When we first conceived Citizen Joy late last winter, we were looking at a political landscape that was far from joyful. Donald Trump’s campaign of negativity was on a roll, and there were growing concerns about Biden’s ability to win.
People were not happy with government in general. In January 2024, Gallup polling showed that “satisfaction” with government was at all-time lows for Republicans (17%), Democrats (38%), and independents (27%).
It was no coincidence that the idea of flipping the destructive energy of Trump’s negativity came from a group with a professional clown, Jeff Raz. Why not work to get people to pay attention to the things that the governments they elected did that brought them joy?
We had no idea of how radically the political landscape could change with Biden’s selfless decision to relinquish power in order to give the American people a better shot at stopping Donald Trump.
But I can’t think of any political pundit during the debate over whether Biden should step aside who predicted what happened next: an eruption of joy that shows no signs yet of coming to an end.
Biden stepped down on July 21 and endorsed Harris. The next day, the New York Times’s Michelle Goldberg headlined her column, “Kamala Harris and the Politics of Joy”
Or take one of the Democrats’ longest-standing pundits, Robert Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor under Clinton. On July 30, the headline of Reich’s Substack column was unabashed: “Kamala and the Politics of Joy: Versus Trump’s Politics of Grimness.” Reich could not contain his enthusiasm. The times has been so bad “that I had almost forgotten politics could be joyful… Her laugh projects joy. Her joyfulness is igniting excitement and enthusiasm.”
In the past, conservatives attacked Harris’ laughter. But as the New York Times White House Correspondent Katie Rodgers reported on August 9, “Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy is Fueling Her Campaign.” Harris worried about her laughter because conservatives had attacked her laugh in the past. But in one of those judo-like redirections of negative energy, Harris’ laugh, and her ease at the podium, are bringing people to her campaign, not pushing them away.
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Where do you see Citizen Joy? Joy is contagious. At Citizen Joy, we’re looking for examples of how people are using joy, whether it’s in the political arena like getting people to register to vote, or more generally to bring people together to work on projects that strengthen community. If you’ve got a good example, post a comment.
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