The sky is falling

I would describe myself as a philosophical pessimist, but a temperamental optimist. As the election approaches an argument against despair:

Some Americans will wake up next Wednesday in despair. Half the country—or at least a sizable part of the losing half—will feel that all is lost, every ounce of their hope and hard work has been wasted. The candidates themselves trade on these themes. ....

Both sides are treating this election as a potential apocalypse. Everything is on the line. The party is over for good if the wrong party wins. But is it? Is the American experiment really so close to the edge?

Not from where I’m sitting. If you zoom out—and I mean way out—things are going pretty well in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are on the cusp of our 250th birthday. We still have our republican form of government, our Constitution and Bill of Rights, despite some close calls. Roughly 2% of the population lost their lives in the Civil War—the equivalent of 6.5 million people today. In the 20th century we made it through two world wars, a great depression, the assassination of two presidents and the resignation of another, the trauma of Vietnam and the fall of communism. Even after all that we stood tall as the world’s sole superpower.

Sept. 11, 2001, didn’t kill us. Neither did the housing collapse nor the financial crisis. We beat Covid. We even survived the ugly Trump administration and its uglier backlash. ....

Something about how our Founders went about their work has set us up for centuries of success, and the end isn’t remotely in sight. There’s life left in Lady Liberty, plenty of it. The United States of America is still the last best hope on earth.

All the evidence you need is piling up at the southern border. People from everywhere risk everything to get here—to work, to raise their children, to make a future. China doesn’t have this problem.

If you’re a candidate for high office, there may be some political value in running around with your hair on fire, shouting like a street preacher about the end of democracy and the loss of the country. The stakes are highest during the waning days of a losing campaign. But don’t fall for it. The pendulum always swings. All is never lost. .... (more)

Matthew Hennessey, "The Election Will End. The World Won’t," The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 30, 2024.