We are only one week from the 2024 General Election in the United States. I don’t know the outcome, and I can’t predict. I have a strong opinion and value my right to vote, but I can’t control who wins, who loses or what measures pass or fail. I can control my intake of rhetoric regardless of the victor. Election day will not end the story, no matter the winner. If my candidate wins, I will feel better. But history has proven that winning or losing an election doesn’t end the story. Adolf Hitler lost an election in 1932 and, afterward, went on to dominate the political arena as a self-proclaimed dictator. He was stopped, but then oppressive communism took over much of Germany. There were decades of chaos, but things eventually improved, and the country has moved past its troubled history.
This country is stronger than one elected position and one election cycle. Can considerable damage be done? Yes. Of course. However, the founding fathers were wise enough to put in a check-and-balance system that would prevent any one individual or political party from ending the democracy we hold so dear.
Many talk about “today’s world” with a doom and gloom attitude. I think humanity has been saying the same thing for centuries. These political battles are nothing new. We’ve been dealing with bad politicians and evil for a long time. But I know that the United States of America can and will survive the 2024 campaign and the next US president. God will allow no evil that he cannot transform for good.
Do we need to learn from the political divisions and eliminate the hate and blame? Yes. But our country is more than just one ugly election cycle.