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Commentary
The Wall Street Journal

Politicians Aren’t What Make America Great

Our people and spirit matter more than an election. The US is still a beacon of light.

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
People cast their ballots for the general election in Howell, Michigan, on November 3, 2024. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Caption
People cast their ballots for the general election in Howell, Michigan, on November 3, 2024. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Your Global View columnist is trudging to the voting booth this year with no spring in his step. Overseas, as the Pax Americana fades, the dire, potentially catastrophic consequences for human civilization fill me with foreboding. Neither candidate, to my mind, has demonstrated the mix of diplomatic skill and strategic vision that the geopolitical situation demands. I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but so far the signs are not good.

Our country’s division between a feckless and decadent establishment and a ragged, intellectually shaky populist insurgency doesn’t point to an easy way forward. And while we have had bitterly fought elections in the past, the grace that led Richard Nixon to concede in 1960 and Al Gore to give way 40 years later seems in perilously short supply. In my gloomiest hours I fear we are past choosing between the lesser of evils and are trying instead to discern which is the more survivable of two looming catastrophes.

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