[CAUTION: If you are reading this with an expectation that you will hear a clear analysis and direction about the election results, please be prepared to be deeply disappointed. I recommend that you turn to cable news for confident punditry and bombastic righteousness.]
I really don’t know, and am committed to it.
Before saying what I don’t know, I do want to say what I do know. I am tired and exhausted with polarization. I don’t know when it started, but I do know when I started feeling it.
Around the turn of the century, our elections, our culture, our society was knee deep in a splintering. Both sides blamed each other for it and that is where it has remained for most of my life, certainly the majority of my political life. And, after three decades of this environment, I am tired of it.
And, seconds after the election was called, I heard people start in…
I heard elections people continue on with the same stuff, “one side captured the 200,000 voters it needed to win. Will the other side capture back 200,000 votes across the swing states and get this country back?”
Is a win, really getting the country back? Does a loss mean that you have lost the country?
I have heard the identity debates about trans, not trans; racists, not racists, sexists, not sexists. Each side trying to convince the other that they are something or not something.
Does anyone really admit to being the bad thing, and do they change when they do?
I have heard the Red people call the election a mandate, and demand that the country acknowledge their ascendancy. And, I have heard the Blue people declare a second resistance to the mandate, the administration, fascism, etc.
Does anyone really believe in mandates, and do they know what to do with them?
I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Here is what I have so far…
Our Systems are broken, no, they are working as they were designed… I don’t know
Americans are unified in their anger about the systems they count on. Some will tell you that this election was an angry statement about these broken systems, others will tell you that these systems are functioning as they were designed - to advance white supremacy. Which one is it? Can it be both? If it’s both, then how do we find a way forward? Can one election really change systems?
Clearly, those who claim a mandate believe that one man and a wrecking crew can change the systems, but is that really true? Will they change the systems or just make them more dysfunctional or more functional?
If you have followed the work of the Stupski Foundation, our podcast Break Fake Rules, or just track me and our team on LinkedIn you know that we have been frustrated with the philanthropic system and how donors decide and determine how to best support communities. We simply ask philanthropy to examine the systems they follow. And we wonder whether they are stewarding public assets in accordance with what the communities they support really want. In my opinion, and this election hasn’t changed it, this is a long game.
No one dramatic and/or performative act is going to make a system more functional or less oppressive. And, from what I can tell, it takes significant work to make the case for systems change, clear understanding for how to do it, and a massive mobilization to get there.
I don’t know if this election brought us any closer, but I do know that people are frustrated with many of the systems that we count on. Philanthropy can (and, in my opinion, should) play a positive, long term role in addressing this.
Elites are the problem, but, wait, not the ones I like…. I don’t know
Seems that people are unified with their frustration (to put it mildly) with elites these days. Some people hate Soros. Some hate Musk. Some hate rich people, but not all of them. Some hate tech bros, but not the ones that support them. Some want elites out of our government. It’s trendy to be anti-establishment, but only the other establishment - not my establishment.
I, and the Stupski Foundation, have a belief that if engineered more effectively we can make the tax shelters (foundations) to which the most elite people in our country have donated powerful engines for equity and equality. But, to get there we need a mindset shift in philanthropy from elites viewing themselves as stewarding their money to one that acknowledges, practices, and honors the assets and needs of marginalized communities.
The challenge in all of this is identifying who is community. Who to listen to, and who should decide?
What I know is that screaming about elites, firing wildly into the air with the hope of taking down a powerful player, and demonizing leaders of the other team has not gotten us very far. How do we learn to listen more? How do we get the righteousness out of our heads so that we can hear perspectives that are different from our own?
Stop focusing on identities, but, hold on, don’t forget about mine… I don’t know
Our country seems to be unified that identity is an issue in America. As one might expect, within seconds of seeing a shift in the election landscape from 2020 to 2024 in Georgia three weeks ago, pundits from all sides, industries, and movements started to attack identity as the reason for the win and the loss.
We were told that “non-college educated” voters are turned off by identity. Red voters were repelled by trans issues. Anti-racists pushed back on white people for using working class as a white washing tactic.
And, I am sure that there is some truth to this. Yet, I do note that for every person expressing their exhaustion and frustration with identity politics, they often stood in some kind of identity to express it.
At the Stupski Foundation we have dedicated ourselves to racial equity and justice. We did this because we acknowledge and understand that this country and the systems we have built have, in many ways, evolved from centuries of work to advance white identities. And, there has been decades of work to reform these systems by acknowledging other identities and seeking ways to even the playing field.
But, is it possible that organizations like ours and our peers have put too much focus into some identities and missed the pain and alienation that other identities are feeling now? How should philanthropy participate in this?
That is what I have right now. One thing I do know is that we are stuck in a polarized pendulum swing. Are we enjoying it? Maybe we should listen more. Understand more. Hear things from multiple perspectives.
I am listening. I am leaning into “I don’t know.” I am confident that communities need access as much as, or more than, inclusion in these decisions. But, I am not quite sure what they are saying and whether I should be speaking.
Thanks Glen for opening up the questions and being present for the grey space. Being curious is an incredibly empowering place to be even though it doesn't always feel that way. Being in relationship deepens that journey. I am committed for fighting for human and economic rights while listening to and learning from everyone. I have a lot to learn and many ways to grow as a human.