As I write in the early morning hours of November 3, Election Day, I continue to be amazed at the fractured status of our country. The outcome of the election may not be in doubt to the pollsters, but the unrest will likely continue.
Since the launch of 24-hour news coverage by CNN in 1980 to the always-available Internet, the U.S. has morphed from a focus on unified goals of progress (“man on the moon” and “end the Cold War”) to the media-covered factional objective of the month, quarter, and sometimes a year. With many media professionals eager to report the next story that goes viral and politicians eager to expand their national profile, the volume of single-issue sound bites outnumber the collaborative initiatives announced by a spokesperson or two.
I visited the websites for each of the presidential candidates. Joe Biden’s website is filled with objectives, most of which are reversals of actions taken by Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s site appears to have a singular objective, which is getting out the vote for Donald Trump.
If elected, Biden will have to prioritize his objectives, disappointing supporters of the objectives that lack priority. If reelected, it’s unlikely that Trump will reverse course on the actions taken in his first term.
Regardless of who is elected during Election 2020, I am not optimistic that things will change in Washington. We don’t have anyone running on a unity platform.
At the end of the day, whoever is elected will act on their agenda until the other party finds a way to block it, perhaps after the mid-term elections. Sadly, after an election, the media tends to switch their focus to the person/people in charge and not the needs of the people who elected them.
If there’s a silver lining in all of this election process, it’s the voter turnout, which is projected to be the highest in years, maybe the highest ever. I believe that the turnout for Election 2020 is high because every voter wants to send a message.
Great leaders would try to listen to those messages, find similarities, and chart a unified course. If they don’t listen, we need to vote them out.
I eagerly await the results of the 2020 election.
