IS IT TIME TO EXHALE?

For a few days this month, time stood still while the entire country, and , in some sense , much of the world anxiously held its collective breath waiting for the outcome of our, very consequential, presidential election. At this writing, the outcome is still in limbo. Our election was not just a choice between candidates, sandwiched between a confluence of multiple crises. Our country was asked to render a verdict on our role in the world, hold a referendum on the role of the presidency, the direction of our economy, our strategy to contain an ever escalating pandemic, and our ability to confront systemic racial inequity. The country wondered out loud if democracy would survive. Specifically, because our current president prematurely expressed his intention to challenge the legitimacy of the result if he lost. New York Times' columnist Thomas Friedman made it clear in one of his most recent publications when he questioned "Will 2020's election be the end of our democracy?" He suggested that a free and fair vote and the prospect of a peaceful transfer of power were both becoming contentious. Our president apparently resolved that there were only two outcomes on November 3rd, and electing Joe Biden was not one of them. Well before November 3rd, the rest of the world speculated about post-election international relationships and the future of traditional alliances. Many countries appeared less concerned with our ideological predisposition than they were with transactional considerations they had become used to with our current administration. Israel, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, North Korea and others have profited from their constructive interaction with President Trump, and feared losing cloud if he were to lose the election. The predominant sentiment in the European Union is "hoping for a change." A reelection of Donald Trump would confirm that the U.S. is giving up on its leadership role in the Western alliance. French defense analyst Francois Heisborg suggested that a Biden presidency would be welcomed as "a return to civilization." Meanwhile, in Canada, "the government and the overwhelming majority of Canadians [were] looking for Trump's defeat." (Nelson Wiseman, Political Science professor at the University of Toronto.) Historian Jon Meacham proposes that what we are really doing is searching for, what he calls, "the soul of America," what makes us tick, and what values we are willing to preserve. But we are exhausted. We are suffering from ESD (Election Stress Disorder) after continuous bombardments of election coverage, wedged in between hourly updates on the gruesome math of an uncontrolled pandemic and an intensifying economic disaster. It is tragically evident that the coronavirus will stick around for the indefinite future. Without congressional assistance, our economy will continue to face unrelenting challenges. Many businesses are unable to stay afloat and are closing, affecting ever growing unemployment and consequential hardships. However, the election will be behind us. This will take significant pressure off our psyche. Although for some of us the light at the end of the tunnel may appear extinguished, for others the nightmare is over. If President Trump is reelected, little may change for a while. If the Democrats pull it out, pundits caution that the current administration will still control 78 days between Nov 3 and Jan 20. Much can happen during that interregnum. In the mean time we should all be able to exhale for a while. Theo Wierdsma