Yes, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.
There is, however, a big, jolly man bearing gifts and good cheer for people who need some good cheer in their lives right now. So they elected him governor. And that is not a need localized to just the commonwealth!
That in a nutshell is what I think happened last week in Virginia’s gubernatorial election where my friend Terry McAuliffe lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin in a race that wasn’t expected to go that way when it began.
Whether telling white people afraid of the future that they should fear the not-white people is actually cheerful is a different question. It does, however, have its upside in American politics pitting one group of citizens against the other as a matter of political expediency. But Youngkin also told people — whether he meant it or not — that he could make their lives better at a time when most people are flailing about for anyone to tell them life will get better.
Of course, it didn’t help one bit that Terry told Virginia parents they didn’t have the last say about what was in their children’s best interests. Whether he meant to say that or not, in today’s digital world words that came out of his mouth were shoved down his throat in a matter of minutes. And that was that!
Jon Grinspan wrote a most interesting guest essay last month titled, “What We Did the Last Time We Broke America.”
I don’t know whether he is a distant cousin of mine, but Grinspan is a curator of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. That’s the place a person should go to find out what actually happened in this country during its incredible two-and-a-half century existence. That’s as opposed, let’s say, to where most people seek their definitive facts about the United States prior to the 21st century — Facebook and Twitter.
It is a longish essay that should be required reading before anyone takes to the streets, dons a mean-spirited and even vulgar T-shirt or tweets something hurtful or threatening from the comfort of their own couch.
In short, Grinspan shows the reader through extensive research (remember he works at the Smithsonian) that what is troubling the overwhelming majority of Americans today — the apparent threat to our democracy by people who care not for the norms of society or, for that matter, society at all — has happened before.
That was way back in the late 1800s and it lasted for decades. Most of us, however, don’t remember that time. One, we weren’t alive back then and, two, we missed that part in our American history classes!
As Grinspan writes, “From the 1860s through 1900, America was embroiled in a generation-long, culture wide war over democracy, fought through the loudest, roughest, closest elections in our history. An age of acrimony when engaged, enraged participation came to seem less like ‘a perversion of traditional American institutions,’ as one memorist observed, and more like their normal operation.’ ”
Does any of this sound vaguely familiar?
He continued, “The partisan combat of that era politicized race, class and religion but often came down to a fundamental debate about behavior. How should Americans participate in their democracy? What was out of bounds? Were fraud, violence and voter suppression the result of bad actors, or were there certain dangerous tendencies inherent in the very idea of self-government? Was reform even possible?”
Again, sound familiar?
There is so much more to Grinspan’s essay including some conclusions and some hope for most of us who were born into and remember the peaceful time of the 20th century and can’t understand why it feels like our country is falling apart and in need of someone or something to put us back together.
I cannot recommend the essay strongly enough to anyone who shares the constant consternation many of us feel right now as we watch, listen and worry our way through this never-ending ugliness that is cleaving our country in much the same way that I suspect Americans experienced in the late 1850s.
So, Virginia notwithstanding, there could be a Santa Claus in the words of Grinspan who gives us reason to be of good cheer — after all of us do the hard work that democracy requires.
He tells us how it was done and shows us the way forward. And, most importantly, what we learn is that our country has been there and done that. It’s scary but it is fixable.
So yes, Virginia, whether or not there is a Santa Claus, there is still reason to be of good cheer. Even when there is nothing right now to cheer about!
As for Grinspan’s essay? It appeared in The New York Times. I waited to the end because many of the people who need to read his words would never have gotten this far had I said that earlier.
You might say, just another sign of our Times!
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.