democracy alliance of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Protecting democracy is essential. Everything else is secondary.

But so much more is possible tomorrow. As hard as it is to embrace a promise that may not be fulfilled, think for a minute not just about what we can prevent, but what we can accomplish.

Eight years ago, I was inspired by my then-nineteen year old daughter to write a piece about the exhilarating possibility that she might soon live in a world where anyone can become president.

We are on that threshold again.

Tomorrow, tens of millions of our fellow citizens will vote for a daughter of immigrants, a Black and South Asian woman from a middle class background in Oakland, to be President of the United States.

Tens of millions.

All we can do now is hope it will be enough. That this time we will not fall short in the Electoral College. That we are ready.

So much is possible if we are. As you wait, try to channel that possibility.

For we will know tomorrow if we are finally ready to put a woman in the highest seat of power.

We will know if the impulse to leap forward is stronger than the urge to turn backward.

We will know if the sun is rising or setting.

We will know if we can keep this 248-year-old experiment.