Everyone is talking about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s speeches at the Democratic National Convention this past week as being a return of empathy or decency, but I’d go one further with another overarching theme: “Remember sanity?” It was truly like watching a funhouse mirror version of our reality, except it took the warped world around us and made it look natural again. It was honestly like you could exhale and not just wonder what insane shit might follow after the last round of insane shit.
That was what Biden and Harris imparted: a sense that we could possibly exist in a normal nation, one that wasn’t constantly on the brink of exploding in violence or just collapsing into itself, unable to bear the weight of one man’s insatiable ego. Harris vividly described our national anxiety: “We’re at an inflection point. The constant chaos leaves us adrift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone. It’s a lot.” Then she went full inspirational speaker: “And here’s the thing: We can do better and deserve so much more.”
