I have not gotten much work done this week. I have at least for now suspended work on my dissertation, and it was only yesterday that I again began correcting student papers (although I have stayed current on email correspondence with students and parents). I have two more classes (out of five) with which to catch up before I begin grading a complete set of tests for all my students. Tuesday was a shocker for me in many ways, even as I knew that eventually the networks and AP would call the election for the Biden-Harris ticket.
I had perhaps become too optimistic after seeing the one poll from Pinellas County about which I wrote, because if that had been correct, our side would have won FL and we would have known on Tuesday the results of the election. Instead we saw the results of many influences, including the interference with the USPS, the impact of the pounding of socialism on S Florida Latino voters, and so on. And yet I never doubted that we would win the Presidency.
I was not prepared for how badly we did down-ballot, and here I mean not only for dow-ballot Federal offices, but for state legislative races. While some of that may change at the margins when all mailed-in ballots are counted, there is no doubt that the failure to retake state legislative bodies is going to have a negative impact going forward, especially if the Trumpista party (I refuse to identify it as Republican in the sense that term meant for most of the years of the existence of the party since its establishment in Ripon Wisconsin in 1854) continues its scorched earth approach, as unfortunately seems likely.
So let me offer a few thoughts. These are offered from the perspective of a 74 year old man who senses that his own productive time is coming to an end, who has a wife whose own health limits her productivity, whose primary function has been for the better part of three decades the teaching of adolescents, primarily about government and related topics, and — yes — who has been an active participant here since early in 2004. This will be reflecting on the nation, and musing aloud about what we as a couple may do,
I met Joe Biden in the Fall of the 1983 at a Democratic Party gathering in Pennsylvania, held in Camp Hill, just outside of Harrisburg. He was the guest speaker for the state Democratic Party gathering, having agreed to sub for Bill Bradley who had been scheduled. I was there in my capacity as acting (while a volunteer) field director for the Hollings for President campaign, having moved from PA in October of 1982. I knew about his relationship with Hollings, I knew something of his personal history. I watched as he interacted with people, the genuine warmth he inspired, his willingness to listen to others and to connect with him. That was before his 1988 cycle campaign for the Presidency, his brain surgery, and so much more, Over the decades since, while at times I have disagreed strongly with him on some issues, I have never doubted his commitment to service, his genuine desire to see this country improve.
After it became clear that Obama was going to win the 2008 nomination, I had a conversation in the National Democratic Club in DC, of which I have been a member since 2006, with a prominent Democratic Congressman, about possible VP nominations. He insisted at the time, shortly after the Potomac Three primaries of MD, DC, and VA (held that cycle at the same time), that the nominee had to be Biden and he gave cogent reasons why. Those included Biden’s ability to provide a bridge to the Whites of working class background, often union workers, who were not a natural fit for an Ivy League educated bi-racial intellectual with a funny name. Shortly after this year’s SC primary, I had another conversation in the Club with that same Congressman, Jim Clyburn, who admitted that he had forgotten that he had said that then. There is no doubt that Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden before the SC primary was the singularly most important endorsement in a President primary contest in American history. His words — that it was not only that African Americans knew Joe, but that he knew them — reflected so much of why Biden had such strong support (especially among older women) in the African American community.
Biden was not my first choice this cycle — that was Warren, for whom I voted in Virginia even as it was already clear that Biden would be the nominee. In fact, I had told my wife that I thought Biden would, absent a major gaffe, be the nominee, and I made that statement in the summer of 2019.
Obviously those around Trump (because he is not himself that politically astute) recognize the threat that Biden posed to reelection, which is why we saw the events attempting to smear Biden an get (or manufacture) dirt on Joe that among other things led to Trump’s impeachment.
Let me be very blunt. Even with Trump’s disastrous handling of Covid, he would have been reelected against any Democrat other than Biden and he might well have defeated Joe absent the choice of Harris as his running mate. He needed a woman — picking Castro might have marginally improved turnout among those of Mexican background, but would not have energized either women or African Americans. Biden knew he needed a female running mate. While the other African American women all had their strong points, none had the stature that Harris brought to the ticket.
And yet, consider how close this election has been, at least in the electoral college. Yes, Biden will in the end probably have the same 306 electoral votes that Trump won in 2016 (although due to faithless electors officially he received only 304), but look how narrowly he will have won AZ and WI, how he did not blow Trump away in either NV nor PA (although at the end neither of those contests will be as close as they might have seemed on Tuesday night).
Look at how few major Republicans have been willing to congratulate Biden and Harris.
Look at how many people were still willing to vote for Trump.
Look at how divided much of this country still is.
Look at the so far total unwillingness of Trump and those around him to accept that he has lost, that neither the American people nor the people of the world want to see him continue in office. Think of how much damage he continues to do by continuing his court fights (which he will lose), by continuing to poison the polity of the nation by not accepting the strong verdict of the American people that they want no more of him, his tweet storms, his denigration of others, his self-centered and self-serving approach to life.
I am gratified to see the nationwide block parties explode once the race was called yesterday.
I am pleased at the strong positive reactions overseas from both leaders and the ordinary folks — think of the bells and fireworks and happy crowds we have seen.
My wife is in part of Canadian heritage. Her mother’s father was born on Prince Edward Island, and did not become a US Citizen until he married her mother’s mother (born in Iowa). We do not have automatic rights to emigrate to Canada, but she has strong relationships not only with relatives on PEI, but also others elsewhere in Canada. We have discussed the possibility of moving there if possible, especially if Trump got reelected. That possibility is not totally off the table, for a variety of reasons, about which more anon.
It is not clear to me how much longer each of us will be able to work. If my wife is required to return to working in person, she will retire. Without her salary (always higher than my salary since I became a teacher) we would probably at a minimum have to give up the house and downsize. We regularly get inquiries about selling since we live in Arlington VA, which is the site of the new regional headquarters for Amazon. It is also not clear to me how much longer I can keep teaching. I know that I will be fully remote for the rest of this year. I am not the only teacher from my school who has to do that, even as we have already started to operate on a hybrid basis. I have yet to personally meet the vast majority of my students, knowing only the two who were in my homeroom last years. I am finding it tiring to be even close to effective a teacher as I have been when I am actually with students.
But absent an effective vaccine, I am unwilling to risk either my health or that of my wife by returning to the classroom. This year I do not need to worry, Heck close to a quarter of our families are willing to pay our tuition yet still keep their sons away from school until the pandemic is controlled. But what about next year? Might some staff need to be laid off? How willing am I to expend so much time and energy trying to be effective? I had originally planned to stay four years until my wife was eligible for full Social Security, but it she has to retire?
Our worries about the pandemic are not theoretical. Without offering specifics for privacy reasons, there are folks from both familial and work situations currently positive with Covid. We are fully aware that someone can test negative and still be infectious. We are both high risk.
I want to be optimistic about this country moving forward. I want to believe that I can continue to contribute to society, both as a teacher and as a citizen — for example, through my posting here.
I am old, even if four years younger than Biden.
I am tired, even at times worn down.
If I am not going to stay in the classroom, I am not sure that my completing a dissertation about education makes that much sense. And if I do stay, and am still virtual, I wonder if I have the energy (I had been spending 20-25 hours a week on work related to the dissertation, and that is over and above all I do for school).
We chose not to have children. My niece and nephew are both fully grown. My wife has nieces and nephews ranging in age from college to elementary. As a teacher I have always had a commitment to leaving a better world than that into which I came. We still both have a commitment to a future beyond our own times on earth
But we also want time for things important to us.
I write these words while cuddling our 19 ½ year old feline.
I look at the stacks of books I still want to read.
I wonder how much more I have to give — as a teacher, to be sure, but as a citizen not only of this country but also of this planet — and how best, in light of where we find ourselves, to do that giving.
Please do not misunderstand this post. I am quietly pleased to see the explosion of joy yesterday, but tomorrow I am also going to have to deal with some of my students who will be devastated by the networks having made the calls on the election. Had I been meeting with students in school I feel I would have strong enough relationships to help them through the difficulties. I am not so sure what I will face or how I will address it tomorrow. That is also on my mind. I need to spend several hours today planning alternative sets of what I do depending upon what I encounter, what needs my students have. It is much more difficult to turn on a dime when I am not classroom based.
I may not be here as frequently as my wife and I sort through where we are and where we are going. We need to consider what happens in this country going forward. As a teacher of government and history to adolescents I cannot simply put my head down and teach — I have to be aware to help them understand.
I want to be hopeful.
For us now, and I think this should be true for all who choose to read my words, we need to consider the following.
First, recognize that while some who refuse to accept we may not be able to reach them, we need to be willing to try. If we are not willing, then we become part of the damage to this country that has been ongoing for the past four years.
Next, if we attempt to get payback, we should remember the aphorism that those who insist upon an eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind. Yes, it is appropriate that wrong-doing be acknowledged, and that there needs be some recompense for it. Those willing to accept responsibility for their damaging actions should be granted some measure of mercy lest we create situations of further damage and make more difficult if not impossible the healing that is necessary.
Forgiveness does not mean forgetting. As a student and teacher of history I believe in honesty and accuracy, but I also recognize that history includes interpretation and understanding.
Joe Biden, despite his age, may be the most prepared person to be President in our history. He is certainly through his experience and his humanity the best person for America at this critical moment,
That is why my wife and I have not already started to prepare to leave, at least our work and our home if not our country.
We want to believe this country can still be healed.
We want to believe that it is not too late to save the environment so threatened.
We know for that to happen we must all open both our hearts and minds — we too need healing from the anger — even rage — that has been engendered in so many of us.
We know that we must heal ourselves even as we attempt to heal our nation.
Humility. Forgiveness. Generosity. Compassion. Honesty. Empathy. Humanity.
We all have perhaps this one last chance to save America.
There may be a price to pay in order to achieve that.
Such is what we all face.
So far my wife and I are willing to try.
Are we as a nation so willing?