In a little over a week, we will know whether or not the Republicans have retained control of Congress. Regardless of the outcome, some people will feel optimistic about the future, and others will be convinced that the U.S. is gong to hell in a handbasket.
I strongly believe that who we elect matters. The President has the power to appoint justices who will shape our nation for decades to come, although he needs the Senate to confirm his choices. Congress can pass laws that can be harmful or helpful. If all three branches of the U.S. government are dominated by one party, that party will encounter little difficulty in achieving its goals. Through gerrymandering and voting laws, it may even be able to manipulate things in order to maintain power.
But politicians are fallible human beings, and no party is perfect. Even the smartest people disagree about things such as why wages have been stagnant for decades. No individual or party will have all the answers to our nation’s problems.
On top of that, there are forces in the world that are outside the power of our government. Since the 1980s, obesity in the United States has climbed. Since the 1990s, there’s been a significant increase in the number of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated. Clearly, trends like these are independent of who is in power. World events, natural disasters, economic expansions and contractions, technological innovations… leaders can respond to these events, but they cannot control them.
If you expect your candidate — or party — to “fix” everything, you’ve confused them with God.
Who you vote for matters. But that isn’t all that matters. If you want change, go ahead and support the leaders you think would be most effective at making a difference. Then, no matter who wins — your candidate or the other one — go out and make a difference yourself. And when it comes time to vote again, assess incumbents with some understanding that they were never going to usher in the new golden age you might have been hoping for.