Turnout was the highest in over a century, yet 80 million Americans did not vote; that’s 1/3rd of all Americans eligible to vote. In other words, almost as many Americans did not vote as the 81 million voting for Joe Biden, and non-voters beat Donald Trump by 6 million votes. The race was: 1) Joe Biden, 2) neither of the above, and 3) Donald Trump. Non-voters were disproportionately young, single, Latino, less educated, and poor. They were turned off to politics and did not believe it played a role in their lives, were not interested in politics, didn’t like the candidates, and most significantly were not registered to vote.
They are alienated and apathetic about the political system. They feel the economy and the political system are rigged against them. They would vote if the corruption in government was cleaned up, there were more candidates to choose from, and they were automatically registered to vote. One third still would not vote, but two thirds would. We should be figuring out how to run a government that brings them into the political system, not ignores them; however the contest was all about energizing each party’s base and in the case of Biden appealing to the independents. We did see record turn out, and non voters were reduced by 20 million who came off the sidelines to vote for Biden or Trump, but 80 million of our fellow citizens did not vote.
Biden won, and the turnout was huge because of Donald Trump. He has been an energizing force for his supporters and for his opponents. People are learning about politics and government because of Donald Trump trying to turn the system upside down to fit his warped and constricted vision of America; he harnessed and played to Americans’ fears. As he learned in his defeat but will not accept, his vision is not a vision shared by most Americans. However as we all learned, we have to have candidates willing to put forth their visions in strong and vibrant colors. We do need to make major changes for all Americans. Bernie Sanders fit that bill on the left. Andrew Yang did as well. That is not Joe Biden’s style, and he won by not further polarizing the nation, but rather by appealing to the basic decency of Americans, rather than its fears and angers; he ran as a healer but with a strong platform. Can he govern by both healing and leading? I think it is possible to lead with a strong and compelling vision from the middle. I think Obama did that; Kennedy did that; Truman did that. Biden can as well. Some will think that only a Bernie or an Elizabeth or an AOC can provide the compelling visions and broad dreams we need, but they are more dividers than uniters. Obama really had the rhetorical gifts matched to the ideas and was by his nature a unifier; however he was unable to unite and unify in the face of the implacable opposition of McConnell and the Tea Party.
It will require all our help, no sitting on the sidelines now; these are not technical problems; they go to the heart of what we are as a nation. Biden is not alone here. We have to have an engaged citizenry and not an enraged one. We have to have a dream painted in bold colors that can be widely shared. It needs to embrace strong economic growth, basic fairness and opportunity for all, combating climate change, enabling generational change, encouraging and widely spreading scientific and technological breakthroughs, helping family life, supporting communities, improving education and providing effective and efficient government at all levels of the nation. But most of all we will need each other, we are going to need all of us to give what we can to the effort.
Happy holidays,
Lucien Wulsin
12/15/20