Whether your candidate won or lost, get over it

OPINION:

In the wake of any electoral setback, it is tempting for those who voted for the losers to spiral into depression and despair. Similarly, winners usually get carried away and interpret the results as a mandate to do whatever they want. Both should resist those impulses.

It is difficult to remember now, but in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, many Democrats were talking about what they were going to do with their newfound majority: Cut funding to police departments, kill the filibuster, pass voting rights and pro-union legislation, make college free for everyone, pack the Supreme Court, confiscate guns and impose racial reparations.

As you might remember, none of that happened.

The simplest and most enduring rule of elections in the United States is that the winners are usually disappointed and the losers are usually pleasantly surprised. The winners — and losers — are always certain that victory will bring significant and enduring changes to the nation.

Over time, the winners learn that the system is specifically designed to prevent significant changes from being made over just one election cycle or even one generation. They are, consequently, disappointed. The losers also learn this and are pleasantly surprised that the changes they feared are less egregious and enduring than initially anticipated.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher captured the iterative nature of politics perfectly when she said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

The irreducible reality is that federal policies change within a fairly narrow range because voters mostly despise sudden alterations. Think about Vice President Kamala Harris’ policy changes concerning energy or crime. Those changes, intentionally or not, were a tribute to the moderating influence of the American voter.

Finally, and most importantly, it is essential to recognize what politics and elections are and what they aren’t. They are not about the soul of the nation. They are not about healing anything. They are not about some grand statement about the arc of justice. All of that is the province of religion, philosophy, poetry, literature and art.

Politics and elections are about how we as a society decide who gets to use the state’s coercive power to encourage some activities and discourage or outlaw other activities. That’s it; that’s all.

If you are looking for salvation in the often-grimy world of politics, you are looking in the wrong place. There are or should be many more important things in everyone’s life. Loving your family and neighbors. Doing well in school or on the job. Having or not having children. Pets. Choosing where to work and live. Prioritizing one’s health. Achieving salvation. All of those things and more are much more likely to determine one’s happiness than anything that can happen in politics.

Those who lost on Nov. 5 will have to fight the battle again, as will the winners. That is as it should be. Each election is sold as the “most important election in the history of the republic/our lives/etc.” Obviously, all of them cannot be, and all except one are not.

John Steinbeck once wrote: “Somewhere in the world, there is a defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some are made small and mean by victory. Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory.”

Political defeats are ephemeral; so are political victories. It is unwise to treat them as anything else.

• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times.