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The Politics of Joy: Reimagining the Presidential Race
Laughter and calm might be the most powerful political tools this year
A few thousand readers see my stuff each day and that means a lot to me. But since Joe Biden dropped out of the race and passed the baton to Kamala Harris, I’m seeing something remarkable in the responses to my writing and the news in general.
People are thrilled to have something exciting to talk about, something positive. Maybe the juxtaposition with the Olympics, a massive dose of global unity, has something to do with it. But here in America, we are breathing in a dose of fresh air. I’m guessing a lot of people around the planet are as it appears we may be able to shut down the forces of darkness here.
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post calls it the politics of joy and over here in my little substack spot, I’m seeing it too. We always hear about the power of laughter in self-help articles and books. But Kamala Harris seems to be harnessing that power at a whole new level.
And she is not alone. Others, notably Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have also tapped into that unlimited power source. They have found a way to attack Donald Trump and his enablers with a weapon they cannot understand, a positive but pragmatic view of where we are.
A forward looking view.
And after Trump’s endless litany telling us what a hellhole we live in, a world where we need to fear everything, but also a world he will magically heal, it seems a lot of us have had it. We’re sick of the crap he dishes out over and over again.
Do you want to understand collective fear? Look at the Republican Party right now. And watch and listen to what they are doing and saying. When you look at the record, they are doing nothing to move our country forward. And the words they spout are an unrelenting torrent of lies and negativity, mirroring the words of their chosen leader.
And now look at where the Democrats are, a place they have not been for a while. Unity. And grace, in the form of laughter, because the right have given us a lot to laugh at after we get over our horror at the stupid fake anger of it all.
