I really do hope our divides can be healed. Unfortunately, Lincoln may have talked about better angels, but he had a little problem sharing fundamental values with the Confederacy. I think we have fundamental disagreements today. I don't even see an agreement on democracy. Far from it. A minority benefits from institutional advantages that give it an outsized governance in this country. That's not really a deal breaker but then there's the rejection of elections. By a wide margin, most Republicans still believe Trump won and Biden lost. A large number see violent overthrow of the election as legitimate. I'm getting more of a vibe of Bonaparte later in the French Revolution than a belief in American democracy.
And here's my take on freedom. It's quite different too. Freedom can only come if we have equality. And when we all have equality, only then can we have freedom. Freedom is not the ability to run around and do whatever we want with no consequences, that's called being a billionaire oligarch. Freedom is all of us having an equal say in the things that effect us. Politics, but not just. We're so far apart and we're not even on the same journey.
A strength of Americans is that we have been able to overcome our differences and disagreements. How do we get back to that?
There are two narratives that more or less refute what I've been trying to say. The first is what you suggest. That naked power trumps basic values. That is, in the drive for power and the control over events that this seems to provide, we toss aside what are "mere" good values and resort to what works. In this view our "sacred" values are nothing more than a rather weak cover for our cupidity. What I find interesting though is that such a scheme works. That is, the general people believe Trump won BECAUSE he got the most votes. Their outrage is over what they see as a betrayal of democracy, not a rejection of it. They really still believe in democracy. But they can't believe that a majority of people really think differently than themselves. They don't take the elite view, the cynical view, that less well- educated people, or poor people shouldn't be allowed to vote. The Trump elites probably do hold this view. Ironically, because objectively they are the less well educated.
The other view is one that traditional conservatives tend to hold. That they represent one side of a basic divide, a philosophical divide, expressed in different way. I personally think that this "brand" of American conservatism is misguided. I find it flawed, but I'm sure its adherents are sincere. American "conservatives" are basically those who are above average in being well off. They want to "conserve" their advantage, while still loyal to the basic Lockian Liberal values that they believe were responsible for their success.
It's quite possibly true many Republicans believe Trump got the most votes. Democracy is more than just an election day though. Some of this may be the loud echoes in their bubbles suggesting to them their number is greater than it is. I also can't help but wonder if they also believe he should have won but our election system lacks the inequality they desire. There was an abrupt about face regarding mail in ballots, which used to favor Republicans. There's quite a bit of talk about the wrong kind of people voting. Of course there's been quite a bit of talk about election machines and stuff like that to. I think the idea was to throw everything up and hope something sticks. Oh, and there's the disloyalty of the judicial system that chose to view and rule on facts.
Do you think Trump thought he won? He sure did have a lot of schemes to win without winning votes. He wanted to block a few states from voting, he wanted state legislatures to override votes in the state, when Arizona completed it's audit he still claims he won the state, his legal team had no argument but put on a spectacle, etc. It doesn't seem likely that he thought he won nor that a majority of Republicans thought so either. The claims just gives them cover.
Hard, isn't it, to see inside the head of anyone. There may always be, for all of us, a fear that the "wrong people" are voting, but I think that almost all of us accept that as a system that we honor or at least respect. Of course, there is a segment of the Trump right that does hold that some Americans (white?) are here by evil design? or ill chance? and it would be better for all of us that they didn't vote. Others think that if we make it harder to vote, the "right" people would vote in greater proportion. We all may have our own lists of "deplorables." And throughout American history serious people have questioned the tactics of "get out the vote campaigns." And the results. But these are negotiable issues. And they play out against a background of voter suppression (the other side of get out the vote) and voter education and lots and lots of money spent on partisan (manipulative?) ads and appeals to vote.
Perhaps we should not forget the elephant in the room of Democracy. There is alchemy involved in persuaded anyone that their "one" vote will matter.
Clinton said half were deplorable and I don't know what the exact percent is, but it is something. I've never heard any suggestion from anyone that deplorables shouldn't be entitled to vote. When my kids were in HS, schools registered kids to vote. The legislature went out of their way to try to block this "privilege" and interference by the schools. Things like this should be easy, but they're not.
I really do hope our divides can be healed. Unfortunately, Lincoln may have talked about better angels, but he had a little problem sharing fundamental values with the Confederacy. I think we have fundamental disagreements today. I don't even see an agreement on democracy. Far from it. A minority benefits from institutional advantages that give it an outsized governance in this country. That's not really a deal breaker but then there's the rejection of elections. By a wide margin, most Republicans still believe Trump won and Biden lost. A large number see violent overthrow of the election as legitimate. I'm getting more of a vibe of Bonaparte later in the French Revolution than a belief in American democracy.
And here's my take on freedom. It's quite different too. Freedom can only come if we have equality. And when we all have equality, only then can we have freedom. Freedom is not the ability to run around and do whatever we want with no consequences, that's called being a billionaire oligarch. Freedom is all of us having an equal say in the things that effect us. Politics, but not just. We're so far apart and we're not even on the same journey.
A strength of Americans is that we have been able to overcome our differences and disagreements. How do we get back to that?
There are two narratives that more or less refute what I've been trying to say. The first is what you suggest. That naked power trumps basic values. That is, in the drive for power and the control over events that this seems to provide, we toss aside what are "mere" good values and resort to what works. In this view our "sacred" values are nothing more than a rather weak cover for our cupidity. What I find interesting though is that such a scheme works. That is, the general people believe Trump won BECAUSE he got the most votes. Their outrage is over what they see as a betrayal of democracy, not a rejection of it. They really still believe in democracy. But they can't believe that a majority of people really think differently than themselves. They don't take the elite view, the cynical view, that less well- educated people, or poor people shouldn't be allowed to vote. The Trump elites probably do hold this view. Ironically, because objectively they are the less well educated.
The other view is one that traditional conservatives tend to hold. That they represent one side of a basic divide, a philosophical divide, expressed in different way. I personally think that this "brand" of American conservatism is misguided. I find it flawed, but I'm sure its adherents are sincere. American "conservatives" are basically those who are above average in being well off. They want to "conserve" their advantage, while still loyal to the basic Lockian Liberal values that they believe were responsible for their success.
It's quite possibly true many Republicans believe Trump got the most votes. Democracy is more than just an election day though. Some of this may be the loud echoes in their bubbles suggesting to them their number is greater than it is. I also can't help but wonder if they also believe he should have won but our election system lacks the inequality they desire. There was an abrupt about face regarding mail in ballots, which used to favor Republicans. There's quite a bit of talk about the wrong kind of people voting. Of course there's been quite a bit of talk about election machines and stuff like that to. I think the idea was to throw everything up and hope something sticks. Oh, and there's the disloyalty of the judicial system that chose to view and rule on facts.
Do you think Trump thought he won? He sure did have a lot of schemes to win without winning votes. He wanted to block a few states from voting, he wanted state legislatures to override votes in the state, when Arizona completed it's audit he still claims he won the state, his legal team had no argument but put on a spectacle, etc. It doesn't seem likely that he thought he won nor that a majority of Republicans thought so either. The claims just gives them cover.
Hard, isn't it, to see inside the head of anyone. There may always be, for all of us, a fear that the "wrong people" are voting, but I think that almost all of us accept that as a system that we honor or at least respect. Of course, there is a segment of the Trump right that does hold that some Americans (white?) are here by evil design? or ill chance? and it would be better for all of us that they didn't vote. Others think that if we make it harder to vote, the "right" people would vote in greater proportion. We all may have our own lists of "deplorables." And throughout American history serious people have questioned the tactics of "get out the vote campaigns." And the results. But these are negotiable issues. And they play out against a background of voter suppression (the other side of get out the vote) and voter education and lots and lots of money spent on partisan (manipulative?) ads and appeals to vote.
Perhaps we should not forget the elephant in the room of Democracy. There is alchemy involved in persuaded anyone that their "one" vote will matter.
Clinton said half were deplorable and I don't know what the exact percent is, but it is something. I've never heard any suggestion from anyone that deplorables shouldn't be entitled to vote. When my kids were in HS, schools registered kids to vote. The legislature went out of their way to try to block this "privilege" and interference by the schools. Things like this should be easy, but they're not.
The news from Texas does not show us a shared vision of freedom and liberty. Not at all.