Tuesday’s election gives us another chance to ask a question I was asking a year ago: are we moving toward something better, or just recoiling from the last disappointment?
I’m returning to this piece because the result alone will not tell us whether the cycle is breaking. That depends on what happens next: what we demand, who we hold accountable, and whether we keep building after the votes are counted.
Over the next few weeks, I’m revisiting some older pieces about what a politics of staying human might look like. I’m also making room to focus on other work, so these will be essays from the archive with a few new thoughts for this moment.
Invitation: What would you want to see happen in the next few months that would convince you this is more than another swing of the pendulum?
Timely action: I’ve added my voice to an American Opposition action objecting to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries returning to Democratic congressional leadership, and change.org’s, and A Fight Worth Having (although calling the House and Senate switchboard might be the best move).
If you share that concern, contact your Democratic House member or senator and ask them how they plan to approach their chamber’s leadership choice. A change in leadership alone is not the whole answer; the question is whether new leadership will fight for material change and remain accountable to the people it serves. Because until that happens, the ricochet will continue.