'Twas the Night Before Christmas

At 2:00 p.m. ET on Christmas Eve, Joe Biden (or, more likely, one of his comms staffers) fired up Ex-Twitter to send a message appropriate to the holiday. Here it is:

Fairly standard stuff; writing a short, reasonably uplifting message the day before Christmas has got to be one of the easiest tasks on a politician's to-do list, right? Even ChatGPT can do it credibly:

Wishing you a joyous and heartwarming Christmas filled with love, laughter, and cherished moments. May the festive spirit surround you, bringing peace and happiness to you and your loved ones. Merry Christmas!

Again, it's a low bar to clear.

As you have probably guessed, Donald Trump also got on social media (his failing boutique platform, in this case) to share a Christmas Eve message. Here's his:

We've developed a pretty thick skin when it comes to Trump's rants and raves, but this one managed to pierce our armor a bit. For goodness' sake, he can't drop the paranoia and the rage for just one minute, to send out a semi-gracious message in the spirit of the season? It's a little bit soul-crushing to be reminded that he's just so hollow and so desperate to feel... whatever it is he's capable of feeling. And this message isn't taken out of context; Trump's output on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was 50% rage, 20% polls showing him ahead of Biden, 20% fawning messages from people bowing before the throne, 5% a picture of him and Melania that says "Merry Christmas" and 5% a reminder that he had a cameo in the Christmas film Home Alone 2. Trump's near-total inability to control himself, whether it's at Christmas, or in court, or in any other context, makes us wonder if it's not just performative anymore, and if maybe he's losing/lost the battle with some sort of dementia. We're obviously not psychologists, and we obviously haven't examined him, but reading a message like that has us really wondering if he can handle the strain of 4 more years in the White House, if he's reelected.

Other than that, we're rendered semi-speechless by the... depravity of Trump's "Christmas" message(s). So, we're going to use this opportunity to pass on a brief reflection on Trump that was written by a British fellow named Nate White. This has been sent in to us by at least a dozen readers, and has been bouncing around social media for a few years:

Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace—all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing—not once, ever. I don't say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility—for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it's a fact. He doesn't even seem to understand what a joke is—his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults—he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It's all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don't. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He's not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He's more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff—the Queensberry rules of basic decency—and he breaks them all. He punches downwards—which a gentleman should, would, could never do—and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless—and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority—perhaps a third—of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think "Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy" is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it's impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of sh**. His faults are fractal: Even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W. look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws—he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: "My God... what... have... I... created?" If being a tw** was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.

White really hits the bullseye, we think. And his mini-essay describes perfectly Trump's Christmas "message," despite the fact that the essay was written years before the message was ever sent. (Z)

The Last Refuge of Ticket-Splitting? We Think Not

Since Washington is pretty much shut down (deliberately, not by a Ted Cruz tantrum), these are the dog days for people who write about politics. So, we are at least somewhat sympathetic to the two Politico writers who tried to squeeze some important insight out of the 2024 gubernatorial elections. The piece is headlined "Can ticket-splitting governor races survive a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024?" And the thesis is: "America's governors have been the last bulwark against complete political polarization. That dynamic might not survive Donald Trump being on the ballot again."

We read the article with much interest, because we thought we might have missed something in the 2020 results. In fact, we really didn't. In that year, the number of states that voted one way for governor, and the other way for president was... three. And each of the three is pretty clearly sui generis, for one reason or another:

1. New Hampshire: Chris Sununu (R) was an incumbent, and scion of the state's foremost political dynasty. The Granite State is very purple (PVI: D+1); the Democrats there tend to be pretty moderate, while the Republicans tend to be Reagan Republicans (like Sununu) and not Trump Republicans.
   
   
2. North Carolina: Roy Cooper (D) was also an incumbent, and a moderate. His opponent, Dan Forest (R), was a far-right nutter. North Carolina is also very purple (PVI: R+3).
   
   
3. Vermont: Phil Scott (R) was—wait for it—an incumbent, and a very popular one at that. While Vermont is very blue (PVI: D+16), voters there tend to pride themselves on their independent streak, which is why one of their senators (Bernie Sanders) isn't a Democrat or a Republican.

Meanwhile, in 2024, there are a total of four states where it's even slightly plausible that the presidential result and the gubernatorial result might be different:

1. New Hampshire: Sununu is retiring, and the race is a toss-up.
   
   
2. North Carolina: Cooper is retiring, and the race leans slightly Democratic, because the Democrats are likely to nominate a Cooper clone in AG Josh Stein, while the Republicans are likely to nominate another nutter in Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
   
   
3. Vermont: Scott is not retiring, but some people think that maybe there will be a blue wave that washes him overboard. We don't buy it.
   
   
4. Washington: Jay Inslee (D) is retiring, and some people think that moderate Republican Dave Reichert might be able to replace him. Seems like a longshot to us.

In short, there were three governor/president splits in 2020, and in 2024 there will probably be two, and maybe three. There are just no firm conclusions to be drawn here about increased polarization over the past 4 years. (Z)

The Anti-Haley Forces Are Rallying

We have consistently been skeptical that the people who form Donald Trump's base could ever line up, en masse, behind a brown woman who used to be a Sikh. The majority, maybe, but to win presidential elections on the Trump plan, you need every MAGA man and woman on deck.

Looks like we're not crazy. Or, if we are, our suppositions about Haley are not the proof of it. We say that because there has been a significant anti-Haley backlash in the last couple of weeks, along exactly the lines you would expect. There is, of course, the sexism, which has been on display during the Republican candidates' debates, and which has ratcheted up since. There is, of course, the racism, with model citizen Charlie Kirk taking the lead in demeaning Haley's racial and cultural background. And Tucker Carlson, who is both a sexist and a racist, has made clear that if Haley is on the Republican ticket, he will support a third-party candidate.

There are two clear signals coming through there, courtesy of the base and the far-right media establishment: (1) If Trump is unable to run, the RNC better not choose Haley as his replacement, and (2) If Trump is able to run, he better not choose Haley as his running mate. Trump follows more than he leads, particularly when it comes to the Tucker Carlsons and Charlie Kirks of the world, so we assume this ends any chance of her being tapped for the #2 slot. Meanwhile, do you think the GOP base and its media heroes will evolve substantially, in terms of tolerance, by 2028? We don't. (Z)

"Wildest, Wackiest College Classes"

Over the past several weeks, we've had a fair bit of commentary on how universities work, and whether or not there is some sort of programming, propagandizing or brainwashing going on. Today, we thought we might as well write about a complementary argument made by right-wing types, a different line of attack that is also used to "prove" that universities are ridiculous places filled with ridiculous people: lists of the "crazy" classes being taught on various campuses nationwide.

This bit began with Rush Limbaugh, who launched it at least 20 years ago. He's dead now, of course, so Fox has picked up the banner. Here is the 2022 list:

• Introduction to Surfing (Pepperdine)
• Nature of Society: Beyoncé and Intersectionality (Texas Christian University)
• Tree Climbing (Cornell)
• Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular 'Logic' on TV Judge Shows (Berkeley)
• Nip, Tuck, Perm, Pierce, Tattoo, Embalm: Adventures with Embodied Cultures (Alfred University)
• Harry Potter: Understanding Good & Evil (High Point University)
• Going Viral (Montclair State)
• Dealing Tactfully with Difficult People (UCLA)
• Cow to Cone (Penn State)
• Clap for Credit (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
• Failure (NYU)
• Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame (University of South Carolina)
• Introduction to World Puppetry (UConn)
• How 'The Simpsons' Saved American Literature (Hofstra)
• Serial Murder (High Point)

Fox had a 2023 list, too, but it's much shorter, so we're working with the 2022 list because it gives us more to discuss.

Before looking at the specific courses, let's note a few things. First, there are 3,736 universities in the United States, and their catalogs include anywhere from a couple of hundred different courses to a couple of thousand. If we guess an average of 750 course offerings, which is probably conservative given the existence of extension/distance learning programs, that's a little less than 3 million different courses. Even if there are a few loopy ones in there (and there are, though Fox doesn't know enough to know where to find them), judging the entire higher education establishment on the basis of a few outliers is exactly the same thing as judging the entire professoriate based on a few nutters.

Second, speaking of extension/distance learning, many universities have turned to such programs as a way of helping to pay the bills. These courses are often not part of a degree-granting course of instruction, and are more akin to what's on offer at the local YMCA or senior center. In other words, academic rigor may be a bit on the light side, while the emphasis may be on fun/marketability.

Third, and finally, any course that does count towards a degree must be reviewed as part of the accreditation process. In other words, if "Harry Potter: Understanding Good & Evil" can be taken for credits toward a degree from High Point University, it means that one of the accrediting agencies (in this case, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) has taken a look and deemed it legitimate. And these people are literally the experts in what constitutes a substantive education.

With that out of the way, let's reorganize the list of classes above into four groupings:

Take a Breather

• Introduction to Surfing (Pepperdine)
• Tree Climbing (Cornell)
• Clap for Credit (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Sitting in a lecture hall all day can be pretty mind-numbing. Meanwhile, variable unit courses (particularly courses with a lab component, and also language courses) can leave students just a unit or two short of being a full-time enrollee (and thus eligible for financial aid, etc.), but without the space to take another full course.

Courses like these three solve one or both problems. They are all one-unit courses that allow students a change of pace for an hour or two a week, and might possibly work to fill out their schedules. But nobody's getting their degree on a foundation of surfing, tree climbing, and serving as the audience for music department rehearsals. Underwater basket weaving, maybe, but that's limited to one university in downtown Los Angeles.

Make It Interesting

• Nature of Society: Beyoncé and Intersectionality (Texas Christian University)
• Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular 'Logic' on TV Judge Shows (Berkeley)
• Harry Potter: Understanding Good & Evil (High Point University)
• Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame (University of South Carolina)
• How 'The Simpsons' Saved American Literature (Hofstra)
• Serial Murder (High Point)

These are generally the classes that drive conservative commentators the nuttiest. Certainly that was the case with Rushbo. "How dare universities pander to students with classes about Harry Potter and Judge Judy!" is the general idea. What right-wingers either don't understand, or choose to ignore, is that these classes aren't really about Lady Gaga or The Simpsons. They are about learning how to use information, how to think critically, how to write, etc. If the raw material being used to practice these skills is more accessible, then the end result is usually better. Is that pandering? Maybe a tiny bit, but not a lot. And the fact is, students are more likely to encounter Harry Potter or The Simpsons after they graduate than they are Geoffrey Chaucer or the plays of Molière.

Check the Department

• Cow to Cone (Penn State)
• Introduction to World Puppetry (UConn)

It's not true anymore, but many years ago, California created the UCs (UCLA, Berkeley, etc.) to teach the "learned" professions (law, education, medicine, etc.) and the CSUs (San Luis Obispo, Pomona, etc.) to teach the "skilled" professions (animal husbandry, textile design, restaurant management, etc.). Though California (along with most other states) has abandoned this model, there are still many universities whose curricula include skills-based courses. "Cow to Cone," which is obviously a class about ice cream making, may sound silly... until you learn it's offered by Penn State's agriculture department. Similarly, the puppetry course is offered by UConn's design department. Examining how different cultures express themselves through one particular type of performance is actually very instructive. Plus, the course is undoubtedly cross-listed in the art and theater departments.

Why Are These on the List?

• Nip, Tuck, Perm, Pierce, Tattoo, Embalm: Adventures with Embodied Cultures (Alfred University)
• Going Viral (Montclair State)
• Dealing Tactfully with Difficult People (UCLA)
• Failure (NYU)

These courses, we're not even sure what the objection is. The first course is a 100%, down the middle of the plate, legit anthropology course. The second is the same, except the discipline is communications. As to the third, we realize that tact is not a Fox specialty, but is it not obvious how that skill would be broadly applicable in nearly any profession? And finally, the NYU Failure course is wildly popular, and has been credited with significantly improving campus mental health by giving students critical coping skills. You would think Fox would appreciate the value in learning how to deal with failure—the 2020 election, the Dominion case, Bill O'Reilly, Tucker Carlson, etc.

We don't know how much of what we have written above is obvious to non-academics. Maybe some of it, maybe a lot of it. In any event, we think it's a pretty good case study for how right-wing anti-education types either don't know what they are talking about, or are being deliberately disingenuous. (Z)

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

We really wanted to run this yesterday, but the universe had other ideas. Oh, well.

As a reminder, the reader question of the week last Saturday was this:

M.B. in St. Paul, MN, asks: Can you—or your readers—make me feel better about the state of the world these days? I look at my 2-year-old son and I can't help but be terrified by what the future holds. The Mideast, Trump, Putin. Sometimes it's too much, and maybe we could all use a little hand holding.

And now, some of the many thoughtful answers we got, organized by theme:

Turn, Turn, Turn

R.E.M. in Brooklyn, NY: M.B., you're right to be concerned with the state of the world and how to make it better—one always should be. Things seem worse though simply because we are living in these times and don't yet know how they will turn out. But consider the past—the 1930s and early '40s carried an even greater threat of worldwide dictatorship, but as we know, the world came through it, but people living in those times didn't know it would work out that way. From the 1950s through the 1980s, the world lived with the threat of nuclear war, and many people despaired over its seeming inevitability, but we now know it didn't happen (though we came close in 1962 and 1983). Remember the hole in the ozone layer? It's disappearing, which gives me hope for addressing global warming.

At the same time, there are good things now that we take for granted that simply didn't exist before. Imagine what COVID would have done to the world if it had hit in 1990—no mRNA vaccines, no internet communications. And for all the garbage on the Internet, we also have essentially all human knowledge at our fingertips—I used to have to go to libraries to research and then hand- or type-write the results; now I can sit at my dining room table and research, write and edit more easily and in my pajamas.

Worried about virulent, violent bigotry? There are now more opportunities for women and people of color than ever before. I've seen a Black president elected, but when I was born, it was still a big deal that a Catholic man was president. Being gay was considered a mental illness. When I graduated from high school, no woman had ever sat on the Supreme Court.

We face massive challenges, no doubt. There is great evil in the world that must be battled. But we have faced worse with less, and things have, overall, gotten better. U.S. life expectancy is 10 percent higher today than when I was born. With hard work and some luck, your son will be around to welcome an even better 22nd Century.

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C.D. in Guernsey, Channel Islands: The best way to be optimistic about the present and future is to remember how much worse things were in the past. I recently found a newspaper from November 1979 and the headlines included:

• The Soviet Union conducting nuclear weapons tests
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan continuing
• The Ayatollah returning to Iran to seize power in a revolution
• An environmental catastrophe from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
• KKK members and Neo-Nazis firing on unarmed protesters, killing 5
• A military coup in Bolivia
• Inflation hitting 13%
• The US government considering a massive auto industry bailout

The entire Cold War era was full of wars and threatened wars, international and domestic instability, economic fiascos and environmental disasters, on a scale much worse than anything we see today. And of course, the era from 1914 through 1945 was much, much worse than the Cold War. Compared to what our parents and grandparents went through, we live in a relative paradise.

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A.S. in Fairfax, VA: My MAGA grandmother recently told me how terrible everything in the world is today and how it was so much better when she was younger (1940s and 50s). She then proceeded to tell me about her visit to Norway back then and how funny it was to have to go to the outhouse across the street because there was no plumbing and no real bathroom there.

On the average, our quality of life has improved dramatically over the last century, let alone since the beginning of our time. Humans are still animals and will act like it with regularity, but I would think less about the challenges we face and more about the potential developments in technology and medicine on the horizon. Look at what has changed since you and/or your parents were born and imagine that amount of progress over your child's life!

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A.H. in Newberg, OR: Let me refine that a little bit.

April 1969. I was looking at my draft notice. My wife had just given birth to our son, Jon, 5 months earlier. I still had 3 months before I would graduate from Oregon State University. I had already lost a high school classmate in Vietnam. I knew several classmates who had been drafted or enlisted and were running through the jungle, a couple more who took extended vacations in Canada. My younger brother was in the Army and awaiting orders. Nixon promised to end the war but the carnage and deaths continued. War protests filled the nightly news. The world was going to Hell in a handbasket. I survived, as did my brother; he also lost a classmate in the rice paddies. I know several who have suffered from PTSD or exposure to Agent Orange. (To my classmates or anyone else who visited that lovely tourist destination SEA, Check out your potential VA benefits under the PACT act.)

It is a little over 54 years since I was looking at that draft notice. We went on to have three more children plus five spouses, then eight grandchildren, plus a granddaughter-in-law, and come August there is a wedding planned to add a grandson-in-law. and now a GREAT-grandson, Jonas, enriches our lives.

My parents passed away several years ago. I had the good fortune to inherit a trove of letters that had been written between my mother and father before they were married, and throughout World War II, and after they were married but separated by the war's requirements. They are very poignant and enlightening. My father writing from "Somewhere in Germany" about getting wounded. My mother writing about life in Oregon and working in mister Kaiser's shipyard. Would this war ever end and could we return to normal?

Can I make you "feel better about the state of the world these days?" I am sorry, I probably can not. From my parents' letters, I recognize that same question from them +/- 80 years ago. From my own experience I had those same questions. The world is still filled with chaos and confusion, death and destruction seems to be everywhere, and we are still "going to Hell in a hand basket." My parents survived the calamities of their day. My wife and I are still living the dream and wondering how we got this far. I pray each day for my children, grandchildren, and great-grandson. What the future will bring I cannot answer. All I know is that we have muddled through this far and I have to believe that we will continue to find some way to keep on going.

From your question, I cannot determine your gender, hopefully this is appropriate. From the group Kansas:

Focus on Your Son

J.K. in Silverdale, WA: When I was pregnant with my first child, I remember walking into work one day feeling horribly depressed. I had listened to NPR on my drive to work, and the coverage focused on the atrocities of the Iraq War. I said to an older colleague that sometimes I questioned what I was doing bringing a child into this world. He told me that he had the same thoughts when his wife was pregnant during the Vietnam conflict, but that since his daughter was born, he had never regretted it.

The very fact that you are looking at your 2-year-old son and the state of the world and fearing for his future tells me that you are raising him well, that he will develop the qualities that humanity needs. Indeed, my former colleague's words suggest that humans have had these concerns for generations, enough of them that we are still here.

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F.L. in Allen, TX: I was an engineer and a secondary STEM teacher for some time. Yes, there are some "problem children" that need a come-to-Jesus moment with Mom and Dad. Yet, by and large, the majority of kids can spot horse hockey from a mile away. I intentionally taught some debunked theories (i.e. phlogiston, ether, spontaneous generation, phrenology, etc.) and I would ask, on a test, "Wot's rong with this picher?" They nailed it every time.

Kids are wicked smart. They can spot the hogwash. Oddly, it's the "problem child" that usually does the My Cousin Vinny act.

The fact that M.B. is concerned tells me that the kids are all right.

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C.S. in Philadelphia, PA: I have a two-and-a-half year old son and I will admit to having some of that same dread. In the midst of the Hamas atrocities, I looked into his eyes and thought in another universe, it could have been us. Yet, he knows nothing of this. He smiles. He laughs. He memorizes everything from pop songs to prayers because this is what his mother and I fill him with. Though oddly, he picked up the word "Netanyahu." Fill your son with optimism and he will do the same back to you.

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S.D. in Holden, MA: There are a lot of directions I could take to answer this. The trends worldwide towards less poverty and more medical care (which in every case in the world brings a nation's population under control). The fact that the world, for perhaps the first time in history, recognizes the importance of human rights and our collective responsibility to the planet, even if we aren't yet very good at doing those things. The fact that the world survived the most devastating pandemic in at least 100 years, and possibly since the Black Plague, and though we are tired and scared, medical progress has improved and the world is recovering, much faster than many thought possible.

However, since you mentioned you have a 2-year-old son, I will answer instead by talking a little bit about my own sons. They are 23 and 21 now, which means that they were less than one and unborn when 9/11 happened. I remember how scared we all were in that moment. We lived in New Jersey at that time. I knew people who were in Manhattan that day. Would there be more attacks soon? What else had been planned? How many more American citizens and world citizens would be killed? Should we even be having kids in an environment like that?

Sure, lots of things, good and bad, have happened since then, in the world, in our nation and in my own life. But one thing I can say when I compare then to now is that I have the privilege to know two fine young men. One just graduated from college and is working in his chosen field, educating young and old on the importance and joys of science. The other will graduate from college in the spring and is already doing research in his chosen field, alternative energy and carbon reduction.

I take no credit for any aspect of how these two sons of mine turned out, but when you ask me to tell you ways in which the future will be better, I can tell you that 20 years from now you will marvel at the person your son has become. Love him, nurture him, participate in his life and give him the tools and skills to think for himself and protect the rights of others. Good things will happen.

Helpful Advice

M.l. in Wilton Manors, FL: News follows a simple formula "If it bleeds, it leads." This can make you think the world is falling apart. But it is not. I suggest you try replacing some of your existing news by reading science news. This will help you see the world as it will be in the future. Remember COVID and the vaccines scientists quickly developed? The messenger RNA technology has been around for a while, but governments were hesitant to allow vaccines using this technology to go into circulation. COVID changed that. Now this same technology is being used to develop vaccines for SARS, MERS, Hepatitis C, HIV, Influenza, Malaria, Norovirus, Tuberculosis, Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell Anemia and even heart attack, stroke and cancer! Science helps convert terrible events into a good future.

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M.E. in Stanwood, WA: The thing to remember is that for every story of terror, corruption, anger, and hatred there are three other stories not reported about things going well. When was the last time a story was told about the success seen in a classroom or a story about a family getting the support they needed due to the hard work of organizations? Goodness and hope still exist in the world, it is just not worthy to be told by the media.

I recommend a newsletter produced by Future Crunch. They work hard at telling stories of good news.

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K.A. in Takoma Park, MD: I have to do something. I don't like phone banking, and can't go door-knocking anymore, so I write postcards. I volunteer with PostcardsToVoters.org, but there are many other similar groups. This one works to increase turnout, especially in close races. They are also currently running a campaign in Florida to get people to register to vote by mail. Actually, I've taken it a step further in that I make up kits of postcards, stamps and the message to copy and give the kits out to friends who are interested. They always help pay for the stamps and printing. I have read that postcards increase turnout from 2%-10%, though I can't back that up definitively.

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M.M. in San Diego, CA: Taking action helps tamp down anxiety. As you read the world's preeminent political analysis website, I surmise political action may appeal to you. Your local county Democratic Party is always in need of volunteers for Get Out the Vote efforts, especially for the general election. With a 2-year-old, you may not have any spare time for volunteering, but if you can manage an hour or two a week, you'd meet a lot of amazing people who share your concerns and who aren't about to let fascism get a toehold in America. (Now I have Casablanca playing in my head when Victor Laszlo says to Rick, "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win.")

Wisdom of Ages

A.F. in Boston, MA: If you need hope in a seemingly hopeless world, look to the people that have suffered for millennia and yet have survived it all: Jews.

As a Jewish person with family history in Eastern Europe, the Holocaust has always loomed large in my life. One of many questions about that time is "Why have children in the ghettos and camps? Wasn't it hopeless?" The answer was always hope—hope that the awful time would pass and the children would live on. And while the Holocaust was so awful in so many ways, they were right. It passed and their children lived on. The Jewish people survived.

Given that your son is close to the same age as my daughter means that you likely faced a similar decision as us during the height of COVID pandemic fears. Would this pass? What kind of world would this child be entering 9 months from now? Despite all that fear and uncertainty, we decided to go for it. It was an expression of hope that the pandemic would pass and the world would survive. The very existence of my daughter and your son are a form of proof that we believe the world will be better in the future.

I know this is getting long, but I also have to share this bit of Jewish folk music written by the legendary Debbie Friedman:

It's natural that as we get older, the world gets scarier but we get wiser. We can survive this trial and guide the next generation to be better than we were, just as our parents guided us. You have time. You have strength. You have life.

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L.T. in Vienna, Austria: Mahatma Gandhi said: "When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it—always."

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J.W. in Los Angeles, CA: There's a terrific performance of Thorton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" available for streaming; here's one link. This production stars Harold Gould, Emma Thompson, and Blair Brown. It was performed at the Old Globe in San Diego and broadcast on PBS. I remember watching the original broadcast; I lately think of it often and have rewatched this performance from time to time (the sound is terrible, unfortunately). It may seem surprising that a 1942 play can deftly tackle global climate change, mass extinction, immigration, adultery, and war with so much humor, but Wilder succeeds.

For example, after successfully separating N from M, Mr. Antrobus (the lead character) comes home from work only to throw the mammoth and dinosaur out of the house to save Moses and Homer from the wall of ice. Mrs. Antrobus' speech to the philandering Mr. Antrobus is cheer-worthy to this day, and the big boat all the mammals are boarding before the big wave hits brings them together again. In the end, after the war, Mr. Antrobus' books were saved and he's certain the ideas in them will make a difference, such as words from Spinoza and Plato (the "O Critias" speech... relevant today as any words ever spoken). At the end, the maid (who asserts her rights as a worker from time to time) reminds us that "the world's at sixes and sevens, and why the house hasn't fallen down about our ears long ago is a miracle to me," then that "the end of this play isn't written yet."

This play probably isn't timely for a 2-year-old. But the ideas behind it are: strength in the family, kindness to those in need, working to make the world better in the face of natural and human-caused disaster. We've happened on a moment in a story thousands of years in the making, and the end isn't written yet.

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G.M. in San Francisco, CA: I, too, am worried about the state of the world and what the future holds. The best I can offer is to share the Buddha's teaching that we should be "of this world but not burdened by it." Difficult as this might seem, it is possible to care about the world but not be consumed by the bad news.

In Case You Have More Time to Burn

D.P. in Bronxville, NY: As it happens, a couple of years ago I gave a lecture on this subject to a college class. Here is a slightly updated version of the presentation in PDF format. I hope that it brings a little bit of holiday cheer.

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J.B. in Montgomery, IL: There's a decent thread on Reddit about this right now.

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D.A. in Orangetown, NY: I don't know. I don't know what the future holds. I found this commencement speech by Patton Oswalt, at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, to be somewhat helpful in that regard:

But I don't know whether it will speak to you. I hope it does.

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D.E. in Sanford, FL: May I suggest a book: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in! (Z)

A December to Rhymember, Part XVI: Haikus, Again

We didn't intend to return to this particular form so quickly, but these two go very well with today's first item. So, here's D.S. in Palo Alto, CA:

Silent, Holy Night?
In the age of TFG
It's wishful thinking.

And A.T. in Sonoma, CA:

The orange Jesus
Celebrates Colorado,
Grievance feeds his flock

We shall see what tomorrow brings; send your submissions to comments@electoral-vote.com. (Z)

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---The Votemaster and Zenger