After pouring 200,000 words or more into this Facebook page, I am not sure I have anything left to say. But I'll try.
A great political journalist, and an old friend, asked me tonight how the dark sense of violence looming over this election compares with the mood in the late 1960s, when I was a young reporter.
I was still in college at the time in Ann Arbor, where the primary organizing force behind the anti-war movement, SDS, distributed the Port Huron Statement. As I covered organizing meetings, I witnessed the nascent violent faction of that movement, the Weather Underground, split away. Soon afterward, it began its campaign of bombing in the hope of inspiring a revolution.
Those bombs went off for years, people died, passions grew to the boiling point, but the revolution never came.
Ultimately, domestic peace returned and the progressive social values of the student movement took hold in the larger culture.
But in certain segments of the American population, the idealistic vision of a multiracial society where the sexes were equal, where homophobia was eliminated, where the environment was preserved, where poverty was eliminated did not take root.
Rather, this segment, dominated by poorly educated, rural white people awaited someone who could give voice to their sense of grievance.
Donald Trump is that man.
The problem is his answer to their concerns is to foment hate, racism, and violence, which in no way improves their lives. As his campaign closes, he has escalated his verbal assaults and some of his followers are acting accordingly.
Thus the impending sense of doom hanging over the land.
What failed for the left in the 60s will fail for the right today. The great mass of people in this country are moderate and peace-loving. And we have to assume they will vote to reject demagoguery and hate.
But if that assumption is wrong, and Trump wins, we are in for one hell of a lot of trouble.
***
As for the news, let her rip:
*There is an unusual feeling of foreboding in America. U.S. politics so revolves around dueling visions of the country that tension always steeps before presidential elections. But it's especially raw this election eve. People on both sides of the political divide fear that the country they love will be lost if their preferred candidate does not win on Tuesday. Liberals believe another term for Donald Trump would so badly erode democratic institutions and guardrails that there would be no going back. Trump and conservative media polemicists tell his supporters that the country will be consumed in flames and taken over by radical socialist thugs if he loses to Joe Biden. (CNN)
* Economy faces big strains just as Washington could be paralyzed after election -- Political paralysis looms over a turbulent period for the United States amid a spike in coronavirus cases and the expiration of emergency federal aid. (WashPo)
* Federal judge rejects GOP challenge to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Democratic-leaning Houston (CNN)
* Judge rejects Republican efforts to halt early vote counting in Las Vegas (CNN)
* Tensions high at rival Michigan rallies (NHK)
* Trump promises court fight over Pennsylvania absentee votes (AP)
* Polling places are latest front in battle over face masks (AP)
* Biden leads Trump by double digits nationally, USC poll suggests (LAT)
* FL B+4, MI B+7, PA B+6, NC B+1, CO B+8, IA Even, TX T+4, MT T+4... (Drudge)
* Michigan sees spike in African Americans buying guns (Reuters)
* Police respond to multiple incidents during 'Trump Train' mobile vehicle rally in Richmond (CNN)
* Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose -- The President has survived one impeachment, twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct, and an estimated four thousand lawsuits. That run of good luck may well end, perhaps brutally, if Joe Biden wins. (New Yorker)
* Now, More Than Ever, Election Week Is a Time for Patience -- The rush to reach a conclusion that increasingly has marked American election nights needs to be suspended because of the way America is voting this year. (WSJ)
* Polarized electorate, mail-in ballots could spark post-election legal 'fight of our lives' (WSJ)
* Europe is on the verge of a medical crisis, with intensive care units filling rapidly (WashPo)* Clorox Profit More Than Doubles -- The household-supplies producer saw continuing gains in its recent quarter from purchases of wipes, disinfectants and personal-care items during the Covid-19 pandemic. (WSJ)
* 100 million people have already voted. As a nation, we'll probably hit 150 million. (DW)
***
All we are saying is give peace a chance -- John Lennon
And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
--John Lennon / Paul McCartney
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