Ballet Boxes, Not Bullets
In a democracy, we conduct politics by the ballot box. Not bullets.
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump is deeply troubling. No candidate for any office in the land should have to fear for their life. If you don’t like a politician or their policies, vote against them. Protest them.
Trump was lucky to survive. Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, did not. He lost his life trying to protect his family. Ordinary citizens must be able to express their political views without the fear of violence.
This condemnation goes for all attacks on politicians in recent memory: Paul Pelosi, Steve Scalise, Gabby Giffords and the foiled attempts that we never hear about.
If bullets are an accepted form of political change, why even have elections?
That said, I’m not surprised that there was an assassination attempt. The current political discourse is so heated that we are in a social civil war- relationships of all kinds end due to political affiliations. Depending on the issue at hand, you can make an argument for it, but a state of social civil war is unpleasant, unproductive and unsustainable. People cannot agree to disagree or come together for a compromise- politics is an all or nothing, winner take all affair. Anakin Skywalker expressed the mindset in Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith: “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.”
Most of us can cite anecdotal evidence about the polarization. However, I found some research conducted by NBC News to be especially shocking:
“In the spring before (Democrat) Harry Truman ran for a full term in 1948, two-thirds of Democrats (68%) and even half of Republicans (50%) approved of his job performance.
By the time of (Republican) Richard Nixon in the White House (1968–1974), the gap between his party’s approval of him and the oppositional party grew to 47 points.
By (Democrat) Barack Obama’s time (2009–2017), it expanded to 72 points.
And for (Republican) Donald Trump, it was 79 points, shrinking only by the slightest of margins to 77 points for (Democrat) Joe Biden (2021-present).”
There was only an 18% gap of approval for President Trump between the parties three generations ago. Today, gap has more than quadrupled. If the president isn’t your guy, then he’s your enemy, with few exceptions.
Pew Research gives a few reasons for this polarization:
“1. Both parties have grown more ideologically cohesive. There are now only about two dozen moderate Democrats and Republicans left on Capitol Hill, versus more than 160 in 1971–1972.
2. Both parties have moved further away from the ideological center since the 1970s. Democrats on average have become somewhat more liberal, while Republicans on average have become much more conservative.
3. The geographic and demographic makeup of both congressional parties has changed dramatically. Nearly half of House Republicans now come from Southern states, while nearly half of House Democrats are Black, Hispanic or Asian/Pacific Islander.”
Solving or reducing political polarization in a long term fashion requires structural and other reforms. However, we can start turning the country in the right direction by our own actions. I applaud President Biden for stating that it’s time to ‘cool down the rhetoric’ and reaching out to Trump.
But I think the two men should go a bit further. They aren’t friends and dislike one another on a personal level. If they could have a friendly-ish golf game for charity, they could show that political civility doesn’t mean being friends with your opponent: it simply means accepting the results and moving on with your life. Hell, if Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield could come together, why not Biden and Trump?
In a weird way, the movie Mrs. Doubtfire, which explored the idea of a healthy divorce, could provide a model to repair our political discourse. Daniel and Miranda Hillard didn’t get back together. Instead, they learned to co-parent as separate people. Their marriage was over, but their responsibility as parents wasn’t. Similarly, the Left and the Right have little in common these days, but they can handle business and politics in a civil manner, then go their separate ways in their personal lives.
As a silver lining, while the USA’s present day politics are tumultuous and scary in the USA, they don’t reach the heights of the late 60s and early 70s. JFK, Malcolm X, MLK and RFK lost their lives in the 1960s, with George Wallace coming close in 1972. The 1968 Democratic National Convention along with Vietnam War protests were battles in another social civil war. If social media and the internet had been around back then, it probably would have been worse.
If we survived the ’60s and ’70s, we can survive the 2020s. It will take time and effort, but it can be done.
As long as we give hate ‘no safe harbor,’ in the words of President Biden.