The problems the country has before the election are still going to be there after the election.
On our minds: A lesson from sketch comedy about America’s political future. |
Yes, I am fun at parties, why do you ask? |
 | | A polling station in Flatbush, Brooklyn, during the New York presidential primary election in June.Amr Alfiky/The New York Times |
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Election coverage is becoming so all-consuming that it is beginning to feel as if Nov. 3 is some sort of event horizon beyond which it is pointless to imagine. So this seems like a good time to go over the Romano Tours rule of politics, which I have just made up: That if you’re focusing on one big event as the thing that will change everything, you’re probably ignoring the reality of what needs to change. |
For those unfamiliar, Romano Tours was a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that became an instant classic after it aired in 2019. It starred Adam Sandler as an anxious tour operator trying to gently break it to his customers that a 10-day tour of “the old country” might not be the panacea they were hoping for. |
“We always remind our customers, if you’re sad now, you might still be sad there, OK?” he said firmly. “There’s a lot a vacation can do. Help you unwind, see some different-looking squirrels. But it cannot fix deeper issues, like how you behave in group settings or your general baseline mood. That’s a job for incremental lifestyle changes sustained over time.” |
I’m not suggesting the presidential election is a meaningless jaunt to Amalfi. If Mr. Trump loses but makes good on his threats to refuse to leave office, that could trigger a violent political crisis. And even if the election is not contested, the difference between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden is so huge that I definitely understand why it can be difficult to look beyond the question of which man will be president next term. |
But the deeper problems in the American system will still be there no matter who takes the oath of office on Jan. 20. |
Voter suppression and gerrymandering will still warp political incentives and undermine democracy. Police violence and mass incarceration will still wound Black communities. Immigrant families separated at the border will still be traumatized, and many of those families will have yet to be reunited. |
Hyperpartisanship and polarization will still create incentives for politicians to cater to extremists rather than cooperate on concrete policy changes. The pandemic will still be raging. Loss of public trust in institutions may make it more difficult to extinguish it even once there is a vaccine. |
The news media ecosystem will still be collapsing. Social media will still be amplifying and incentivizing misinformation. Political parties will still be too weak to be the stabilizing institutional force the system relies upon. The climate will still be changing. |
Most of those issues have become identified with partisan positions, but with the exception of the family separation policy, which his administration created and implemented, all predate Mr. Trump. Which means that addressing the underlying problems is, as Mr. Romano would say, a job for incremental changes sustained over time. |
“We can take you on a hike. We cannot turn you into someone who likes hiking,” Mr. Sandler says in the sketch. “We can provide you with a wine-tasting tour of Tuscany. We cannot change why you drink.” |
The election can provide a peaceful transition of power. It cannot turn the United States into a country where the peaceful transition was never in doubt. |
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