It seems every new presidential election is considered the most important in our lives. This is actually one of the few things on which both sides agree. Accompanying the apparent rising stakes on the surface, though, are the larger gears of societal change in motion.
Looking at the general trajectory of the world and the U.S. specifically, we can see the trends: financially, demographically, and just the overall fragmentation and loosening of cultural norms and traditions and institutional trust. I wonder how much these large, defining trends are even affected by who wins today.
After all, did it matter which Pope was in charge of the Catholic Church when The Reformation broke everything open in Europe 500 years ago?
Whether the Pope at the time was liberal or conservative mattered little-to-none against those big gears of history in motion—socially, with the abuses of the church having a monopoly; and technologically, with the printing press empowering the people to communicate, educate themselves, and organize. Similarly, we have our “printing press” today (the Internet) along with the decades-long growing concerns at the top regardless of which party has been in power.
This is just to say there are much bigger societal changes afoot whose influence overshadows the results of any one election. Paying attention to these trends helps me lighten up around what happens today, anyway.
Plus, despite the stakes, we're all going to wake up Wednesday morning, greet the sun, prepare some food, and go about our day.
I saw a TikTok livestreamer Sunday playing the piano and singing.
With closed eyes and suspended expression on her face as she hit a long note, she was in her zone—the place it seems God created her to find. I imagined how far politics was from her mind at that time. I liked how incompatible this place of hers was to the drama and power and fear in politics—especially at the top.
No matter what happens "at the top" this week, we on the ground will carry on within that space in which we were created to exist.