This was an ugly election. There is no nice way to say it. Neither major party offered voters much of anything by way of inspiration or uplift. It is hard to remember another election when candidates were so lacking in vision or had so little of substance to say about the issues. All elections involve some mudslinging, but it was shocking how much of the discourse in this election devolved into ethnic slurs or class jibes, hyperbolic accusations or just calling one another garbage. There were alarming intimations of violence. There was actual violence. It is dispiriting indeed to have to give thanks that we made it to the election withouta successful assassination.
I know several people who refused to vote on the grounds that they were washing their hands of the entire shameful business. I did vote (though not for a major party presidential candidate), but I understood their feelings. Can’t Americans be better than this? I wanted to believe we were.
Sadly, it is nearly inconceivable that another Trump administration will lead the way in moving America back toward reasoned discourse, solidarity or civic peace. We know too much about Donald Trump to entertain that as a real possibility. Even at such grim moments, though, it is some comfort to recall that politics at its worst has alwaysbeen ugly, and that it is often the task of responsible citizens and faithful Christians to work patiently from wherever we are to plant new seeds, soften ugly impulses and blow on whatever promising sparks we may see. I do see some.
The most important is that the pro-life movement is no longer in free fall. Although seven states passed measures to preserve or expand abortion access, most of those (Missouri being the primary exception) had permissive abortion laws in any case. The fact that the pro-life cause won its first-ever ballot box victories in three states (Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota) is an occasion for hope. Forty-eight hours before the election, it began to look as though the pro-life movement might be on its very last legs, at least in the political sphere. It didn’t turn out that way. Many Republicans this year (beginning with Mr. Trump) have proven that they are now willing to jettison the pro-life cause, which is discouraging. But given how robustly the Democrats staked their 2024 campaigns on “abortion rights,” it is at least worth asking whether a chastened left might be open to softening that stance in the future. Meanwhile, West Virginia passed an amendment prohibiting assisted suicide, presumably in response to the harrowing example Canada has set with its “medical assistance in dying” policy.
It would seem that Americans do still have some willingness to protect innocent life. These are sparks. We should blow on them.
I take further encouragement from another thought. The ugliness of this election does partlyreflect the reality that a very large share of voters are unhappy with both parties and are frustrated by the poor alternatives being offered to them. This is, and remains, an opportunity for anyone, at any point along the political spectrum, who is able to build a platform and articulate a message that responds to our real challenges and appeals to American voters. It is possible that the Trump administration will lead the United States into catastrophe, either in what it does or in what it fails to do at a point of crisis. But looking over the Republicans’ recent history, it seems likelier that they will be feckless and indecisive, generating much bad feeling but little meaningful change. There is a vacuum at the core of American politics, and the party that manages to fill it could set the tone for our civic and political life for many years to come, as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the 1930s and Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s. Even or especially in the wake of an ugly election, Catholics should be reflecting on that vacuum and considering what it might take to fill it.
They can draw inspiration here from John Courtney Murray, S.J., the great Jesuit political theorist who saw the American experiment as being rooted in the natural law tradition and a recognizably Christian understanding of freedom. Americans yearn to be free, as indeed we always have. But from our earliest days, our civic conversation has always revolved around questions about the ends for which we desire freedom. Do we want to be free to build healthy families and communities, worship God in accord with our convictions, fulfill serious obligations, and lead lives of integrity and dignity? Or are we just looking to do whatever happens to please us, even at the expense of others’ happiness?
Today, we see younger generations especially wrestling with those same questions. Catholics, drawing on the wisdom of our own traditions, need to help them work through those questions. It would be rash to predict the future with any confidence, but this much at least seems evident to me: Young Americans knowthat they have been harmed by the erosion of family and community, and by a culture that offers them too much distraction and too little meaning. If some leader or message could help them to see the foundations of American life as Murray sees them, they might be persuadable.
Although the case is hard to prove, I also believe that most Americans want to live in a society that leaves people considerable room to raise families, build communities and live peacefully in accord with their convictions. Intolerance reigns in the political sphere, but are Americans actually unwilling to live with each other? Or is that just a symptom of desperate political parties trying to compensate for their lack of vision?
Whatever the answer to those questions, it is worth noting that the United States has survived fraught political moments in the past. Indeed, it is often in the worst political moments that we have the most occasion to appreciate the strength of the U.S. Constitution that has stabilized our republic through these dark hours. Ruthless and power-hungry figures can arise in any age, and they are harmful, no matter what constraints the political process may place on them. But a good Constitution can limit the damage. Ours has certainly done that on many past occasions. In recent years, it has been strained at various points, but thus far it has successfully limited the damage done by unscrupulous and demagogic figures, reckless populists, and even a few violent mobs. We should all be anxious to bolster forms of good government, wherever and however we can. We should also teach younger generations to respect them.
We remain one nation under God. And at the conclusion of another election cycle, we should humbly and sincerely ask for his blessing.
