Greetings, readers:
This is the final Tennessee Voices newsletter before the Nov. 5 presidential election, and my obsession of late has been trying to find ways to help citizens become more empowered after the results are known.
What I mean is encouraging citizens to move away from “doomscrolling” (the habit of scrolling social media for people’s worst instincts and comments), loathing people with different views from them, and thinking they are powerless if their preferred side loses. Conversely, how can we ensure that people will respect the humanity of citizens who are on the other side of the equation?
In my opinion, we all win if we achieve a peaceful transfer of power determined by a free and fair election that is not prematurely discounted as rigged.
There will be a lot of joy, sadness and anger, depending on where you fall politically. But in our system, one side wins and the other side loses and we move on because the Constitution is supposed protect us and allow us to do this again in four years.