For the future

By Michael Nagle

One cannot step into the same river twice  –  Heraclitus

It has been said that in this world change is the only constant.  And indeed, in my experience, no matter how carefully one prepares for the future, the unexpected happens.  It seems that the moment we feel most secure is the time that the unexpected walks through the door.  We tend to avoid the unexpected and seek the permanent.

However, we inhabit a world changing rapidly, with bewildering complexity.  Wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes beset us, lending an apocalyptic tenor to our time.  Many are drawn to a gauzy nostalgia for decades past, a desire to return to a time when the problems and thus the solutions seemed clearer and simpler.

Two stark facts stand in the way of this illusion.  One is that it was simply not as good as we collectively now remember.  Those who would seek, for instance, to return to the 1960’s, seem to forget the threatened Armageddon of the Cuban missile crisis, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi by the KKK, the Vietnam War and 58,000 dead American soldiers, the Watts riots, etc.  Perhaps not that clear and simple.

Fact two is that the problems that our nation faced decades ago may be similar, but are not the same.  Wise engagement with the facts of today is the way forward, not nebulous concepts from decades ago.  Also, while today’s problems loom large, we should not lose sight of the fact we have strengths and tools that we did not have in the past.

The American people have a clear choice this coming November.  The Republican ticket promises a return to a time when our problems and the solutions seemed clear and simple.  This is appealing, as we innately distrust change.  But be wary, for the imagined outcome is an illusion, long on promise and short on detail.  It is a ticket to nowhere.  It is the same and old.

In contrast, the Democratic standard bearer is focused on the future, what is doable, based on principles of hope, compassion, and justice — not fear, anger, and avarice.  The Biden Administration, warts and all, has led us through a difficult time, with a pandemic, recession, inflation, and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.  Now is not a time to turn our back on our allies and NATO, or to pretend that we can just hole up in Fortress America, and let the raging autocrats of the world do what they will.

Vice President Harris is a voice for moderation, compassion, and a nuanced approach, both to today’s challenges and to finding tomorrow’s solutions.  A vote for the Democratic ticket is an affirmation of the knowledge that we can do this.  On November 5, collectively we must choose the future, not the past.  We must refuse to become prisoners of yesterday’s solutions.  The Democratic ticket is a ticket to tomorrow.  It is new and young.