I am still coming to grips with the election results on this two week anniversary of a day that had been quite hopeful for me.
At the end of September, I realized that the race would be very close and that my state, Oregon, would not matter in the electoral map. So I decided to go to Pennsylvania for a month and throw myself into volunteer canvassing and whatever else was needed. My family was shocked, but they understood.
Arriving in Doylestown (Upper Bucks County) on Oct. 10, I was asked to lead a staging location in a nearby township in Upper Makefield on weekends through Election Day. It turned out to be the most intense professional experience of my life. And it was so incredibly positive and validating. So many volunteers from PA, NJ, NY, and all over the country showed up to knock on doors of strangers, talk about the candidates, and urge them to vote. It takes courage to do this, and a belief in the humanity of every person.
The turnout in Bucks County was 82% and the difference in votes between the two candidates was .2%.This in a county with many more registered Rs than Ds! I am sure this is in large part due to the Democrat’s extensive Get Out the Vote strategy. We have to remember that the many many people share the vision that Kamala Harris has for our country — about 74 million, in fact. The race was close. It was not a landslide. And I think that the number of voters who voted not-for-Trump was higher than those who voted positively for him. (I read that if 125,000 voters who voted third party in WI, MI and PA had voted Kamala instead, she would have won the electoral college but not the popular vote, and would have become president.)
From a deep time perspective (which is new to me), my reflection is that every being has agency. We are collectively building the future, deciding whether to grow this way or that way? Decisions matter, elections matter, everything matters. True, we are heading toward destruction on many levels, but one political path is more destructive than the other. Going forward, I will be paying close attention to politics everywhere, and showing up again when needed because I believe we are battling for the soul of the nation.
