Not all themes shaping the election are stated outright and obvious. For various reasons, we have to also read between the lines. Here’s my list of top underlying themes of this election:
Whataboutism and Civic Trust
All the lying.
The New Gilded Age
In America, the lower and middle classes have been heavily under siege for the past four decades. The financialization of everything is the Midas touch.
Unequal in Inequality
We are living in an era of vast and still-growing inequality. The dream of a robust middle class with healthcare, job security, and creature comforts is being ransacked on many sides by many social and economic forces. But inequality alone is not enough to cause a major social upheaval. Life is still comfortable-enough.
Poverty and Privatization
Philanthropy is helpful, but the United States did not build interstate highways through volunteers and donations, and we can’t build a national preschool program or a national drug recovery program with private money. We need the government to step up and jump-start nationwide programs in early childhood education, job retraining, drug treatment and more. See: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn from Who Killed the Knapp Family?
Happy and Not Dead Yet
As humans, we are lucky to be happy. Such a broad term, yet we know what it means: contented in body and soul, at ease, even experiencing pleasure. If we are happy most of the time, we consider ourselves lucky. Life is good. But there is much to be unhappy about. We are surrounded by human and non-human suffering. Sometimes we are faced with it, and other times it is hidden from us. The news media often brings it to our attention. How does it change us? Can we still be happy when we are aware of problems that plague others? Can we be happy when we believe the future of the world to be imperiled?
A Pathology of Unexamined Cynicism
We talk a lot about White Nationalism and its political consequences. I think it’s interesting to think of a politico-philosophical mindset that goes hand-in-hand with such views, one that I would characterize as a pathological mindset – or, Unexamined Cynicism. This mindset leads to political action (or inaction) and other behaviors that often manifest as politically and socially problematic. Most importantly, it can lead to prejudice and the enactment of prejudice in the public sphere.
A Temperature Change (Take the Money Back!)
Over the next few hundred years, the world will warm up. According to Peter Brennan, author of The Ends of the World, while temperatures and sea waters will rise this century, it may take a millennia for truly catastrophic geological events to unfold. Hey, good news: that means we may have enough time and technical mastery to bring about the twin goals of economic equality and of geo-engineering!
Good luck, America. Vote Blue.