AJ Jacobs

Because Harris knows we’re all connected

I love the wisdom about coconut trees from Kamala Harris’s mom—but I might even take it further. 

The vice president’s mother chided her kids for failing to see that they are part of a broader context. She asked them, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”

But I’d ask the kids today: “You think the coconut tree just fell out of the sky?” 

The coconut tree itself is part of a vast, interconnected web that spans continents, generations, workers, politics, and laws. Humans cultivated coconuts and spread them across the world. We use coconuts for food, fuel, shampoo, and building materials. Our policies on climate change, zoning, and water impact coconut trees everywhere. 

This worldview—one in which we are all linked together—is absolutely crucial to our thriving economy, our environment, our social policies, our happiness, everything. And it’s a worldview adopted by Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and the Democratic Party. It’s one big reason why I can’t wait to vote for them in November. 

What’s wrong with a more isolationist, we-made-this-all-by-ourselves perspective? Why is it important to recognize that no person—and no coconut tree—is an island? Because it leads to better policies, which leads to a stronger America. 

For starters, it reminds us that no one succeeds all on their own. As Obama said in a 2012 speech (which was also mocked at the time), every business relies on roads and fire protection and water provided by the government. “Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive,” he said. Yes, we should reward individual initiative. But we should also recognize those who helped us. And when we do so, we’re (I hope) more likely to help others get their footing. We’re more open to providing a social safety net. People need bootstraps before they can pull themselves up by those bootstraps. 

Second, it shows how our actions affect everyone on earth—and all future generations. It’s a less isolationist, more far-sighted perspective. It helps us (I hope) acknowledge that we need to be part of the global community, not retreat from it. We need to stick with NATO and support our allies. Humanity faces problems—nuclear war, pandemics, terrorism, climate change—that require global cooperation. 

The point is, a vote for Harris and Walz is a vote for a better, more compassionate, more realistic worldview. It’s a vote that takes into account the complicated web that we live in. It will lead to better, safer, more prosperous policies for all Americans, including our kids, our great-great-grandkids, everyone who works in America’s $4 billion coconut tree industry, all those who’ve ever used coconut shampoo, all those who love coconut chocolate candy bars, and all those whose mothers once gave us sage advice about coconuts or any other topic. 

 
AJ Jacobs is the author, most recently, of The Year of Living Constitutionally and host of The Puzzler podcast.