Let's do this

Our champion isn’t an individual, but democracy itself. The enemy is the process of dividing us and turning us against one another.

In the two weeks since President Biden decided not to accept the Democratic nomination for president, excitement about Vice President Harris’s candidacy has built dramatically.

And this administration is showing what it can and intends to do for the country. From Supreme Court reform to the release of Russian political prisoners, the sense of accomplishment and ambition is refreshing.

Meanwhile, the other campaign keeps stepping on its own toes. A promise that its supporters will never have to vote again after 2024 reveals the almost casual commitment to autocracy. Racist attacks on the Vice President and Black women journalists show, again, that the Republican candidate is courting the White supremacist vote. Comments from the Republican vice presidential candidate about women who do not have biological children, and about removing bodily autonomy for people who can get pregnant, indicate the depth of male supremacy imbued through their campaign.

Astonishingly, although the Vice President has gained in most polls, several swing states still indicate the Republican candidate is in the lead. If you, like me, wonder how this is possible, consider one aspect of this phenomenon that is just getting started.

In 2016 we saw unprecedented interference in the campaign by Russian troll farms. We had a very secure election in 2020, but the mis-and dis-information campaigns were intense.

In 2024, mis-and dis-information was targeted at President Biden until two weeks ago. Now, like an aircraft carrier making a long sweeping turn, we will start to see it aimed directly at Vice President Harris. Whether it is transparently racist like the attacks on her heritage, or subtle in choosing parts of her past to emphasize, it will ramp up fast and furiously.

We must keep our insistence on facts and data, calling out mis- and dis-information as it is promulgated. Perhaps most importantly, we must resist falling into the polarized patterns and echo chambers that make these campaigns successful.

Our champion isn’t an individual, but democracy itself. Our “enemy” isn’t an individual, or a group of our neighbors, or a community that seems strange or different to us. The enemy is the process of dividing us and turning us against one another.

And the antidote to that, our best response, is compassionate understanding, inclusion, and justice for all.

Let’s do this.