“fun” little question from Ezra Klein:

What do you think was the most important election of your lifetime? I’d make the case for 2000. https://t.co/ovXUO8oZHE

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) October 19, 2020

Being born in 1978, I’d probably say either the 2000 presidential election or the 2010 midterms. 2000 means we don’t go into Iraq (though I suspect we still go to Afghanistan, the wheels were already in motion). 2010 means we don’t have the obstruction that became the GOP strategy of the last 6 years of Obama’s presidency.

I’d also say that the 1960 election might have been the most important election since the election of Lincoln… If Nixon (who ran as a liberal Republican) wins, there’s no Goldwater in 1964 (which likely means there’s no Reagan in 1980, or a much more moderate version of Reagan, at the very least), Kennedy lives and probably runs again (and wins) in 1968 or 1972. Nixon likely doesn’t become the paranoid mess that he was by 1968. We have the chance of Nixon not only going to China but to Cuba, drastically altering the course of the Cold War much earlier. Nixon at that point (probably) doesn’t get us as deep into Vietnam as Kennedy did