“Enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward.”

December 27, 2021

[Audio version of this newsletter is here]

          As we approach the end of a challenging year, it is worth remembering that something wonderful happened in 2021: Joseph R. Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021. The inaugural ceremony was a moment of national healing in which Joe Biden rose to the occasion. The quiet majesty of the peaceful transfer of power after the ugliness of January 6th was the salve the nation needed. The most inspiring line from Biden’s speech was this:

          Through civil war, the Great Depression, world war, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward. And we can do that now.

          An eight-minute version of the highlights of Biden’s inaugural speech is here, and the above quote appears at the three-minute mark. If you can, I recommend watching the full eight minutes. It will remind you how far we have come in eleven months. As Biden spoke, vaccines against the pandemic were being administered only to healthcare workers and first responders. Wounds from the Capitol insurrection were raw and open. The Constitution had been tested by the Sedition Caucus and survived, but the treachery of one-hundred-forty-seven Republicans who sought to subvert the will of the people was still echoing in the halls of the Capitol. Into this fraught moment walked Joe Biden, a humble man who spoke plainly and from the heart. He avoided the impulse toward confrontation and revenge; instead, he called for unity and healing.

          On the day of Biden’s remarks, I wrote the following description, which serves to remind us that if the only positive development in 2021 was Biden’s inauguration, it was enough:

• “His inaugural speech was the best of a career that has spanned five decades. Historians will judge it to be a great speech that provided reassurance and hope to a nation hungering for both. Many commentators are focusing on the phrase, “democracy has prevailed”—an understandable point of emphasis given the assault on the Constitution on January 6th. Yes, for that victory we should be grateful, and Biden was right to mark it. But Biden was also right to acknowledge that we face great challenges in unifying “a broken land.” Against challenges that seem overwhelming, Biden reminded us of a simple truth: In moments of crisis, we need only “enough of us to come together to carry all of us forward.” We need not convert every heart or change every mind to heal a broken land. We need only “enough of us to come together.” We can do that. Indeed, we did so in 2020—which is why Joe Biden is our president. If enough of us remain faithful to our cause, we can carry the nation forward for everyone.”

          Eleven months later, it is a sign of recovery and return to normalcy that the nation is engaged in debates about spending priorities, fights over Senate rules, and finger-pointing over inflation. And yet, we will never be the same. We cannot undo the damage of January 6th, but we can overcome it. All we need is enough of us to come together to carry all of us forward. We can do that. We are doing it. We need only persevere.

Maintaining perspective about redistricting by Republican legislatures.

          A persistent worry among Democrats is that Republican state legislatures will gerrymander their way into control of the House in 2022. Indeed, doomsayers have converted that worry into an irrefutable tenet of political dogma. It is possible, perhaps likely, that Republicans will gain some advantage in the redistricting process that is underway. But it is difficult to gerrymander your way to victory when your base is small and shrinking. When you have fewer Republicans to cram into majority-Republican districts, you must inevitably cede ground in other districts. In other words, Republicans are running up against the mathematical limits of gerrymandering.

          Paul Waldman has addressed the limits of gerrymandering in his op-ed in the Washington Post, “Surprisingly, there has been a redistricting turnaround.” As Waldman explains,

          Just in the past few days, the conventional wisdom on redistricting has undergone a dramatic shift. The most informed redistricting experts now say it appears that this process will look more like a wash, or even that Democrats might gain a few seats.

          Why do Waldman and other experts believe that Republicans will not be able to gain as many seats through redistricting as predicted? There are several reasons. First, Republicans pushed gerrymandering to the limits after the 2010 census. Second, Democrats have been equally aggressive in gerrymandering where they have the advantage. And finally, Republicans have used their shrinking base to protect existing seats, rather than attempting to carve out districts with a slight Republican advantage. Waldman uses Texas and Illinois as examples:

          In Texas, Republicans chose to lock in their current advantage rather than expand it, a decision driven by the way the state is trending in a more Democratic direction. . . . On the other hand, Democrats took advantage of some of their opportunities, adding up to three seats in Illinois (where they could wind up with 14 of 17 seats).

          It is true that some existing seats will disappear or flip from blue to red. But Waldman’s point is that the overall net effect may be status quo—i.e., a razor thin Democratic majority, all other things being equal. Of course, the redistricting process is not complete, and some of Waldman’s analysis is based on court challenges to redistricting plans in North Carolina and Georgia.

          My point is this: Do not assume disaster. A folk saying asserts that “Worry is the interest paid on disaster before it is due.” Or as Mark Twain never said about worry, “I have had a great many troubles in my life, most of which never happened.” Gerrymandering by GOP legislatures remains a real threat in 2022. But it does not appear to be shaping up to be the Armageddon predicted by political pundits. Let’s stay focused on the things we can control and not engage in excessive worry about outcomes that may never occur.

Concluding Thoughts.

          That’s all for today’s newsletter. As noted last week, I am hoping that a slower news cycle will give everyone a well-deserved break. We have been dealing with worry nearly every day for five years. Over the weekend, my Managing Editor and I hosted a “year-end review” podcast with my daughters (for whom I write this newsletter). Listen to podcast here: Holiday Party and Year-end Review. In preparing for the podcast, I looked back to the emails that served as the origins of this newsletter. Ten days after Trump’s inauguration, I sent an email to five family members and four friends that ended with this exhortation:  

          Keep the faith everyone!  The universe has survived for 13.8 billion years.  It will make it through the next 4 years ok. 

          In last Friday’s newsletter, five years later, I repeated the same sentiment in arguing that “Perspective is our superpower.” I wrote,

          If we ignore the rest of universe and focus only on the problems of the moment, they loom large. True, those problems are significant and should be taken very seriously. I am not suggesting that we can feel better about our problems by reciting that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. But I am suggesting that expanding our field of view will help us abide during difficult times.

          We should keep perspective and remain optimistic while maintaining an unblinking dedication to reality. We can’t make problems go away by ignoring or minimizing them, but it does us no good to exaggerate them, either. Indeed, if we indulge in excessive worry about potential disaster, we divert our energy away from efforts to control the outcome to our advantage. It is possible for us to win in 2022 and 2024. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. It will not be easy, and the outcome is not free from doubt. It never is. But if uncertainty about the future is all it takes to defeat us, we would never win. But we won in 2020 despite pervasive predictions of disaster. We can do it again.

          Talk to you tomorrow!