I am hurt that Hate won in Florida may win in Georgia. My childhood home, the South is not so much the new South many want it to be. Yes, in 2018 you can say obviously racists things and win elections. Once it had to be veiled or what is called a dog whistle. Today, outright racism is in and you can win on down the ticket. But it’s not just the South. It’s all over the country.
Example: Iowa Rep. Steve King is off the hook. Read for yourself.
Of course, I am also disappointed that McCaskill lost. And as usual, issues of war, peace and wasteful and immoral spending on killing instead of investing in life was not really discussed by any candidate.
However, I am happy that the Democrats took back the House. There are also many first. It is very exciting that Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland will be the first Indigenous women ever elected to Congress. Davids will also be the second-ever openly lesbian member of Congress, after Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are the first Muslim women in Congress. Rashida is also the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress. Omar is also the first Somali- American elected to Congress. Jared Polis is the first openly gay man to be elected as governor in the U.S. He is also the first Jewish governor of Colorado. Ayanna Pressley is the first Black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
There are other positive outcomes to feel good about today. There will be an unprecedented number of women in the House in 2019. I’m glad Kris Koback lost the governor’s race in Kansas. Jon Tester is looking pretty good to beat Matt Rosendale in Montana for the Senate. I really hope that Scott Walker loses the race for governor of WI.
Election night, CNN White House correspondent Abby Philips observed that the election outcomes made the Republican party more beholden to Trump than they were the day before. The candidates who did not embrace him lost, many of those he helped won and whoever is left needs him. She anticipates the Republican Party will become more and more like Trump. I agree. It clearly works. There is a significant portion of the electorate that love what is now called Trumpism.
So, while Hate is still on the march as can be seen by the success of the Hate-filled campaigns that won, election night it was slowed down. Trump has fully revealed himself in many unimaginable ways. More people are having to decide if they want to be associated with this way of seeing the world. It provides fertile ground to talk about a vision of peace and justice. In doing so, we must meet people where they are, not push them away, belittling their thoughts and alienating them.
Some of the places we can meet many people are on issues of poverty, the economy, protecting the environment and examining how war undermines our economy, our communities and our morality. Engaging with new people on these issues to envision a new way of being present in the world will also bring many of them into the political process. The Poor People’s Campaign provides a perfect organizing space around these issues. However, we must also work on a community social change level by engaging people in multiple ways and in multiple spaces.
Wednesday morning I spoke to Cole Miller of No More Victims. He has a vision of spending much less time criticizing the immorality of Trumpism and the bad things that are happening in our country. Rather we should uplift the good that is happening, and the compassion people are showing each other. This will act as a stark contrast to the Hate and xenophobia of Trumpism and give people real-life examples of what the world can look like. In other words, we work on ourselves and building authentic connections to people. We work to build caring communities and model the world we seek to live in. This goes beyond resistance. This is creating transformed spaces.
Last night was a snapshot of where we are politically and to some degree socially. Andrew Gillum’s close race in Florida and Stacey Abrams too close to call race in Georgia are not as exciting as wins would have been – and hopefully, Abrams will win. But the success of the races should not only be measured by winning. Both candidates nearly made history as the first Black female governor in U.S. history and the first Black governor of Florida. It almost happened. That means the change is not far off and in many ways is already here. Now our task is to reflect on how to do our work better and continue to do the work. We must build. Not build the Democratic Party, but build a full spectrum movement or movements with peace and justice values that will impact all of politics. We have plenty of material to build with. Let’s continue to the build the future we want to live in.