Four years ago we voted hoping that we were making history in electing the first female president. We thought that we were on the road to pull the Founders’ promise of equality into the wide-open 21st century. Instead, we woke up to find out that the man in the White House was a president determined to hack away the American soul, uproot equality and dismantle civil rights. For four years we have written scores of articles pointing out the disastrous impact of this presidency of dizzying destruction of iconic institutions that have shaped American democracy. We were shocked at our faith in a linear trajectory of democracy, how we would keep struggling to increase inclusions and civil rights. We discovered the fragility of the very tenets of democracy.
So here we are on the eve of the election and we tremble, we feel panic and terror at our prospects. Why? Probably because Biden is somewhat ahead in the polls, because if there is one thing we have learned over the last four years is not to believe good news. Those who the gods would destroy, they say Biden is ahead by four points in Pennsylvania. We shouldn’t place too much emphasis on the polls anyway, and if it is better to be ahead than behind, the problem with being ahead is that we can’t properly prepare ourselves for losing. Anyway, nothing will relieve our anxieties until the election results are counted. So right now let us look at what we already know.
Has Donald Trump done any good over the past four years? Yes, he has. He has done the same good that all the truly evil rulers do. He has roused us from our complacencies, he has forced us to organize, he has taught us to never again, take anything for granted about American democracy. If you are frightened to death about Trump’s prospects for winning a second term, good. Not enough Americans were frightened to death about his prospects about winning a first term. Or accepted, far too easily, the wretched decision in Bush v Gore in 2000. We have learned that white supremacy and the oppression of women remain vigorous, protean, and very much alive and a threat to our institutions. We have learned that for some evil leaders, lying is such a way of life that they can lie about the reality of a deadly disease that has killed almost a quarter of a million Americans. We have learned that, as American citizens, we must stand with the millions of non-citizens and undocumented people living in our midst if we wish to preserve our rights as citizens. And we have learned how to fight back, how to defend ourselves. And we have learned that whatever happens this week, the president has not been able to kill democracy in this country, and we will not let him.
Today is a good day to shout out that the 2020 election is also a very special one — it is the first time in American history that a black woman, Senator Kamala Harris is the nominated Vice President on the Democratic ticket. Senator Harris is the daughter of immigrants, and that, as the Statue of Liberty reminds us, is America. To celebrate it we draw on our Jewish tradition of blessings. It is customary in Jewish tradition to offer a Shehecheyanu, שהחיינו a blessing to thank God for enabling us to experience a new or special occasion. It has been part of Jewish customary blessings for centuries to cover a wide range of offering thanks for new or special occasions from blessing the start of holidays, hearing the sound of the Shofar, lighting Hanukkah candles to eating the new fruit of the season:
Our praise to You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of all
for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this special occasion.
And for those who already voted for Biden-Harris and those of you who are voting for them tomorrow, we know what we have learned in these last four years, that whatever happens this week, we have just begun to fight, and there is strength and power in our numbers.