By Jane Drucker
Imagine, if you will, a warm autumn afternoon in Los Angeles. Women wearing Suffragette-white are lined up outside my polling place, smiling, chatting, planning to celebrate at watch parties later in the evening. I join the line and revel in the joy that surrounds me. I cast my vote, walk home, and settle in to watch the election returns. I privately chuckle at a Facebook meme: “Vote for Hillary, and you’ll end up with a President who lies and is always under investigation!” Nevertheless, I persisted and voted for Hillary. And now I have a President who lies and is always under investigation.
I’m tired. You’re tired. The world is tired. In the years since that surreal night, the mostly steady carriage horse that is our government has turned into a bucking bronco. I wake up every day with one thought. “What has he done now?” I’m almost afraid to turn on the news, but I know I cannot #Resist if I don’t have a clear bead on what’s going on. So I watch. Scottish jet fuel, Ukraine, caged babies, neo-Nazis brandishing Tiki-torches, Muslim bans, “shoot them in the legs”, “China, if you’re listening”, “We fell in love”, obstruction, witness tampering, emoluments…the list seems endless.
The big challenge that faces the nation now is to save the soul of America, to rebuild what the toddler king has strewn into the gutter, and to reunite the populace into the once great body politic we used to be. The House Democrats need to thread the needle. Don’t aim too high, but don’t aim too low. Asking a foreign government for aid in winning an election is an impeachable offense. Use it. Enriching oneself through the Office is an impeachable offense. Use that too. Threatening likely witnesses and refusing to obey subpoenas? Also on the Do-Not-Do list. Use them all. Give the Senate GOP a way to save face by giving them some Articles to vote against so they can safely show the Clown the way out.
We’ve all come to expect drama, uproar, and bombast every day about everything. Is it too late for us to return to normal? Normal tones of voice. Normal exchanges of ideas. Normal exposition of personality rather than showmanship. Is it possible that we’ve forgotten what normal looks and sounds like? Is it possible we’ve become so amped up on adrenaline that normal simply fails to engage us? Lordy, I hope not.
Joe Biden was right when he said at the second Democratic primary debate, “This is America”. That used to mean something. It used to mean we could be relied on to tackle the big issues in big ways and come out on top. It used to mean our word was our bond. It used to mean we could go to the Moon, for god’s sake, and return safely to Earth. In this moment, I don’t know that any of that is true. But I do believe that we can be that America again. I know I’m willing to try normal again. I’m aching to move forward into that America.
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