Election Day 2020: Life and Death Hold Their Breath
Is there anything to say that hasn’t been said on this Tuesday morning, Election Day 2020 before the results are in?
Probably not, but it’s a good idea for each of us to articulate our thoughts at this crucial time. In the fast-paced, heated conversations that we have these days, there’s not always time to fully think through or speak out loud complex thoughts and questions on complex situations before someone introduces another conversation thread and takes the conversation in a different direction, leaving our thoughts less than fully formed. So me and my keyboard, we’re gonna do this thing at my pace: slowly and with lots of pauses for thought and edits for clarity.
I’ve been voting for 32 years. The first election I voted in was Bush vs. Dukakis in 1988. I voted for Ross Perot as a protest vote because I didn’t think either candidate was right for the job and I knew Perot wouldn’t win. If he’d had a chance of winning, I would have voted for one of the other guys who were more right for the job than Perot was.
The image of Dukakis posing in a military tank, wearing a giant flak helmet still makes me cringe because he looked and was so ridiculous. Reading Bush’s thin lips say “no new taxes” was equally cringe-worthy, not because it was embarrassing but because it was so clearly not a promise that he could keep; it let me know that he was not trustworthy. My vote was a protest that whispered, “we can do better.”
Fast forward to 2020. Voting for a candidate who cannot beat Donald J. Trump is absolutely not an option for me. The results of this election are quite literally life or death. Back in 1990–91, Bush Sr., who I voted against, was responsible for more than 1,000 U.S. military deaths during his tenure, and tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths. Today, over 230,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S., largely because of Trump’s dishonest, anti-science propaganda and policies; and many hundreds more will die today, tomorrow, and every day until Trump is out of office. At 500+ deaths every day, 39,000 more will die by January 20th, 2021.
So far, that’s more than 77 times the number of deaths on 9/11. By January 20th, we will have lost as many people as 90 9/11s. That’s like a 9/11 event every year for your entire life.
Twice has many people have died in the U.S. than in our two border neighbors combined. The per capita death rate in the U.S. is much higher than in Canada or Mexico. That alone is reason to vote Trump out. The case count and death rate maps by country clearly show that politics and policy have a direct impact on infection rates. On New York Times maps, Canada and Mexico are shaded orange, while the U.S., sandwiched in between, is a deep, dark red. Trump’s politics kill people.
But I knew Trump would be a disaster for this country even before he won the Republican nomination, well before COVID-19 started inching across the globe. I knew that the champion of the Birther Movement that reignited virulent and vocal racism in the U.S. would do untold harm to the national psyche.
This election is about so much more than politics as usual.
The President sets the tone for the country. From the halls of Congress to the halls of the schools where our children learn how the world works and what it means to be a grown-up, the President’s voice carries weight as the leader chosen by the people as a symbol of the best of us, of our ideals. When the President’s tone is combative, negative and insulting, the echoes in the media, in conference rooms, in warehouses, in government buildings, and in our living rooms are also combative and negative. People who don’t know better think that’s the way we’re supposed to act; people who do know better struggle with attacks on humility and honesty.
When the President is also a belligerent, bigoted bully, our very humanity is challenged. When the leader of our country calls us thugs and losers, labels our neighbors as our enemies, and declares us unpatriotic and dangerous, we are in danger. The most vulnerable of us are put in imminent danger of legal and cultural persecution and state-sanctioned violence by police and by vigilantes encouraged to “stand back and stand by.” Knowing this, we are all on edge and some are in a perpetual state of fear. This is detrimental to us as a society, and to us as human beings whose physical and mental health is weakened by doubt, stress, depression and anger. The effects are long lasting and will be felt for a generation or more. We don’t know yet how long the physical effects of COVID-19 will be felt.
Collectively we are wounded and raw, and the outcome of today’s election will determine how deep the hurt will go. If Biden wins, we still have centuries of injustice, four years of outrageous policy and propaganda, a conservative court and a deathly virus to deal with, but the tone from the top will be one of mutual respect and cooperation and benevolent leadership. If Trump wins, everything will get worse. The hurt will continue, fear will grow, and many thousands more people will die.
This election is about so much more than politics as usual, more than a debate about the size of the government, taxation, and abortion. This election is about right and wrong. It’s about freedom of the press, accountability, and science. It’s about bigotry and systemic racism. It’s about respect and care for others. And it’s about a global pandemic.
A President as powerful and influential as Trump impacts the very way that we breathe, whether we cover our mouths when we cough or sneeze, whether we wear a mask for the benefit of others. One man’s worldview determines whether people live or die. There’s nothing more fundamental.
Today I’m not whispering in idealistic protest like I did in 1988. Today I’m shouting with everything that I stand for as a decent person and a responsible citizen. This could be the most critical election of my lifetime. Certainly many lifetimes have been lived before mine, and they had equally important choices to make. I know that this is just one moment in time in one country and that the President is just one person. Even so, with life and death at stake, I’m holding my breath in hope that the people of this country choose the compassionate worldview over the hateful one.
Note: All views and opinions expressed are my own and are not intended to represent any other person or organization.
