We are enthusiastically behind you!

August 20, 2020

What is this feeling inside my chest? It’s been so long since I felt it that it’s hard to identify. Is that a smile across my face? Are those tears in my eyes? Is is possible that this feeling is… hope?

As I watched the Democratic National Convention last night, from Elizabeth Warren speaking about the importance of child care for women’s freedom with “BLM” spelled-out in children’s block letters behind her, to President Barack Obama’s emotional emphasis on the power of young Americans to set the agenda of their leaders, to Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech for the Vice Presidential nomination, I found myself feeling an unabashed sense of love, respect, and hope again. And damn did it feel good.

I’m not under any illusions about the propaganda machine of electoral politics. But to paraphrase the illustrious Jon Lovett to his illustrious fiancé, Ronan Farrow: “My party’s propaganda is working on me.”

I get it. This stuff is supposed to inspire me. But I am glad to be inspired again! I am glad for the determined shift away from the divisive fear and terror that makes-up so much of our daily politics and, as a result, national culture these days.

It feels good to experience some love-of-country and to feel gratitude for the leaders of the Democratic party. It feels good to be inspired amidst all the ruin that is America these days.

In the shadow of all of our fears and grief we have adults in leadership roles who share our values and whom we can elect!

We can.

I loved the celebration last night because the speakers were talking about real issues every step of the way, from civil rights to women’s economic freedom, to the bone-chilling threat against Democracy. But the celebration wasn’t tarnished by the creeping sense that the person throwing shade on the left might in fact be a Russian troll. It wasn’t tarnished by immature, fringe actors who are obsessed with our liberal leaders being perfectly, exactly aligned with every single issue versus allowing our party to be complicated and evolving and 90% on track. The celebration was a reprieve from so much liberal in-fighting and obsession with nuance that one feels they’re observing the Buddhist parable of the poisoned arrow, a man who has been wounded by an arrow but will not allow it to be removed until every single question he has about the origin of the arrow is answered. (He dies.)

So I am happy to enthusiastically and wholeheartedly endorse the nomination of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for President and Vice President of the United States of America.

I am happy to have hope in my heart and a sense of faith that we have people in leadership roles who know the stakes. These are leaders who know it is incumbent on them to continue learning and listening and evolving their values to respond to an electorate that wants change, wants a functioning democracy, wants freedom of gender expression, wants racial justice, and wants to address climate change and economic inequity at a system level.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are leaders who share my values. They are complicated values. They are not singular nor easily framed. They are not euphemistic ideas that can be placed on red hats and shouted with rage. They are ideas and ethics that require a deep level of engagement and a devotion to transformation for the longterm. They are values that can make the soul soar if we place our trust and love in the ever-evolving pursuit of democracy.

The time is now. Let’s do this, America.

In love & solidarity,

Satya

Satya Doyle Byock, Director of The Salome Institute