Election Day is here. But will anything actually change? Here’s to the doubters

I don’t know who won.

As I write this, Election Day hasn’t yet happened. I don’t know if Republicans or Democrats control Congress. I don’t know who won control in the state Legislature. I don’t know if it’s legal to online gamble in California, I don’t know if it’s illegal to have an abortion in California (or Kentucky or Vermont). I voted. I hope you did, or will, too.

By the time you read this, a lot of questions will have been answered, but the biggest one is still going to be up for debate.

Will anything get done?

This plague of political inaction is everywhere, at every level. Republicans in the Senate filibustered nearly everything President Biden wanted to get done, and it sure seems like if Republicans take control of Congress, the result will be Biden vetoing everything the GOP wants to do.

The Fresno City Council spends more time throwing stink bombs at each other than actually putting into place policies that might help the unhoused, or businesses, or skyrocketing rent and home prices. The governor seems a little more interested in debating potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates than being governor of California, and rest assured the Clovis Unified School District Board will continue to make proclamations about “local control” far more often than actually doing something about classroom overcrowding.

Some of us have voted, and made our voices heard through the ballot box. We all had different reasons for how we voted. Most of us considered the economy, many the Dobbs decision, some taxes, or fracking, or whatever Q told us to care about. We all made decisions.

Will any one of the people we voted for care?

Will there be any meaningful change? Will there even be meaningful debate? How about a meaningful issue? I talked last month about the boogeyman of critical race theory in schools; will people still care?

Will those responsible for the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 be held accountable? Will inflation be brought to its knees, or will my home value plummet? Will supply chains finally return to whatever “normal” is now? Will teachers be allowed to unionize, or will a long-gone superintendent’s misinterpreted words continue to be the guiding light for an administration that keeps more cash in reserve than some Central American countries?

I’m not optimistic. Mostly because I’ve been paying attention, and the purpose of many of these politicians seems to be paying for attention.

Another school shooting isn’t reason to change anything, it’s a reason to get in front of a camera and swear your allegiance to the Second Amendment, no matter how many kids are dead. A 40-student classroom isn’t reason to get more money, and teachers, and resources into a school district, it’s an opportunity to go to war against a flag, or a book, or a theory.

The silly season may be over, but just as fall will soon change to winter, election season now, slowly, in fits and starts, transfers into just another election season. One sure to be dominated by a former president, his tantrums, lies, and grievances, and one seemingly guaranteed to not be dominated by constructive thought, innovation, or solutions.

Sometimes you end up with a solution searching for a problem, and again, I don’t know yet who won, but I’m pretty confident as the sun rises on 2023 we’ll be confronted with a whole lot of problems, and very few problem solvers.

This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 12:32 PM.