Who Won the Election?
Friends,
Who won the election? That’s been the question of the week, one wrought with contestation, argument, and challenge. At the time of writing this, it looks like Joe Biden will be our next president? So, where do we go from here?
Here is the good news: more people participated in this election than in any other election in US history. We know this to be true in terms of total votes cast. In terms of turnout (% of the electorate), it was the highest turnout in over 100 years, despite it being held during a pandemic. Regardless of who you voted for, what you believe in, or how you feel today, I hope you can agree that people voting is a good thing. If we don't make the change we want with ballots, we tend to make them with bullets. I know what I prefer!
The pandemic obviously drove mail-in ballots to historically high numbers. That, coupled with a very tight and divided nation, pushed the finality of a decision out longer than most would prefer. So, we’ve had the opportunity this week to practice something we are really not good at: PATIENCE.
This election has made me think much deeper about the concept of winning and losing. Regardless of the final outcome, especially in this presidential election, almost half the country will be disappointed, unhappy, angry, and feel abandoned. The other side will celebrate, feel jubilant, and joyous.
I believe there are limits to the idea of majority rule, despite the fact that I have no solutions or coherent arguments for a change. Even so, I think that leadership MUST concern themselves with positively affecting the lives of more than 51% of the people they are leading. No company would do particularly well if 49% of its employees were constantly as unhappy as the losing party of any US political election. It simply wouldn't work. The job of leadership in any context is to build coalitions across wider spectrums of beliefs and opinions and create a large enough tent so that at least MOST people affected by your leadership can thrive and do well given their particular situation. Politics have become extremely divisive. The only goal of the other side seems to be to block, distract, delay, and ultimately defeat their opponents – not help them do what’s best for all in any capacity. Something won is defined by someone else’s loss. With this logic, we are all losing. These conditions discourage productivity and have caused many of us to lose faith in politics as a driver of any meaningful change. It's a pie-throwing contest, and we don't even get to taste the pie. It's about time to change that game.
How did we end up here? I have discussed this before, primarily in this post and in several others, you can find here.
I was trained early in my career that human motivation really only has two fundamental and underlying drivers: we either want to experience LOVE or avoid experiencing FEAR. Nearly all actions we take, big or small, have a dominant driver. We want more love or less fear.
When it comes to politics, I feel that voters have been more inclined to cast their votes for leaders that they feel can help us avoid what they FEAR, rather than the leaders that can help take them towards what they LOVE.
Love and fear are like light and darkness. You don’t ever eliminate darkness. You overcome it with light. Same with fear – its antidote is love.
I know that too many Americans are unhappy with politics. I know I am. We have every right to be. We can, and must, do better across so many dimensions of challenges we are facing. But the question we have to ask ourselves is: will more hate of the other ever lead us to where we want to be? You know how the saying goes: an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind (Gandhi).
We don’t behave this way in the organizations we work in. We certainly don’t behave like this with our children. For any parents out there, have your offspring ever challenged your thinking, disagreed with your view of the world, or made you temporarily upset? Of course, they have. But most of us (I hope) respond with more love, not hate. We extend trust, arms, and suppor so that our children can grow and thrive.
America needs a new project – a project of healing. We need to stop hating. Stop distrusting people who are voting for someone else, or for having a different point of view. All of us need to reach across the aisle. An open, vibrant, and rich society needs an equally open, vibrant, and rich conversation. All rooted in respect for the other and a shared belief that productive discourse is what makes us all stronger and better.
As you well know, I am very passionate about the future of food. I also believe our industrial agricultural practices have contributed significantly to poorer health, unethical animal practices, the degradation of our soil, and has limited the capacity of our land to sequester carbon and grow more nutritious food. The good news is that the concept of regenerative farming is growing. This framework can be extended to other systems that are hurting more than they are helping – we also need regenerative politics. We need to repair, rebuild, and restore trust in what makes society work.
So, this is my hope for our next President. There is one overriding objective. And that must be to heal a deeply divided nation. I hope the majority will resist using their power to “only” drive agendas good for “their” 51% and invite the other 49% to be co-creators of policies and agendas that can start bridging these deep divisions and ultimately help bring about a better conversation which in turn will lead to a better future.
Lastly, and most importantly, we all have a role to play. It's not about THEM. This is about US. Let's reach out. Let's try to understand before we judge. Let's not reject people just because we disagree. There is a way to disagree without being disagreeable. And that is on all of us.
I remain hopeful, because I fundamentally believe in the goodness of the human spirit. People are by far more good than bad. Not all, and not always. But it is our collective job here on this planet to lean in to LOVE more than FEAR and help ourselves be the best versions of ourselves.
Here are a few things I highly recommend:
This Documentary KISS THE GROUND on the promise of regenerative farming is incredibly powerful and hopeful. We have to stop subsidizing bad and unsustainable food practices and move towards this type of more human, healthful, and sustainable practice. The good news is that many are already leading the way. Please buy more food from these farmers. More info here and trailer here.
Powerful short with Marianne Williamson on LOVE and FEAR
Understanding the election results is very difficult and I get asked by so many, particularly Europeans about TRUMP. Again, you have to dig deeper and try to see what's behind it. Move away from TRUMP the person to the underlying division. I think Andrew Sullivan captures most of how I feel about it in this piece, and David Brooks of course in this and Thomas Friedman here
For the Bruce lovers out there, the documentary of the making of his last album is good and this article by David Brooks is incredible. As David says: "For a nonreligious guy, Springsteen is the most religious guy on the planet; his religion is musical deliverance."
