Ten Questions Tuesday’s Election Will Go a Long Way Towards Answering
A brave new world awaits us whatever the results. Do we even have a clue as to how to navigate it?
Rather than parse the numbers in a jump ball election, there are a few central questions that will be answered on Tuesday and/or in its aftermath that will impact the politics of the country, state, and city for years to come.
Has the National Democratic Party completely lost the white working class in the industrial Midwest? Tim Walz was a great choice for Vice President, but the Democrats’ pitch on working class issues was, win or lose, mixed at best. Where does what used to be the “party of the people” go if it has allowed the right to stake a claim on populism for the foreseeable future? Is there a winning formula that can write off this group of workers?
Did the de-emphasizing of the climate crisis, despite two catastrophic hurricanes during the lead up to the election, signal that the national Democrats are too afraid to openly campaign on policy that might more effectively address our dire moment? The most recent UN analysis observes that the time for delay on bold climate initiatives that make “huge cuts in climate emissions” is over now that it is “crunch time for real.” Could this sentiment be any further removed from American political reality? If Trump wins, we are cooked. But if the Democrats do, will they be satisfied to keep pointing to the Inflation Reduction Act and other half measures while doing nothing else to rein in the fossil fuel industry? In the contest between political reality and physics, we all lose.
Will the gender gap force the GOP into moderation after a loss that can be traced to their reactionary policies on women’s reproductive rights, or will the Democrats be left wondering whether the current political culture surrounding the party is alienating a new generation of young men across racial lines? Let’s hope it’s the former and that we reject Trump’s overt misogyny, but that progressives can also come up with a more welcoming message for young men than appearing to be scolding them more than bringing them into the fold. The kind of retrograde sexism and gender polarization we are seeing is bad for our politics, the culture, and the country. Of course, Trump and his ilk are responsible for most of this, but the left needs to get better at addressing the issues that impact young men’s futures as well, particularly in the realm of economics.
Will we see a continuing escalation of racial tensions and a “new” normalization of racism under Trump, or will we step back from the precipice and embrace a vision of a more inclusionary democracy? Trump has unleashed the furies and win or lose, we need to repair, rebuild community, and focus on the ways that we can all be in this together and imagine a “we” that includes everyone.
Can we fundamentally reframe the question of immigration that replaces racism and fear mongering with not just facts but an appreciation for the real contributions that immigrants make to our economy and culture? This latest round of xenophobia is, like racism, as American as apple pie, but it is becoming even more complex as many voters from earlier generations of recent immigrants have been brought into the ranks of the wall builders. Otherwise, this election would not even be close. Can some notion of the beloved community if not erase, at least effectively check the rampant dehumanization and demonization of our neighbors that we have seen in recent months? Can some of the self-identified Christians in our ranks start to remember the love part again?
Here in California, will we go back to the brain dead “lock ‘em up” mentality that helped foster our obscenely bloated prison industrial complex if Proposition 36 passes? I don’t care if some prominent Democrats have endorsed this. It’s cheap and cowardly political theatre that will not solve any problems while resurrecting old ones.
Will the lingering effects of inflationary pressures on people’s pocketbooks lead Californians and folks across San Diego County to reject a wide variety of bonds and tax measures that will save budgets, fund schools, invest in infrastructure, and build a better future? It’s possible this will be the case, and it will only lead to scarcity and the inability of the state and local governments to do their jobs effectively. California has, since the days of Proposition 13, tended to want big things without having to pay for them. Let’s hope that history does not repeat itself, and we have to go through a generation of busted budgets to relearn an old lesson, particularly if the national election brings us an assault on all things “blue state.”
Will Measure G pass and provide much needed funding for infrastructure and transit, finally putting San Diego on par with other major American cities rather than continuing to be a backwards embarrassment on that front? A victory for an important alliance of labor, environmental, and community groups could pave the way for more progress in the future. If not, we’ll just have a bigger hole to crawl out from for a generation to come.
Will we re-elect Terra Lawson-Remer and keep San Diego’s County Board of Supervisors in Democratic hands and continue to make efforts to reverse the stultifying effects of generations of Republican rule or will we put our mediocre ex-mayor, the darling of out-of-town corporate funders and the Lincoln Club, on the Board instead? While not perfect, this County Board has finally begun to address some pressing issues regarding labor, the environment, and social justice on many fronts. Do we really want to toss that out to return to the bad old days of nothing important ever getting done? Will we give up before, historically speaking, we had much time to even try? Let’s hope we don’t and instead keep Lawson-Remer on the Board of Supervisors where she will continue to be a leading progressive voice for San Diego.
Will Larry Turner give mayor Todd Gloria a run for his money or, despite his million-dollar gift from the Lincoln Club, will Turner turn into a sad, rotten pumpkin as his facile campaign is exposed as a big loser funded by a few rich people and fueled by a crew of exceptionally cranky NIMBYs? If it’s the latter, San Diego may have a chance to show how Democratic rule can succeed here and (hopefully) elsewhere in blue states as an alternative model to Trumpism. That’s far from a guarantee but, otherwise, we’ll be witness to San Diego’s not-so-storied political history repeating itself as farce, providing comic relief as the tragedy of a new American brand of fascism unfolds at the national level.
Bonus Question: Will we find that we have so thoroughly leapt into the post-factual universe that none of the conventional realties and political norms that informed the questions above even matter anymore? A brave new world awaits us whatever the results. Do we even have a clue as to how to navigate it? At present, there is very little evidence that we do.