Let me start by saying I’m a huge fan of Thom Hartmann. He is one of the smartest, most thoughtful political writers out there with a rare and deep grasp of history---much more than just a pundit. His piece on narcissistic collapse and the warning that comes with it is not to be taken lightly. The truth in his words are hard to argue with, and that is not my intention. Still, the best antidote to fear is hope. To me, this was the brilliance of Obama’s campaign which aligned itself with no other word or words more strongly.
This morning I noticed the first few leaves at the top of the trees turning color and I felt a little thrill. Although by our calendar year fall suggests the beginning of the end, it is paradoxically the time when things seem to come alive after the stasis of long hot summers. With or without the fiery announcement of a change in the foliage---depending on where you live--- things begin to rock and roll again in the fall. Kids go back to school, new TV series begin or come back, a progression of celebratory holidays builds up to the New year. And, fall is the time of our most important elections.
I am cautiously optimistic. I feel an energy out there humming on and under the surface. People are going about their lives as usual, and not everyone is a news junky or keeps up with all the latest outrages. While the magas, with their never ending hissy fits and worse, continue to dominate the headlines and the media’s insatiable appetite for conflict, I feel a thrum of quieter outrage out there from those who are not particularly political but care deeply about our republic. I think we see this in the polls that suggest people are more concerned about the threat to democracy than inflation.
Amongst the most avid in our base, the birth of the “dark Brandon” meme is one that suggests the confidence to use humor to strangle the MAGA theme of the same name, and makes a statement of power, even if it masquerades as one of the sillier memes out there on the surface. It also blows a strong wind under the wings of a president languishing at the bottom of the polls, and defies the idea that Biden, or any president, is irrelevant in the mid terms. To me this is but one sign of the aggressive energy out there in the base right now, regardless of how we feel about Biden, personally. Most of us know that dividing our ranks is an unaffordable luxury in these midterms, contrary to say, the vibe of the 2016 election.
And here’s the thing that often gets overlooked in a time when “divided and divisive” are the words du jour. Fact is, many from the “other side” have crossed over, at least in respecting the most basic tenets of our system at its best. Folks who were once the enemy---and may be again---have for now prioritized to find common ground in service of putting down the biggest threat to all of us.
The “never Trumpers” may not be huge percentage wise, but they are loud and more powerful---see Liz Cheney--- than their numbers suggest. Independents, while famously rarely really “independent,” are also famously fickle. I think the best definition of an independent is one who is uncommitted to either party for the long haul. Currently polls show independents breaking for our side. Combined, both these forces may still not be huge but we don’t need huge to keep the house and the senate, and maybe even gain seats.
What we will need is strong confidence in ourselves and our ideas, and a fighting spirit that finally roars back at the treachery and the bullshit. It is going to be a Battle Royale, but for the first time in too long, I like the looks of our warriors, from the noisy to the stealth.
So as the leaves change before they drop to their deaths, I am thinking that fall is a vibrant time because it can also be seen as the shedding of what’s come before to make room for a re-birth.
We need both the Yin and the Yang and this fall we will need both fear and hope. Enough fear to motivate and enough hope to replenish ourselves on the worst days. And cautious optimism doesn’t hurt either, because in the end we are what we think.