Avoiding pre-election depression --

Six weeks to go and no clear path for either side which, from the liberal perspective, says something dreadful about the American voting public, and that is scary. I can only speak for myself, but this is the most depressing and stressful presidential election I’ve ever experienced, and my political consciousness goes back to 1952 when I then 12 years old along with three other junior high school students “debated” Eisenhower versus Stevenson on a Sunday morning local news program on KRON-tv in San Francisco. Arguing politics used to be pleasurable and even productive and only in rare cases interfered with friendships; now it’s common to be told we’re in a “no politics” zone, like my HOA which prohibits all political signage to avoid offending residents. I ask, why should my politely expressed election preference in a dignified sign of limited dimensions anger any of my neighbors who should also be free similarly to express their preference. Shouldn’t this provoke civilized discourse, rather than destructive anger?

As I said three weeks ago I lay much of the blame on how the so-called mainstream press has mishandled coverage since day one. So you’ll understand why I’m trying to avoid the New York Times polls and front page WashPo “news” about allegedly undecided voters, who seem to be either 18 or 80 years old. (I exaggerate, but only very slightly). Fair and balanced now appears to mean attacking Kamala for calling out Trump for being anti-democratic while simultaneously not commenting on Donald’s increasingly dementia-like stumbles. I was frankly stunned to see the editorial from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Harris needs to lower the rhetorical temperature” (reprinted on the editorial page of West Hawaii Today on Saturday). And I quote, “Former President Donald Trump isn’t a threat to democracy. Vice President Kamala Harris should acknowledge this before someone else tries to murder the former president.” Apparently Trump announcing a plan on day one to deport thousands of lawfully resident Haitian refugees from Ohio to Venezuela using the army, National Guard and local police (all illegal in immigration matters) isn’t a threat to democracy. Trump calling the Vice President of the United States a dangerous Socialist Communist who would destroy the United States -- and Israel -- within two years isn’t a threat to democracy or over-heated rhetoric. Absolutely refusing to state flatly that he will accept the results of the election isn’t a threat to democracy. I bet every one of you could quickly add five more regular Trumpisms to this list within a minute, proving quite persuasively that Trump is indeed a threat to American democracy.

Republicans across the board, even including some of the MAGA-cowards in the House and Senate, allowed as how Donald ‘didn’t do as well as he could have’ in the debate. Or to put it more objectively, it was a debacle for Trump, on a par with the Donald praising Mark-Robinson or his bizarre blooming buddy relationship with Laura Loomer (and what’s going on there). And yet the debate and Trump’s deranged rhetoric thereafter have barely moved the needle, unlike the reverse disaster of Biden’s debate performance which dropped his poll numbers through the floor. Harris is greatly outspending Trump; it seems like half the Republican party is non-Trump (even Dick Cheney - wow!); the economy is booming and the stock market is through the roof while unemployment is lower than ever. And yet . . . . Again, I cannot escape the feeling that much of this is due to the heavy hand of the “fair and balanced” media. It seems too obvious to me that those undecided 18 and 80 year olds aren’t actually paying attention. While I’m in a snit over the sad state of journalism, I’m also confident these outlier voters are getting more input from YouTube or TikTok or worse Truth Social than from conventional news sources. So things currently are not looking very favorable.

I don’t think I’m alone in believing that all of this adds up to a degree of discomfort unprecedented in presidential election years. So since we certainly would prefer not to become alcohol- or drug-dependent, what is one to do until Election Day or even later. There’s actually an excellent chance we won’t know the winner until some time after November 5^th. The Georgia Board of Elections voted 3-2 last week to require that all ballots be hand counted, yet did nothing to increase the number of local employees to do the counting; Georgia may not even be prepared to report accurate results before December 11, the federal deadline for certification for the Electoral College. Trump repeatedly attacks mail voting, and Republican litigation means that some states now have absurd rules for verifying every signature and throwing out ballots with the wrong date written on the envelope! Other states may now require proof of citizenship -- and how many low-income people have passports or birth certificates in hand. As a result, Election Day may morph into election month or election season.

Nate Silver, a statistician and prominent opinion writer who perfected an amazingly accurate algorithm for presidential elections, commenting on the 50/50 status of most polling this last week said,

people should be making their contingency plans, like, right away. It doesn’t mean you need [to stockpile] ammo and peanut butter but it means . . .what’s your strategy to protect American institutions in the event of a Trump second term? Or, in 2028 [or] 2032, a Trump-like Republican who maybe is more effective than Trump? If I were a liberal donor, for example, I would want to begin funding now … to protect institutions in that eventuality, instead of giving another $100,000 to Kamala Harris, who has more money than she needs.

Personally I take comfort that most of us in this little conversation circle are in safely blue states with state and local governments unlikely to succumb to Trump hysteria. Under a Trumpocracy, our own lives may not change much; the stock market will certainly shiver out of concern that the 10% or greater universal tariffs may be imposed as an “emergency” measure, so consultation with a good financial adviser wouldn’t be a bad idea and perhaps convert some profits if you have them into safe cash instruments. Most of us are of mature age so a national abortion ban -- certain to emerge from a Republican Congress and signed by an intransigent Donald Trump -- only devastates loved ones and friends, but not us personally. Similarly with mass deportations and immigrant concentration camps on the Texas and Arizona border. Service in our restaurants may become incredibly slow, our farms not picked in time to avoid significant crop loss, pick-up construction workers a thing of the past, many services performed by the lowest income workers may disappear. But I suppose our lives will go on much as before, even if democracy falters.

Taking Nate Silver’s advice seriously, I think that means considering increasing donations to food banks, to charities that work to make health care and medical services available to the less wealthy, perhaps to organizations litigating MAGA voter suppression. As for us, we are off on another travel adventure and, I hasten to add, we definitely will return -- at least, this time. I’d like to try to get some sense of foreign views of the U.S. election, and if I can I might send a short commentary as we travel so long as it doesn’t impair my decompression plans. Otherwise, we can only hope that over the next month a sensibility emerges and the numbers move in a favorable direction.

And will somebody please suggest a newspaper of some quality that I might switch to instead of the Times and the Post!   

    Arne Werchick, after fifty years as a litigation attorney, pro tem judge, law writer and lecturer, former Presiding Arbitrator of the State Bar of California, and past president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, moved to Hawaii and lives with his wife Ruth and their rescue dog Topaz.  He can be contacted at liberalmind@werchick.com.