November 9-10, 2024: 2024 Election Reflections

So thathappened. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years thinking and writingabout the worst and best of America, and somehow I’m still surprised andsaddened when we lean into our worst. We can try to understand and analyzethese results in all sorts of ways, but the bottom line is that more than 70million of my fellow Americans voted for a candidate who expresses and embodiesnot just the worst attributes of human behavior and the worst impulses toward fascism,but also (and most relevantly to this blog) the worst of our shared historiesand national identity.

The onlyother thing I want to say here is this: over the last few days, I’ve started towork hard to lean in myself, into the people and things I love, into the bestin my life, from the biggest (my younger son as he moves through his senioryear, my older son as he continues to rock his freshman year in college, myparents, my wife) to the smallest (a Reese’s ice cream cake for no reason otherthan all the reasons). And one of the things I love most is the best of thework I get to do—in the classroom, on my podcast, in this blog, everywhere Iget to do this AmericanStudying thing. La lucha continua, and as ever I’m veryproud to be in it with y’all.

Bloganniversary series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?