Tag: Election

By Frank Sherman

Like many in this country, I was glued to the TV and cell phone last week waiting to hear the final outcome of the most contentious election in modern history. I volunteered for the first time at a polling location on the south side of Milwaukee to see Americans turned out in record numbers to vote in the midst of the worst pandemic in the last century.

Shortly after the race was called for Biden & Harris on Saturday, ICCR issued a statement saying “We have faced many obstacles and headwinds over the last four years… we must turn the page and get back to work.” Ceres said the election results are a “win for our health, our planet, our economy and our future.” The Catholic Climate Covenant added “the work begins anew to heal together and to work together to protect God’s creation.” I must admit, my heart rate lowered… until Monday morning when reality set in.

The cover article of The Wall Street Journal stated that the election looks like it may yield a “dream scenario for business: a moderate Democratic president whose more aggressive plans can’t pass the Senate, but who eschews the unpredictability that has often marked the Trump administration”. As COVID infections and hospitalizations hit new records this week, and unemployment and food bank lines grow ever bigger, the stark realities facing the next Administration…and us…came back into focus.

So what can we take away from this election? Analyst Bruce Mehlman states that, although President Trump lost for failing to competently manage the pandemic and for sowing excessive chaos and division, House Democrats lost because voters feared too-aggressive ‘socialist’ policies from the Left. We learned that the electorate is not monolithic….and the 72 million Trump voters are not all white nationalists. Many fear that globalization and technology threaten their jobs; their voices aren’t heard by the coastal elitist; and they fundamentally disagree with some policies offered by the Left (e.g. defunding the police, decriminalizing the border, ending fossil fuels, higher taxes).

Our nation remains closely and bitterly divided. Both parties face internal battles over future direction and leadership. Biden is viewed as a transitional leader, hired to manage COVID and bring back civility to our politics. A divided Congress will limit his options. He’s already dismissed      Healthcare For All, the Green New Deal, and a Wealth Tax from the progressive wing of his party. He will now have to rely on executive orders and his regulatory authority to even execute his more moderate agenda.

But there are reasons for hope. Biden is a legislator with a history of finding common ground with Congressional opponents. He is an institutionalist with respect for the people, processes, and      protocol that make government work. The business community recognizes the growing expectations of their stakeholders, asking for them to stand for a higher purpose and to speak out for more inclusive and equitable public policy. The global investor community is demanding corporations to address their environmental and social impacts that haven’t yet appeared on their quarterly earnings statement.

I don’t expect the GOP to suddenly take a knee, like the guards in the Wizard of Oz, to say “All hail Dorothy. The wicked witch is dead!”; no more than I expect Senator Bernie Sanders to invite Senator Mitch McConnell over for Thanksgiving dinner. But as we approach the holiday season, we all can learn from the words of that great and powerful Wizard: “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”