Sorry, Fox News and Joe Biden, this election won’t alter history. It’s just another midterm
Leave it to Fox News to find a way to take the hype on Election Day 2022 to a whole new level.
“This one night could change the course of history,” an anchor says in an ad for the network’s Tuesday vote-counting coverage.
Fox isn’t alone, of course. Talk-show hosts, candidates and activists want you to think the fate of the universe hangs on which party holds 51 or 49 seats in the Senate and who wins the race for governor in Oregon.
President Joe Biden, who never misses an opportunity to exaggerate, trotted out the classic line over the weekend: “Two days until the most important election in our lifetime.”
That one’s as old and tired as he looks and sounds. As the president likes to say: C’mon, man.
It’s natural for those who invest so much time, energy and money into campaigns to portray them this way. But it’s bad for our body politic and mental health for every election to be painted as the last train stop before Armageddon.
No matter what happens Tuesday night, daily life will go on pretty much the same on Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll have more elections in two years, despite the president’s scaremongering on “democracy.” (It’s a strange definition of democracy that says it only counts if one party wins, yet both of our parties have backed themselves into that corner.)
And whether it’s Democrat Chuck Schumer or Republican Mitch McConnell running the Senate, your life won’t be affected much either way. Divided government means a little less gets done on some things, a little compromise happens on others. And either way, everyone starts looking immediately to the next election, even if they’ve tried to scare you that it might be canceled.
I’ve been guilty of this hype, too. Somewhere in a box in my garage, there’s probably more than one election news coverage plan in which I wrote all kinds of big words about the Majesty of Democracy and the Fate of the Republic. But I just can’t seem to remember how the 2006 midterms changed the course of history.
I don’t mean to diminish the importance of voting or the seriousness of our problems. We desperately need progress on corralling inflation, creating a sane immigration system, reducing crime and improving schools. It matters who’s making policy at every level.
But progress in our system is slow, intentionally so. One election is not meant to swing humankind’s trajectory. When leaders and pundits constantly declare that one outcome will be glory and the other apocalypse, and neither happens, what you get is even more cynicism.
And that we have in surplus.
The structural crises in our politics are real. Congress doesn’t function well, each party is overly influenced by extremists, and the escalating risk of political violence is chilling. But the answers don’t lie in this election or any other.
No, it’s increasingly clear, our fractured politics is merely a reflection of something cracking in our society. We’re divided and fearful of each other.
Consider these data points. In 2021, the bipartisan Battleground Poll asked respondents if they believe that “compromise and common ground should be the goal for political leaders,” and 66% said yes.
Then, the pollsters asked whether voters are “tired of leaders compromising my values and ideals” and whether they “want leaders who will stand up to the other side.” Again, 66% agreed.
If you were a member of Congress, what the heck would you do with that?
The good news is, more recent polls have found that more voters, forced to choose, prioritize compromise, about 2:1. But then, four in five members of either party told NBC News pollsters last month that the other party’s agenda threatens to destroy the country.
This is about more than politics. While good leaders could help steer us out of this, with these kinds of numbers, we’ll keep electing those who feed the anger and distrust.
So, go ahead. Vote like this is the final election or the most important one, or both.
But take a second and ask yourself: Is it true? And if not, why are so many politicos trying so hard to convince you that it is?
