So Where Do We Go Next?

It took four days to formally announce who the 46th President of the United States would be. In between was a lot of conspiracy theories and vote counting. While uncertainty was the mood as votes were being counted now that a President-elect has been decided, where do we go next as a nation?

Joe Biden has largely run on the idea that he won’t be a Democrat President or liberal or this or that but rather a President for “all Americans”.

Well Joe will have to put those words into action as 71 million of those Americans (total could increase as votes counted) voted against him. While the results of the election have been framed as a “repudiation of Trump” I’d like you to consider something else.

More Americans than at ANY time in U.S. history went out or mailed in a ballot for this election, more than half of those people decided that they didn’t want Trump as their president. What they didn’t say though was that they were still ok with many forms of discrimination as long as it was better polished. How else do you explain an incumbent President being “repudiated” while his party gained seats in the House of Representatives and left the Senate virtually unchanged.

This election showed Americans didn’t necessarily want to end racism, sexism or any of the other bigotries that the media would like you to believe Trump has emboldened over the past four years. What they wanted was to go back to a time where they didn’t have to talk about these issues, a time where their social media feeds would “be about them again”.

Joe Biden and the democratic party are now the party in power and less than 48 hours after a “historic victory” his party is infighting as to why they loss seats in the House. Did progressive talking points cost them seats in the House, make it harder for Biden in some part of heavily contested states. To Biden credit, he’s done a good job of not fanning the flames on either side.

Biden has had 50 years in political service to be ready for this moment, and I hope he’s ready to show us what all that experience looks like.