I’ve been looking at a great book by Anand Giridharadas called The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy.
Giridharadas reminds us that in a decent society based on the Enlightenment political principles of the American Framers, politics is all about persuasion. As Madison and his partners in shaping the Constitution saw it, rational politics allows the various factions of society to debate the reasons for their preferences, to try to persuade one another, and to arrive at a mutually acceptable compromise.
But when a large faction refuses to be rational, refuses to compromise, insists on having their own way, and threatens the rest of society, they reject rational politics. And if they actually use violence, they put themselves into a state a war, as John Locke described it, with the rest of society. Trumpist America put itself at war with Decent America by the violent insurrection of January 6.
As Locke also tells us, when the violence stops, the law reasserts itself. On January 6, he officer who shot and killed a Trumpist attacker was justified in doing so. Today, if an officer found a January 6 attacker and shot him, he would not be justified in doing so, because he is not now being violent. The law can deal with him, as it is dealing with hundreds of the attackers on that day.
Decent America hopes to curb Trumpest war-mongering by legally punishing the attackers and by—we can only hope—Trump and the ring leaders before the next election.
While this process of punishment proceeds, Trumpist America is not currently attacking Decent America. But that does not mean “conservatives” have reconsidered their inclination to wage war against the decent portion of the nation’s citizenry. They keep that menace alive by continuing to issue threats.
The act of threatening, while not itself actual violence, indicates the will to do violence. And the will to do violence, if not provoked by imminent danger, is antisocial, undemocratic, and evil.
Among Republicans now, the will to do violence is raging unchecked. See this article for a summary of how bad it has gotten.
What can decent Americans do in the face of threats like these? What recourse do we have when “conservatives” say, in effect, “If you don’t agree to live in the hellhole we want to live in, we will kill you”?
The last time “conservatives” made such serious threats, the result was the Civil War. If we let Republicans fire the first shot again, we will have to beat them in another civil war.
There is a way out of this. We beat them at the polls. We take away whatever power they have left to push the levers of government. Then, if they want to launch violent attacks, Decent America will be in control of the police and military forces. Let them take on the world’s greatest military if they are foolish enough to attempt it.
But if we don’t beat them at the polls, if they get control of the nation’s police and military, it will mean not only the end of democracy but the beginning of a reign of terror that will rival Nazi Germany.
So, acting in accord with the rational principles of the Framers, Decent America needs to do some persuading. But just who do we need to persuade?
It’s not “conservatives.” They are too far gone. Yes, you might be able to talk sense to a few of them. Maybe a minuscule fraction of them would see the light. But that’s not going to help Decent America cut Republicans out of our politics.
We need to focus on persuading decent Americans that not a single one of us can afford to sit out another election or vote for another Republican until we remove enough “conservatives” from power to make the world safe from their depraved desires, their detestable demands, and their violent threats.
There are more than enough of us to put the lid on “conservatism” once and for all and to put an end to the Republican party as a force in American politics.
We just need to work at persuading ourselves and everyone like us to flock to the polls, tear down every Republican politician we can, and reestablish decency as America’s touchstone.
That is where we should focus all our energy—on decent people who just need some encouragement to put on their political armor and help their decent fellow citizens beat back the “conservative” hordes once and for all.
We can certainly do it, because we will only be “persuading” those who already agree with us.
And once we succeed, we can finally set about fixing what “conservatives” have broken.
Very well written and researched Scott. We are trying hard here in Florida with the new power group "Floridians for Democracy". We are preparing an action plan to do what you are thinking of. Argue for the good of the country against Trumpism and one sided right wing thinking. We hope we will be influential to the good of our democracy.
Brilliant argument, Scott!