A Gentle Guide For Hard Times
This is a noisy season, isn't it? Rapidly accumulating headlines on top of posts on top of podcasts on top of people at the gym saying, "Can you believe that they're going to..."
We couldn't be blamed in this young year for having a tight jaw and weary spirit already.
But take heart: not all noise is substantive. So give your jaw a soft rub, put on some Stevie Wonder, and let's walk together through this gentle guide for hard times.
What's Said Matters Less Than What's Done
A favored tactic of the powerful is to flood our attention with so much bad noise, we drown trying to stay on top of all of it, and don't act on any of it.
But plenty of what's being forcefully said by the powerful doesn't yet have force of law.
"PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!" the man behind the curtain yells after Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal him pushing buttons and pulling levers to create the illusion of an all-powerful Wizard of Oz.
Part of our work is to pull back the curtain on this political noise. To not take the bait they're setting out and let our attention splinter in 42 directions over things that have been said, not done.
You have full permission to skip the conversations that start with, "Did you hear what he said..." or "Can you believe she..." We need to safeguard our attention for what's actually done.
And What's Done Is/Will Be Policy
The Executive Branch can and will do damage on its own. But the bills that become the laws we live under need to be passed by Congress. Here are a few clues that a bill is serious legislation designed to pass.
A quick aside on legislative versus executive branch powers. We have more tools to hold the legislative branch to account than the executive, which is why these writings focus more on the former than the latter. Curious about how power works in Congress? Click here.
But Congress Doesn't Pass Much
Rarely do you hear the word "Congress" and "comfort" in the same sentence. But we can take a bit of odd comfort in the fact that it is diabolically hard for bills to become law.
Last Congress, 19,315 bills were introduced on every issue under the sun. And 275 (1%) of those bills became law. That means that 99% of bills were political noise – "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," a really ticked off MacBeth would say. Congress' batting average has been 2-3% of bills passed since 2006, when it was a whopping 4%.
Nor Is It Smooth Sledding When There's a Trifecta
If you think it becomes a walk in the park to pass bills when there's a trifecta - meaning one party has control of Congress and the White House - history (and Speaker Mike Johnson) would beg to differ.
Dems had a trifecta in 2009 and Obamacare didn't pass until March 2010. Republicans had a trifecta in 2017 and their big tax cuts took a year to get over the finish line.
Trifectas Don't Usually End Well for the Party In Power
Both the 2009 and 2017 trifectas were creamed in the midterms. President Obama described the 2010 midterms as a "shellacking." The GOP lost 41 House seats in 2018, putting Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker's chair. The tea leaves suggest something similar for 2026.
Allow Yourself to Be Comforted
It's tempting to dismiss assurances as naive, to believe that means we're seeing reality clearly. I think we do that at high risk.
"Hope is not naive, hope grapples endlessly with despair," wrote Tony Kushner. "Real, vivid, powerful, thunderclap hope, like the soul, is at home in darkness, is divided; but lose your hope and you lose your soul, and you don’t want to do that."
Comforts keeps us close to our soul, our hope that the world is pliable, changeable, improvable. Let's find our safe harbors: the wisdom of the poets or those who came before us, the quiet of a wooded trail, a big bear hug from an old friend. Why not receive it all?
"I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence," wrote Toni Morrison.
Look Out for Each Other
Political noise, even if it doesn't have force of law, can have cultural force. It can instill fear in folks who are already vulnerable, it can create the conditions for harm.
So let's look out for each other. Maybe clean out cabinets for the food pantry, closets for the coat drive, medicine cabinets for the shelter. Adult Education and hospice almost always need volunteers, the Red Cross almost always needs blood. We weren't made to go through hard times alone.
In the weeks and months to come, these pages will be filled with friendly, practical guidance to help us down the road ahead. There will be much pulling at us. We cannot do it all. But today, Edward Everett Hale gets the last word:
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."