American citizens rose up in Tuesday's election and showed the world their nation's truer colors, choosing decency and diversity over the cruelty of the Maga movement. The outcome, which turned both houses of Congress and many governors' offices away from Maga and toward potential reform, marked a radical shift in a decade-long conversation.
For the past 10 years, good-hearted citizens had insisted, "This is not America," as federal agents shot people on city streets, immigrants were called rapists and animals, and Donald Trump and his allies enriched themselves while shrugging at the price of gas and groceries. The reply often echoed back: "But this is America," after millions of voters had twice elected a mean-spirited bigot and sexual abuser whose administration inspired the observation: "The cruelty is the point."
Kindness and Diversity Win
On Tuesday, that discouraging conversation changed radically. Voters turned out in droves to elevate the kind of people that Maga had trashed, including a Black female governor in Georgia, a gay senator in New Hampshire, a Muslim senator in Ohio, and a Native American female governor of New Mexico.
"The sheer diversity of the winners tonight is staggering," observed Jennifer Senior of the Atlantic. "I think it was about kindness," reflected a neighbor, a registered nurse and French immigrant, as she walked her dog on Wednesday morning.
In Texas, the state turned blue on Tuesday night, with Gina Hinojosa becoming the state's first Latina governor and James Talarico soon to be the nation's youngest senator, despite Elon Musk's bankrolling of his Republican opponent. "Love thy neighbor," read a sign on Talarico's victory-speech lectern in Austin. A Texas voter, Sasa Rodriguez, told the Guardian's David Smith: "Everybody's had enough … We're not all a bunch of idiots. Even the idiots are not idiots."
Healing Wounds
In many places, humanity shone through the lingering pain. Minnesotans placed their "I voted" stickers at the memorial for Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old intensive care nurse killed by federal agents in January. The son of another victim of ICE put his "I voted" sticker on his father's memorial, and the Houston Chronicle reported that soon there were "so many other stickers that he can't say for certain which was his".
Wounds were beginning to heal, even between nations. My friends in Buffalo were anticipating Wednesday's home hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators, where fans' voices were sure to ring out for both national anthems. Canada even shone brilliant blue lights on Niagara Falls.
In a pre-election piece titled "America's Clarifying Moment", the writer and academic Stephen Beschloss summarized the stakes: "when we find out whether our fellow Americans really are committed to putting an end to the reckless destruction, the ceaseless corruption, the lawless abuse of our democracy and the utter indifference to the people's struggle to survive."
A Move in the Right Direction
This election is not the end of American cruelty and malfeasance. Trump remains in power, his corrupted allies in the justice department and on the supreme court are unlikely to get with the program, oligarchs still hold too many of the cards, and Democrats are very far from perfect.
But it's a move in a most welcome direction, a retreat from the distressing years where "this is not America" had to sustain us, and a promise of better days ahead, of reform and accountability, and of an era when we may once again think of America and feel proud.
