Summer Political Rollercoaster, 2024

Thoughts on the current state of the US election

Readers will appreciate that there has been a somewhat surprising pause in my political writing over the summer. I don’t write about politics a lot of the time, but when I do, I’d like to think that I do it directly and in a style that indicates that it’s something I think about a lot. I tend to save it up for big moments.

This summer has been nothing but big moments. I have had some version of this post ready to go since right after the June debate. But the combination of the state of things in the American political system, along with my wish to intentionally enjoy the summer pause, means that there has not been enough of a stasis at any point for me to feel okay putting this out into the world. Given Biden’s withdrawal, and Harris’ status as the presumptive Democratic nominee, it does look like that’s finally the case. So here it is.

I don’t think I’m ageist

We spent the first half of our summer visiting with my family. My father is 85, and he lives in a lovely log cabin, deep in the woods. It’s by no means a sparse existence, but it’s still out there. It’s 15 minutes to the closest town. And outside a few…