After the election of Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of NYC I listened to a podcast that had a reporter covering the post-election campaign celebration. It sounded like a party – as in drinking, dancing, laughing, socializing and celebrating. People were having fun.
I remember thinking the same thing after watching coverage of a Trump rally in 2024.
And I remember seeing the same phenomenon during Trump protests.
I am beginning to think that having fun has been a part of protests, riots, elections and politics forever. Of course, there will be some participants who are dedicated to a mission, a cause or a position. I get the feeling that many just enjoy the camaraderie, energy and festival like atmosphere.
If a political leader wanted to unite the disparate sides, it might be much easier to simply have parties that got everyone to have fun together. I’ll bet that afterward, they’d find out they have much that they agree on and would be more willing to compromise in areas where they didn’t.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for this happen. Divisiveness and hate-mongering seems to dominate our current political environment.
Eventually, I suspect we’ll work our way through this current trend of negativity and polarization. Maybe the next one will be one big party.
