November 2024

That is America?

Apparently so. That is America.

Nonetheless, this also is America.

For those who've felt this in their gut, who after a sleepless night may have had to figure out an "age appropriate" way to inform their kids of the choice by so many voting Americans, and who are shocked to even have to wonder about the professional management of our country's administrative institutions from public health to defense to the most quotidian and important of functions, I feel you. For those who may feel personally targeted by this incoming president, or have fears I don't even have the personal experience to necessarily understand, you have my sympathy and support.

And for those who may also find some meaning in attempting to conceptually disentangle messes:

• A free and fair national election in 4 years is foundational to the United States of America. As someone who marched in the streets of the Bay Area against the Iraq War, I appreciated — with no reservations or qualifications — the specific ways in which Liz and Dick Cheney advocated for the Harris/Walz campaign. Everyone as an individual, our organizations, and our institutions must work collectively toward free and fair election in 4 years' time, even as we peruse divergent goals or decide to retreat from civic engagement in the meantime.
• While California may not be able protect the US-led global order or other critical federal issues, our state is uniquely obligated in this moment. On Thursday Gov. Newsom called for a special session of the state legislature. The immediate goal is to secure additional funds for the California Department of Justice to use all legal means necessary to protect reproductive rights, climate change policy, Americans with legal residency under DACA, disaster response funds, and federal grants to Californian governments and agencies. Alameda resident — and state Attorney General — Rob Bonta has an important job to carry out. (A bit more on these state-level "opportunities" below.)
• And there's always the personal element. Vice President Harris spoke to this in her Wednesday concession speech. An extended excerpt with the relevant portion in bold:

That is a fight I will never give up. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"] I will never give up the fight for a future where Americans can pursue their dreams, ambitions, and aspirations, where the women of America have the freedom to make decisions about their own body and not have their government telling them what to do.

We will never give up the fight to protect our schools and our streets from gun violence. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"] And, America, we will never give up the fight for our democracy, for the rule of law, for equal justice, and for the sacred idea that every one of us, no matter who we are or where we start out, has certain fundamental rights and freedoms that must be respected and upheld. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"]

And we will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts, and in the public square. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"] And we will also wage it in quieter ways, in how we live our lives, by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor, by always using our strength to lift people up, to fight for the dignity that all people deserve.

The fight for our freedom will take hard work. But like I always say, we like hard work. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"] Hard work is good work. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"] Hard work can be joyful work. And the fight for our country is always worth it. [Audience member calls out "Yeah"] It is always worth it. [Audience member calls out "We love you."]

— from this transcript

If kindness and dignity for all don't go without saying in the America of 2024, then we'll just have to use our voices and our examples to continue to say so.

A need — and an opportunity — to experiment?

I do wonder how these coming years may become a moment for bold experimentation within the "big tent" of the Democratic Party around the Bay Area and around the state.

After I was ready to chat with others who like talking about politics more dispassionately than I do, one friend offered this "upside": The loss by the Democratic ticket in the national presidential contest is sufficiently widespread that there's no need to even attempt to point fingers at any one campaign decision or policy proposal or stakeholder group. Multiple things apparently didn't succeed.

We can't and shouldn't compromise on our core values. We can't and shouldn't ever label any "out group" to scapegoat and hate.

Staying true to these overall values and instead of trying to diagnose any single decision, now may be the time for the center, the center-left, and the left to all go big, all be bold, all be brave — to experiment and to see what can work.

To experiment with a politics of doing.

Newsom is demonstrating this by immediately calling the state legislature back into session.

His history also provides another example: Newsom initially rose to national prominence in 2004 by enabling San Francisco City Hall to perform weddings for same-sex couples. While this was short lived, it led to a successful case in support of marriage equality in 2008 at the California State Supreme Court. That decision was in turn overturned with the backlash of Prop later in 2008. But with the benefit of hindsight, only ~11 years separated the open doors of San Francisco County Clerk's office and legalized marriage equality across the entire United States. Was this a "political stunt" or was it a "civic experiment"? It was both — and that's why it made an impact.

Can this model of stunts-which-are-in-fact-bold-experiments be applicable to more of today's urgent topics? This is certainly about the defense of individual rights and freedoms, but this is also about our continued forward progress on every single topic of public importance from climate change, progressive taxation, fair business regulation, public-health measures that we should be able to take for granted from vaccination to fluoridated water (and my own topic of advocacy: traffic safety), to so many other urgent issues...

Which local and regional and state leaders are ready to be the Mayor Newsoms of today for each issue of importance? Can they strategically pick opportunities that are so specifically compelling that a single instance tells an entire story? Can the more senior leaders of California (including Newsom himself) give space to those who take risks? Can the the bland think-tanks and staid business interests support those who are willing to actually jump off the pages of white papers and into real life — or can they at least get out of the way? And in taking these risks, can our leaders articulate shared goals so clearly, so concisely, and so repeatedly that they can reach mass audiences through today's fractured media and communication landscape?

Everyone still raw from Tuesday deserves whatever break from the news they want and can take. But for California's leaders at all levels (from the the lowliest of elected board members up to the highest of roles in Sacramento and DC) the time to lead is now.