And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8
Midterm elections are the Presidential Election pre-season. Nobody really cares, there are always a few races, heated, acrimonious, bitter, enough to pique the interest, but nothing to get too excited about.
Midterms are an example of painless participatory democracy, the fast food drive through vote. It carries all the satisfaction of a meal eaten driving down the freeway. Patriotic nourishment, democracy light; just don’t expect too much. You can still feel good about yourself, you had your say, made your choice and still got to work, almost on time. Or you can skip it and not worry too much.
This year, though, it seems more important. There is a heated atmosphere, and the air is pregnant with potential. Dark clouds are forming on the horizon. There is a storm coming.
Everyday there are new warnings, ill tidings. It is becoming easier to buy a gun than a copy of Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank. If you find that disturbing it gets worse. It’s entirely possible the teacher who won’t be able to use The Grapes of Wrath to teach students the value of generosity and charity might be asked to carry a loaded weapon and gun down an armed intruder.
Science, responsible for so many of the 20th centuries biggest hits, atomic weapons, satellite surveillance and cell phones has become anathema. The world was racked by an infectious disease, probably a zoonotic strain of a respiratory infection. It wasn’t the first time, by some reckoning it may have been the 22nd global pandemic. What made the difference was the science behind its containment. Science reduced the worst possible outcomes, it took sacrifice and compromise, and a Herculean effort to develop the vaccine. It wasn’t enough.
There were accusations and threats made against medical officials. Ron DeSantis, governor, Florida, said, of Doctor Fauci, “someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac.” In one sentence he managed to deny science, medicine and insult a respected man of science, who had served seven presidents, based solely on his height. And the crowd at the Keep Florida Free, a GOP rally, went wild. These people will be at the polls in November.
The Supreme Court has been weighted heavily with reactionary, right wing ideologues who have made it clear they intend to dismantle liberties, hard won rights, and personal freedoms, and they have the power to do it. Roe vs Wade was only the opening salvo, they made that much clear. All they need is a friendly litigant. It’s amazing how long it took to get here, and how quick the trip back has become.
Republican officials at the state level, who have been seduced by the lies told by Trump, Giuliani, and Powell, are devising ways of making it more difficult to vote. Voting shouldn’t be more difficult, it should be easier, it should last for several days, and include a weekend. In 2016 slightly over 60 percent of eligible voters cast a vote, in 2018 it was just over fifty percent. In 2020, with more alternatives because of the pandemic it was 66.1%. Paltry, but an improvement. Voting is a right, but it needs to be a priority.
America seems to be at a nexus. There is a path forward, and a path not forward. Science and history can guide the country through the difficulties ahead. Or, belligerence and intolerance can offer us an uncertain future of conflict and turmoil. Science and the press, and the educated are enemies or allies. It’s time to decide. There is no setting this one out.
Voting is the only way forward. Give America the help it needs to become the nation it can be, or watch it crumble into the country it was. The choice is yours, at least for now.
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