We’ll go on, no matter what

In the midst of all the devastation to America’s most densely populated region, the country will go about the business of choosing a president. Unfortunately, despite the billions of dollars spent, the countless hours consumed, neither major candidate has really adequately addressed how they will go about rebuilding something else.

And that is the American middle class. The storm is an apt metaphor for a nation whose most important asset—its middle class—was not just battered in the economic storm of 2008 or worn down in the ensuing years, but eroded steadily for two decades prior. And yet, even if grimly, Americans will go on with the task of trying to reclaim their lives, hopes and futures—no matter who sits in the White House. We have no choice, after all, but to go on.

The median income of the American family has steadily declined for a decade to just $60,974, according to the New York Times. The cost of college has soared even as belief in a better future has fallen. And yes, it is true that the wealthiest among us have become exponentially wealthy at the same time. If you make about $8 million per year (and good for you), your household income has generally gone up 199 percent since 1980.

But none of this is new. These are not the effects of the current administration, as Republicans would have you believe. Nor are they the legacies of the last administration, as Democrats would have you believe. These are the effects of the last 20 years. Of the computerization of society. Of globalization and the massive transfer of work, capital and wealth halfway across the world.

Of course, the presidential campaigns never really dwelled on these realities because they can’t be used to easily caricature one or the other candidate as an incompetent or a liar. Instead, the campaigns dwelled on taxes and spending, immigration and health care, the issues which test well with focus groups and that align with track records, promises and constituents—and worst of all, the contributors of the cold, hard cash who make this the most expensive contest in history.

In the days ahead, everyday people will emerge as heroes in the midst of the shock, tragedy and adversity of the storm. Your hero may be your neighbor. And vice versa. It will be a lineman who restores power or a worker who finally succeeds in getting fresh, clean water back in your home. Its most important needs largely unaddressed in this election, the American middle class, too, has no choice but to go on: to hold on the best we can, to try to reclaim our lives and futures, regardless of who sits in the White House.

It is the way of Americans.