“The shining city upon a hill” no more.

Regardless of who wins the presidency, this election is a loss for democracy and democratic values.

If we thought that we as a country, had a universal subscription to liberal values vis a vis the Social Contract and Rousseau + Voltaire

We now definitively know that no, in fact those values seem to be vestiges of a bygone era. Liberal thought, the basis of our grand experiment in democracy, is fading away. Free speech and tolerance, self-determination, utilitarianism, mean nothing.

We are all just in it for ourselves. We are all temporarily embarrassed millionaires a few bootstraps shy of pulling ourselves up. Community means me and mine. You are free to do you as long as I approve of what that is but don’t you dare tell me you don’t approve of me.

What a time to be alive.

What does progress mean now that we’re here? Is there a path back to being ‘the shining city upon the hill?’

It’s been an emotional year and it would be great to heal, as a nation, as neighbors, and humans suffering through a global pandemic, but how?