The Righteous Mind After an Election
Today is the day after the 2024 election.
Actually, I am writing the Monday before the election and I have no idea what will occur tomorrow. By the time you are reading this we may have a second term for one candidate or a historic first term for the other. We may not have any official candidate because the race is so close. I have no idea. What seems apparent is that no matter what happens tomorrow, half of us will accept it and half of us will question it.
We are divided.
This is why I thought it good timing to bring up one of my favorite books that came out over a decade ago. It was timely then and is prophetic now. Jonathan Haidt’s work The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Haidt is a leading moral psychologist with a keen pulse on culture and many of his ideas have been influential in my own work.
Community is a key missing piece for us and not just community with those we agree with. We need to be with people across all types of demographics, beliefs, economic situations, backgrounds and cultures. This informs the humanity of us far more than intellectual ideas ever could.
A missing piece to the division is how this affects us economically. Different political parties have different ideas on how to help working class Americans and in many ways their ideas are a Venn Diagram sharing points of commonality. How they accomplish it tends to vary. We also develop divisive viewpoints on those in different socio-economic places. The rich need to pay more taxes. The rich create jobs. The poor need to get a job. The poor have been trapped by systemic problems. The middle needs more affordability. The middle class needs to spend less.
We need messages like Haidt’s that encourage us towards humility. The day after an election should be a day of utmost humility for both sides, not a time to gloat.
We need to return to what actually makes us healthy as a society. Part of that is economic stability for everyone - for both sides. It also includes strong community connections - for both sides. Built environment, access and quality health care and education round out the list - for both sides. More division and less interaction across the aisle only prevents us from having these in place for everyone at every stage of life. We can often have things that benefit “our side” at the expense of the health of the “other side.” That should not make us feel great about our victories. Our victories must be of higher order than if my person won.
Ancient wisdom is needed on this day. “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.”
As always, if you come across a financially related article you’d like to send my way please do!
Best place to send them is to me.
More next time!
Jonathan
PS - I highly recommend checking out Haidt’s latest work The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness - especially if you have children. It is a fascinating commentary about how phones and social media have “rewired” a generation’s minds. From the inclusion of the like button on Facebook, to the hours of scrolling, to the reduction of personal interaction.