Hot Take: Cars Should Have Brakes

At my kids’ daycare, any toddler-on-toddler violence that left a mark got written up—one note for the victim’s parents, another note for the perpetrator’s. These notes were always detailed and direct, but in an effort to prevent ill will between families, the other kid involved in the conflict was never named. 

One day at pick-up, I found one of these “Incident Reports” in my daughter’s cubby. It was a shocker: “Today, a child hit Anna on the hand with a shovel.”

A shovel??? I thought: who does that? And what kind of parents are raising such monsters? 

I was quietly outraged all the way down the hall to the room where my son—housed with a slightly younger cohort of children—was playing. In his cubby, I found another note: “Today, Peter hit a child on the hand with a shovel.”

Ooof.

This remains the tidiest Outrage Comeuppance I’ve ever experienced, but it’s by no means the only one. Life (my life at least!) is full of them. In fact, I had another one just yesterday:

For years, I’ve been so mad about Trump’s shameless attacks on election integrity. That he could denigrate with bald-faced lies this hallowed process that is run with such earnestness and care by thousands of career public servants and hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens??? It was enough to make my democracy-loving head pop off. 

And then this: the gut-punching revelation that the second Republican Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s four-way Senate race did not, it seems, enter the race on his own steam but was recruited as a spoiler by Democratic operatives—from a pool of men named Dan Sullivan. Gahhhh. 

I don’t care if such antics are technically legal. I don’t care that so-called “ballot-stacking” is a longtime, bipartisan ploy. It’s just so slimy—and so incredibly stupid. There has been a substantial drop in trust in U.S. elections over the last few years. That’s the fault of Donald Trump, his many enablers, foreign meddling, social media, and, we must add, anyone from any party who has joined this race to the bottom. 

So, what now? 

We vote anyway. We encourage everyone we know to vote. If our personalities and schedules allow, we encourage complete strangers to vote! Precisely because trust in elections is so low, we need extraordinary turnout—not because it guarantees that everyone will accept the results, but because the more of us who participate, the harder it becomes to dismiss the will of the people. 

I’m always in the market for heroes, and I genuinely admire some of the political talentthat’s emerging, but I’m heading into this particular election not with stars in my eyes but with ice in my veins. I want Democrats to win the House and the Senate next week for the same reason I’m only comfortable riding in cars that can stop. Right now, we’re careening toward a cliff past which the consolidation of wealth and power will be very difficult to unwind. To me, this election is about one thing and one thing alone: slamming on the brakes. 

A few hat tips to readers…

Thank you to the reader-friend who reminded me on a call this week about that long-ago daycare incident. It was so good to talk with you, and it is no exaggeration to say that I am thinking of you every day.

Another reader-friend sent me this piece and asked what I think of it: How to Stop Trump’s Coup: Lessons from South Korea. I like all five of Loeb’s takeaways, and the final point—“Create festive, diverse forms of resistance”—makes me think lovingly of Party at the Polls, an initiative I really admire.

One of you asked me to write about Cornell. I can’t for various reasons, but I can recommend this forward-looking piece by Christel Trutmann, which I think is excellent: “Beyond Yes and No. The Cornell Seven story shows us how our current understanding of consent fails us. I have a better idea.” I don’t know Trutmann, but I agree that her idea is better—much better—and I hope it takes off. I sent this piece to both of my kids (now a freshman in college and a senior in high school), and I know that some friends I shared it with sent it to their grown kids as well. If it resonates with you, please pass it around. 

Thank you also to the nine of you who participated in Monday’s book chat. I loved hearing your thoughts, and I was happy to have such geographic diversity—Florida, Tennessee, Montana!—in a discussion that touched on regional differences. 

Thumbnail pic: These are the colored pencils I’ve used to track results in past elections. For Tuesday, I’ve created a few coloring pages to track the House, Senate, and governors’ races. Email me if you want a set of these pages to color along. Trust me—it’s very soothing.