Austin Lewter/Jefferson Jimplecute
Election Day was Tuesday.
It seems like each midterm is more hyped than the one before.
We’ve spent two years being bogged down with rhetoric and ads and messaging and marketing.
It all came to a head Tuesday.
And the sun still came up Wednesday morning.
Several key races are still too close to call, but I’ll agree with Glenn Melancon— not much changed with this election.
No mandates were issued, and no momentum was built.
At the end of the day, records were set for campaign spending.
Early estimates from CNBC predict more than $17 billion dollars will have been spent on campaigning this midterm cycle.
That’s $17 billion dollars on an election that was of no real substance.
Marion County will get a new Congressman and Oklahoma will get a new Senator, but both of those were by means of attrition.
Nothing groundbreaking there— no party changes.
The Republicans get the majority in the house, but it’s not much of a majority— probably not enough to codify the party around a shared agenda.
The Senate will maintain a razor thin margin and the president will retain the power of the veto.
So, shame on us.
Shame on us for spending $17 billion dollars on an election that will change next to nothing.
Shame on us for letting social media polarize and divide us.
Shame on us for taking our eyes off the ball.
Shame on us for thinking less of our neighbor for their political views.
Shame on us for letting our entertainers become our policy makers and, in turn, our policy making become our entertainment.
To echo a refrain from last week’s column, we can do better.
And it starts with us.
As the dust settles on this midterm, I implore upon everyone to take the rhetoric down a notch.
Be nice to one another and lay off the politics just a little.
Look out for your neighbor. Offer to help someone in need.
Do something kind for a stranger.
Get out of your comfort zone and make a new friend.
Turn of the TV and have a conversation about something other than politics.
I promise, you’ll be glad you did.
1 Comment
Comments are closed.