By John K Lunsford, November 6, 2008
The election of 2008 has ended with the bipartisan relief that it is finally over. Whatever we might think of the outcome, all of us are thankful that the campaigning has ended. While journalists and talking heads may wonder what to do next, the rest of us are ready to move on.
But there are questions and issues that remain even for us common folk. As we consider the events of the last weeks, we inevitably must ask ourselves, “What just happened?”
The quick answer is, “Nothing just happened. It has been happening for years and just caught up with us.”
A few decades ago (in 1968 to be exact), I began to suspect that something was happening. What I suspected then, and believe even more now, is that change, paradigmatic shift, had accelerated to such an extent that society was no longer able to absorb it. The rate of change we could accept had been exceeded by societal pressures for change. Remember, we were in an era of increasing demands for civil rights for African-American, for equality for women in the workplace, for gay rights, for the rights of the disabled, even for animal rights, inter alia. Many of these causes were still in their infancy but they seemed to come together in or around 1968 and they couldn’t all be sustained.
What happened then was that the demands for change, the demand for paradigm shifts, the demand for increased rights for these subsets of our larger society began to collapse back on themselves. It was like trying to climb an ever-steeper incline until one reached a point where it was impossible to climb higher. The very ground beneath one’s feet began to crumble and fall away until the incline became more stable. At that point, one could advance a few more feet until the incline once again became too steep. The rate at which one could ascend the slope was dependant upon maintaining the steepness of the incline below the critical angle from which it would naturally fall away.
In the real world that translated to a two-steps-forward, one-step-backward history for these causes. The progress of civil rights, of equality for women, of gay rights has been marked as much by set-backs as they have by successes. The cause of equal pay for women took a recent hit when the Supreme Court ruled that a woman who was clearly denied equal pay for equal work for years could not recover because she had not known about the disparity in time to sue within the period set forth in the statute of limitations. One of the arguments against the woman was that if she were allowed to sue, that fact would encourage other women to sue for past injustices which would clog the courts and, perhaps, bankrupt some businesses. In the most recent election, three states (Arizona, Florida and, most noteworthy, California) enacted state constitutional amendments prohibiting same sex marriages. In California, this came in response to and for the purpose of over-ruling a court decision finding that the denial of same sex marriages was a denial of equal protection for gays and lesbians. In other words, the referendum in California was the first time in history that a state restricted the rights that had been granted to some of its citizens by its own constitution.
Example after example can be cited for cause after cause where changes or proposed changes have been met with resistance raised for no other reason than that we inherently don’t want things to change, we don’t want the discomfort of having to reorder our priorities or our values.
The election, indeed, the whole campaign process, forced us to confront change. That, after all, was the theme that both parties eventually tried to force us to accept. But the real change was not about the issues that most of us think neither party nor candidate could fix. Rather it was about the broader, long term pressures that had been building for decades. Civil rights. Equality for women. Gay rights. Animal rights. Abortion. Evolution versus creationism. Immigration. Torture versus security. The lists will go on and on. The pressure for change will go on also.
It might be hoped that this election was a final victory for civil rights. Don’t count on it. We have taken two steps forward but there certainly lurk traps that will send us sliding back, if we are not careful.
There are those that saw the candidacy and defeat of Sen. Clinton (and Gov. Pallin) as two steps forward and one step back for women’s equality. Be certain that there will be further advances and further setbacks.
There are those who cannot remember life as it was before 1968. There are those who do not think of change as threatening. There are those who do not mind reordering priorities or changing societal values because they see that comfort in the midst of oppression leads to societies that cannot reach their full potentials.
When I originally started thinking about this in 1968, I could not see what the long-term solution might be. I only knew that the threat of change at rates beyond what society could absorb produced disorder, assassinations and riot. Four decades later, as I reflect on our history since 1968 – the wars we have fought, the social upheaval we have endured, the economic and social polarization we have experienced and the increased pressure for social changes I could not imagine were yet unexpressed, I cannot see what the next generation of revolutions will bring. I only know that we live in a better society than what we had in 1968 – better, in part, because of the campaign and election we have endured.
Many of the paradigms that informed the first part of my life are gone. They are being replaced by new paradigms that seem obvious now. These, too, shall fall away as false idols, someday. One paradigm will remain: Change happens. The corollary is similar: Change happens, for better and for worse. One person’s step forward is another’s step back. I did not view all of the changes of the last 40 years as steps forward. It takes time to accept a new paradigm. It takes a visionary to see the right side of history from the beginning. It takes humility to adopt a new position.
In 1968, I could not imagine a minority or woman president in my lifetime. I could not conceive of gay marriage. I could not imagine abortion. Change happens, for better and for worse. Paradigms shift. I celebrate that I have lived long enough to witness the process by which change can come to our society and I pray for humility to recognize and adopt new paradigms as they prove worthy.
(If you have any reflections or other thoughts upon what John has written please add your comments here!)
