The Witness Chronicles, August 2, 2024
Reading the tea leaves and finding good news, finally
The Politics of Joy: Reimagining the Presidential Race
Laughter and calm might be the most powerful political tools this year
A few thousand readers see my stuff each day and that means a lot to me. But since Joe Biden dropped out of the race and passed the baton to Kamala Harris, I’m seeing something remarkable in the responses to my writing and the news in general.
People are thrilled to have something exciting to talk about, something positive. Maybe the juxtaposition with the Olympics, a massive dose of global unity, has something to do with it. But here in America, we are breathing in a dose of fresh air. I’m guessing a lot of people around the planet are as it appears we may be able to shut down the forces of darkness here.
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post calls it the politics of joy and over here in my little substack spot, I’m seeing it too. We always hear about the power of laughter in self-help articles and books. But Kamala Harris seems to be harnessing that power at a whole new level.
And she is not alone. Others, notably Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have also tapped into that unlimited power source. They have found a way to attack Donald Trump and his enablers with a weapon they cannot understand, a positive but pragmatic view of where we are.
A forward looking view.
And after Trump’s endless litany telling us what a hellhole we live in, a world where we need to fear everything, but also a world he will magically heal, it seems a lot of us have had it. We’re sick of the crap he dishes out over and over again.
Do you want to understand collective fear? Look at the Republican Party right now. And watch and listen to what they are doing and saying. When you look at the record, they are doing nothing to move our country forward. And the words they spout are an unrelenting torrent of lies and negativity, mirroring the words of their chosen leader.
And now look at where the Democrats are, a place they have not been for a while. Unity. And grace, in the form of laughter, because the right have given us a lot to laugh at after we get over our horror at the stupid fake anger of it all.
Buttigieg is happy to go on Fox News and, in that utterly calm voice of his, dissect their paranoia, revealing it for what it is, pure baloney. And Governor Walz, a new voice on the national level, speaks as a regular guy, the guy you want to have a drink with that you just met.
He can talk about how weird things are without sounding like he got the phrase out a political playbook. These characters are not new in America, they are America. Not the predatory gay man stereotype or the dumb farmer the Republicans promote, just guys who say it like it actually is.
And now we have Kamala Harris, who turns out to be made of sterner stuff than we thought, and who genuinely seems to be enjoying running for President. It’s not about her racial DNA or her California fruit and nuts persona. Those are things the right makes up as issues when they try to tear her down.
But she is not having it. And she, and her allies, see it for what it is. Ridiculous and absurd. This is a strategy the Republicans under Trump cannot comprehend, those politics of joy. Not lalaland joy, pragmatic joy underlined by the understanding that we have real issues to deal with.
Maybe I’m being too optimistic. But I’m seeing something here, a change you can feel. The enthusiasm Harris is generating is contagious while the constant stream of fear and hate Trump generates is looking more and more ridiculous.
Don’t knock this notion of joy. It can be powerful stuff. Love always eventually conquers hate while hate cannot defeat hate. There’s a lot of hate out there but I think we are finally sick of it.
And now there is a powerful alternative.
I’m going with the optimism.
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