Things do seem gloomy right now, since if Republicans win, the America most of us have known, as imperfect as it is, will be far worse, and unlike anything all but a subset of the oldest Americans have lived through (which is to say, Black Americans in the Jim Crow era–except this time, it will affect far, far more people).

But being doomy and gloomy is no way to celebrate the Fourth of July, so, to cheer you up, I will point you to a short post from 2022 about the time Mel Carhanan defeated John Ashcroft.