Which Angel Will It Be?

I awoke from a dream this morning in which it seemed I was being registered in a concentration camp, filled with forms and regulations that had to be filled out and followed. As unpleasant as it was, the dream was mercifully short.

With the dream in mind, I began thinking about how easy it is to debase and dehumanize people. History and contemporary events readily bear that out. But what about the opposite? How difficult is it to ennoble people, raise their hopes for a better day, and, in general, appeal to the better angels of their nature?

At times it seems easy. I recall a day in 2015 where I felt inspiration and hope after the long dark night of Stephen Harper's rule. It was the day that Trudeau and his team walked to Rideau Hall to be sworn in with the promise of different and better things ahead.. But subsequent events, beginning with the Prime Minister breaking his vow on electoral reform and the reappearance of traditional Liberal arrogance, frayed those strands of hope over subsequent years.

Americans, it seems to me, are now at a similar juncture. After years of relentless denigration, debasement and violent incitements engineered by Don Trump, they now have an opportunity to embrace a new path which, one hopes, will prove less illusionary than the Trudeau one. That path is the one being laid out by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

And judging by reports, there is a real hunger for their message.

Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, continued their swing-state tour with rallies in rural Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, that the campaign said brought out more than 10,000 people each.

 In Eau Claire, a north-western Wisconsin city less than two hours from Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota, the rally drew attendees from both states – and 12,000 people in total, the campaign said. The Detroit rally on Wednesday night drew 15,000 supporters in another crucial swing state, the Harris campaign told reporters. Walz called it “the largest rally of the campaign” so far.

The big Detroit crowd repeatedly chanted: “We’re not going back,” Democrats’ counter to Trump’s anti-abortion politics and “make America great again” slogan.

 Attendees in Wisconsin said they were enthusiastic about seeing a Harris and Walz ticket. “I’m elated,” said Lori Schlecht, a teacher from Minnesota who said she was excited about Walz given his background in public education – Walz was a public school teacher before he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2006. “Minnesota is blessed to have him, and I’m glad to see him at the national level. He is authentic and real – he’ll get shit done.”

When given the opportunity, I think people crave authenticity, not the faux kind peddled by Trump and his people who rely, not on inspiring people, but provoking the worst angels of their nature. And judging by letters to the editor, Canadians are feeling the same hope:

In a plot twist worthy of a political thriller, Americans have just been given a chance to save themselves by choosing to do what’s right and no longer defaulting to the lesser evil. For the first time in a long time, American democracy appears to be working. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a previous social studies teacher, as her Democratic running mate. Consider the symbolism: a woman of colour and a teacher teaming up to challenge the re-election of Donald Trump, the reigning champion of insurrectionist chaos.

Walz brings to the table an educated notion that co-operation, not competition, is humanity’s evolutionary secret. This represents the clash of real humanistic values versus the phoney, weird MAGA values of Trumpist populists. This isn’t just a choice between red and blue. It’s a choice between reality and reality TV.  Let the “first Walz” for re-establishing credibility and decency in American democracy begin.

Tony D’Andrea, Toronto 

... In Walz, Harris has found a real mensch, a man who is as easy to work with as Donald Trump is the opposite. Walz can out-folksy the populism types, and he’s the real deal when it comes to wanting to make life better for working-class and poor families. 

Ron Charach, Toronto

We all await with bated breath which version of human nature the American people will choose.