Feeling American Again: Look to the Past for Inspiration

On the almost eve before the 2024 general election, I found myself needing comfort, which I found not in the usual suspects, but in John Stewart.

On Sunday night, I made the terrible mistake of looking at news clips of polls in swing states. I knew it was close, but somehow listening to forecasters not knowing where anything is going raised my anxiety.

The people that keep their nose to the grindstone will survive no matter who is in elected office. They’re people like Kamala Harris, who showed no signs of stress and, true to her convention theme, exemplified “joy” in a Saturday Night Live skit over the weekend.

I, on the other hand, wanted to stuff my face, go for a walk, or take a hallucinogen.

I found one ice cream cone left in my freezer, missed walking while the sun was shining because of a zoom meeting, and didn’t have any hallucinogens, but if there was a way to temporarily pop out and return later, it would have been tempting.

So, I turned to my confidant, my laptop computer, in whom I found… John Stewart. While he is a self-described liberal, his show makes fun of both candidates, and boy did I need that humor. Listening to monologue after monologue, it’s clear he channels his stress through humor, which we really need right now.

Last month, I got a whiff of our community’s political leanings while at a booth outside the farmer’s market.

“I don’t know how anyone can vote for [ ].”

“These idiots are voting for [ ].”

One woman began to cry talking about the horror of a certain candidate getting elected.

The refrain of this election being the most important in our lifetime beats like a heavy drum.

Is it that or the inability to tolerate another viewpoint that makes this election so existential?

During an interview with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Stewart called Trump a “symptom.” I agree. The Democratic nominee hasn’t changed much over the years, but the current Republican nominee is an amalgamation of disillusioned voters. 

When a constituency that has held it together for so long finally snaps, it really snaps. Hence Jan. 6 and security concerns in the aftermath of this election.

NBC reports 96 lawsuits have been filed in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. This makes the hanging chads election of 2000 pale in comparison.

At some point during the 21st century, the number of people that made me proud to be an American grew less and less. Somehow the Americans I admired in my youth began to die or fade into the distance.

People like Cary Grant.

I know he was born in England, but is there anyone that doesn’t think Cary Grant as an American?

Or Tom Hanks. Anyone have a beef with Tom Hanks?

Wait, is he a party donor?

Or, one of my favorites- John Candy.

Is there anyone that doesn’t like John Candy?

These were people that were just… American.

Without politics, we were just… people. 

Somehow, like Hollywood, it all disintegrated.

I remember the first time I saw a TV anchor vociferously advocate a viewpoint. I was in an airport. I had never seen a newscaster present such animation on TV.

The race to be the most ostentatious became the norm. I had always lived in liberal areas (by chance, not choice) but now I found myself in an environment where even moderate viewpoints were met with hostility.

I went to college in one of the most liberal cities in the US- New York, but that was tame compared to what I experienced in Seattle. I never felt like I wasn’t accepted in New York, but I did start to feel that way in Seattle. After a while, I couldn’t help feeling hostile myself. I became part of a boiling soup, and I had to get out.

We need Americans to put what we’re going through in context to bring us together. That would be people like Stewart.

That is my hope for this election- that if elected, the candidate on the left can implement the anger and urgency of the right into meaningful action, and the candidate on the right can work within the framework of our constitution.