The Miracle Convention

 It was a political miracle the likes of which I've never seen, that Democrats even arrived in Chicago for their convention absolutely united on a nominee, different from the one they had a month before.  Perhaps it was a necessary miracle, if there was to be any chance that the dictator in waiting could be stopped.

But the convention itself, with one amazing speech and speaker after another, with the joy and enthusiasm in the hall, was itself a miracle.  It redefined the Democratic party and marginalized the Trump cult.  Those were happy warriors who returned to their states, ready to fight and win. 

The final miracle was Kamala Harris meeting the moment at exactly the right time.  Her acceptance speech was all but flawless in its content and delivery.  She was every inch a President.

  Among much that was remarkable were the Republicans who stood on that stage in her behalf, and what they said to their fellow Republicans: "You're not voting for a Democrat--you're voting for democracy. You're not betraying our party, you're standing up for our country."

There were two themes that were in fact one theme.  "We're moving forward"--that's a familiar political theme, aspirational but hard to prove.  The flip side is less common, and this year is certainly potent: "We're not going back."   

I was troubled by a few things: that everyone continues to act as if Covid doesn't exist anymore, and that there was not a full sentence out of anyone's mouth I heard about the greatest threat to the planetary and human future, the climate crisis.  Once again, other seemingly more proximate threats took precedence.  

But even that can partially be accounted for by all the time absorbed in stating truths and values that have so lately been lost.  This was the "You'd do the same for me" convention, reaffirming basic human compacts.  It was beautiful, but so sad that it was so necessary.  

That and the general tenor of this miracle convention made me realize just how demoralized we've become.  The idea that someone like Trump could take over the government, and together with this Supreme Court could rule us into an inhuman theocratic autocracy for the very wealthy, had us in the grip of such discouragement that we could hardly even notice how depressed we were.

That part is over.  The threat must still be stopped, but now we know we aren't alone, and we know what our committments are.  That has value in itself.  Now the campaign begins.  It could not have begun better.  

There's likely to be tough days ahead.  Voter suppression tactics are already in place in key states.  There's a lot to be overcome.  But go ahead and say it: we shall overcome.

I offer a bit of political analysis you're not going to see anywhere else.  As highlighted by Paul Shepard, primatologist Michael R.A. Chance suggested that one of two mental modes in primate brain structures  govern social relations: in the rhesus monkey, its structure favored aggression and submission. High tension, the importance of rank and sex symbolizing power are characteristics.  He calls this the Agonic mode.

The other, which he called the Hedonic, is typical of chimpanzee society.  It favors mutual dependence and problem solving without real violence. There is more equality. Disputes can end in "reconciliation and reunion."  "The group has a strong general sense of unity," Shepard writes, "even though it may appear in disarray to an outsider."  

Humans are among those primates who have the potential for both the Agonic and Hedonic modes.  This bimodality is part of our basic nature.  Which one predominates in normal times depends on "the social system that cues us and to which we apply its logic." 

It is striking how our politics is now so clearly divided between the Agonic cult surrounding Trump, and the Hedonic Democrats, who now are clearly trying to represent everyone else. Over four days, the miracle convention articulated in words and faces, in individuals and families and groups, the conscious committment to this Hedonic mode.  It is the kind of society we want, the ideal America--the true American dream, not of striving and succeeding, but of  empathy, justice, generosity, compassion, love. In practical terms, the America of "You'd do the same for me."