The 2018 Midterms Have Come and Gone - Now What?

November 6, 2018. A lot of Americans began counting down to this date in the wee hours of November 9, 2016, when it became clear that a seismic shift happened in American government with Donald Trump's election as President. In those dark, early hours, as millions of us were stunned, scared, horrified, angry, November 6, 2018 became the beacon of light on which we would hang our hopes for salvation from this twisted, raging storm of hatred, fear, and insanity. We would organize, mobilize and vote, and ride a Blue Wave back to the shores of rationality and stability. 

Well, November 6, 2018 has come and gone, and the Blue Wave was...more of a ripple than the straight-up surge many Democrats and progressives were hoping for. There were victories, to be sure. Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives, which also now boasts a record number of women representatives, including the first-ever Muslim, Indigenous and Korean-American women elected to Congress. Seven states flipped from Republican to Democrat governors. Florida voted "yes" on Amendment 4, which automatically restores voting rights to over a million ex-felons.

In the Senate, meanwhile, the Republicans maintain their majority, with breakout Democrat star Beto O'Rourke falling to Ted Cruz by less than 250,000 votes. Likewise, in Florida's governor race, another Democrat newcomer, Andrew Gillum, was edged out by his Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis (although there is speculation that a recount might be possible). In Georgia's governor race, Democrat Stacey Abrams, who would become the first African-American woman elected as governor in the U.S., has yet to concede to her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, although as of this writing he leads her by 62,880 votes. Abrams refusal to concede has much to do with reports of attempted voter suppression in Georgia, where Kemp himself, as the state's current Secretary of State, oversees elections.

All of this has me feeling, on November 7, a bit like Ben Wyatt when he and Leslie Knope find out they're having triplets: 
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The Blue Wave was supposed to wash Trumpians (if not Trump himself) right out of Washington. Clearly there is still a disturbing number of people in this country for whom outright racism, sexism, lying and corruption is not an issue when it comes to their elected officials. As Vox reports, "The preliminary results reveal the divides that determined the 2016 election are intensifying and strengthening." The article goes on to say a lot of stuff that isn't really news, at least to anyone who has been paying attention to American politics for the last several years. The current American political divide is based on several factors, including voters' race, education and income levels, and geographic location, all of which has led to what writer Zack Beauchamp calls a "cold civil war." While it feels great to finally the name the thing we've been increasingly struggling with for the last two years, the question still remains - what do we do with that?

We can turn our sights to November 3, 2020, the next Presidential election, but does that mean we are falling into a cycle of waiting and hoping that every two years we can possibly gain some ground in moving the country in a more progressive direction? And is it even really wise to continue to pin our hopes on elections when they remain so vulnerable to interference, both foreign and domestic? It's becoming more and more clear (to me at least) that the GOP will do whatever it takes to gain and maintain power, including lying, disenfranchising and suppressing voters, and letting elections remain vulnerable to hacking and interference. Forgive me for sounding like I'm wearing a tinfoil hat, but I think a little dose of cynicism might do the Democrats some good right about now. Yes, Tuesday's victories are exciting and game-changing, but is anyone actually concerned that the game is really rigged? A democracy in which citizens cannot exercise their voting rights freely and with confidence is not much of a democracy. We can (and should) look ahead to 2020, but can we be confident enough in our election system that, even with voter support, we can overcome and correct the many troubling issues in our government and society? 

And even if Americans do feel they can place their faith in the structures and practices of our democracy, the fact remains that the cold civil war is intensifying and will likely continue to do so over the next two years. How do we overcome this? Can we overcome this? Or is an actual civil war the only end game here? I have a very active imagination, but with the country so fundamentally divided on so many issues, even I struggle to imagine how this is all going to shake out.

I'm not a political analyst, nor am I trying to incite a rebellion. But there are 727 days until the 2020 election. A lot can happen in 727 days. We need to use them wisely. Yes, that means remaining politically active, and finding new candidates to run and support. But it also means reflecting on some hard truths about where our country is, where we want it to go, and what we will need to do to take it there.