The Unexpected Hope of the 2020 Election

Recent conversations with my parents suggest that the future is brighter than I’d dared to hope.

In honor of the ongoing Democratic National Convention, I want to spend a few moments reflecting on the reasons for hope and optimism this election season, particularly in the days since Joe Biden announced that he’d chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate.

It’s been an exciting week for me. Like many other people, I was thrilled when Joe Biden announced his choice of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Harris had been my first choice in the primary seasons, and I think that she brings a lot to the Democratic ticket. She’s young and vital and she has strong progressive bona fides (she’s been ranked as one of the most liberal senators currently serving). I’d thought for a long time that she was the obvious choice for Biden, and that if he chose her it would really strengthen his hand in the election. Imagine my joy when I was finally vindicated.

I happened to be visiting my parents when I got the news, and I braced for some vitriol. They’re not terribly conservative, but they do tend to hold most politicians in contempt, and I know that they’re definitely not fond of Biden (because they weren’t fond of Obama). However, they seemed to take a rather agnostic…