When “Not-Nearly-As-Cataclysmic-As-Anticipated” Is The Most Hope I’ve Felt In A While
Normally when I write something emotional and off-the-cuff, I get a couple of notes from you lovely readers saying you liked it, or you felt the same way, or here are other examples of what I was discussing. At the very least, I get a text from Mum of the Missive asking some variation of “u ok?” So when I didn’t get anything re: Monday’s terrified ramblings, I assumed it was because everyone else was as inclined as I was to (hypothetically) take a (legal in my state) edible and go to bed at 8:30 p.m. on Election Night. As discussed, things were looking GRIM.
So how surreal was it to wake up Wednesday morning and not be assaulted by news of the U.S. slipping even further down an authoritarian rabbit hole. And while the House and Senate could still flip to GOP control (news orgs are being blessedly cautious to call certain races either way), it was in no way the Red Wave we feared, and that history had indicated would happen in the first midterm of a first term president.
As Tim Miller points out, us “normies held serve”.
Most importantly, the right to bodily autonomy for reproductive decisions was affirmed via ballot initiatives in red and blue states alike. In Kentucky, voters rejected a pro-forced-birth ballot measure, while voters in California, Vermont and Michigan made reproductive freedom a part of their state constitutions. For those not in CA, this was the text that passed:
“The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”
Hey pundit class: of course us voters were “displeased” with Dobbs. Politicians at any level of government should stay the hell out of my uterus.
And not that I’m counting any chickens before they hatch out of the Orange Man fever dream we’ve all been in since 2015, but if headlines and commentary are any indication, the Republican class may be realizing that being under the thumb of Tuesday’s “biggest loser”—and that’s not from a Crooked Media blog post or something, it’s from the WSJ’s editorial board—isn’t good politics.
Which is in no way to say I am suddenly bright and cheery about the risk of creeping authoritarianism, but hell, we didn’t quite go off that cliff on Tuesday, and that’s better than expected.
So here are some of the pieces I’m planning on reading today:
Rolling Stone: We ‘Sh!t the Bed So Bad.’ The GOP Post-Midterm Meltdown Has Begun
Vanity Fair: “This Is The Beginning Of A Very Long Arc”: The Midterms Prove Abortion Can Galvanize Voters
Slate: Women Remembered to Vote on Abortion
Forward: In race rife with antisemitism, Josh Shapiro becomes Pennsylvania’s next governor
And also this from AP: Mindfulness worked as well for anxiety as drug in study (reminding all us Lexapro users to get our meditation in)
As Friend of the Missive Aaron pointed out in a group chat yesterday, the best election meme is Gritty coming for Dr. Oz. BLESS YOU, PENNSYLVANIA.
Drink some water, friends. And be kind to each other.
xoxo Amy