Two Tasks for the Next Two Years
Issue 1.16 ~ December 14th, 2022
Being the serial processor that I am, I always prefer doing one thing at a time. So, when presented with any two tasks, my first inclination is always to prioritize them into a sequence of “this-task-first-then-that-task-second”. But in the case of the two tasks referenced in the title above, an approach of “first this, then that” simply won’t do. For all of us appalled by the continued rise of irrational political extremism here and abroad, we need to work in parallel-processing mode to address these two tasks continuously and simultaneously.
Our first task, over the short-term, is to prevail at the polls in 2024. We can’t afford any let-up in the energies we expended over the past year in successfully holding off the widely predicted “red wave” deluge in the 2022 midterms. Those cheering Trump tee-shirters pictured above have almost certainly not gone home chastened by the November results; it’s more than likely that most of them are already hard at work laying the groundwork to win, by any means possible, the 2024 presidential election - their next opportunity to “make America great again”. Accordingly, we cannot sit back basking in the joy of having held on to our slim Senate majority this time around. Whatever role we each played in this past election - contributing, fundraising, texting, letter-writing, phone-banking, canvassing - we need to keep at it, and if possible step it up, over the next twenty-four months. We’re running a marathon, not sprinting across a 100-yard dash.
Our second task, over the long-term, is attempting to communicate effectively with some of those enthusiastic Trump-supporters once again pictured above, in the hope of persuading them to let go of the extremist views they currently cling to. While I have no idea of how we might go about such a project, or whether it’s even reasonable to undertake it in the first place, I also have no doubt that the work called for by the first task - while vitally important in the short-run - will in fact fall short in the long-run.
We are, I fear, trapped in a situation akin to the one that the fictitious “little Dutch boy” of my childhood storybooks finds himself in. Each time he inserts one of his fingers into a hole in the dyke to stop the leak bursting through, a new leak springs forth from a second hole. Sooner or later, the holes are surely going to outnumber his fingers. I can no longer recall how the story ended, but in the real-life national narrative we are living through, even if for now we have enough collective fingers to keep plugging indefinitely all the holes opening up in the dyke of our democracy, what will we do if - or is it when? - the rising waters of autocracy overflow the top of our plugged-up dyke?
In the short-term, of course, we absolutely must keep plugging the holes in the dyke (task one: prevail at the polls). But in the long-term, we need somehow to bring about a receding of the waters still ominously edging their way up to the brim of the dyke (task two: persuade the extremists).
Over the course of these next two years, a recurring theme of TLBR will be exploring ideas for pursuing the objective of this second task. But for now, during this year-end holiday season, let’s give ourselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done in 2022. Our democracy may still be down, but it is also still far from done.
Additional reading:
More thoughts on the “perfect storm” of extremist views coalescing on the fringes of the Republican party … “[Many observers] remain unconvinced that the GOP is ready to fundamentally break with Trump or ostracize the coalition’s overtly racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic white supremacists and Christian nationalists. ‘I think what we are looking at is the entrenchment of extremism, and that’s what is so worrisome,’ [says] Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. If anything, extremist groups could gain momentum in the coming months. Musk’s proposed mass amnesty for banned Twitter accounts would provide ‘a tremendous amount of oxygen to extremists on the radical right’ and allow those groups to push back much harder against any Republican elected officials resisting their presence in the party, [says] Michael Edison Hayden of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. If Musk opens the door to extremist organizing on Twitter, the white-nationalist presence in the GOP coalition will become ‘potentially irreversible in the short term.’”
Looking beyond the national threat posed by domestic extremism, the international order is increasingly under the extreme threat of war between superpowers … “The United States now faces the real and regular prospect of fighting adversaries strong enough to do Americans immense harm. The post-Sept. 11 forever wars have been costly, but a true great power war — the kind that used to afflict Europe — would be something else, pitting the United States against Russia or even China, whose economic strength rivals America’s and whose military could soon as well. This grim reality has arrived with startling rapidity. Since February, the war in Ukraine has created an acute risk of U.S.-Russia conflict. It has also vaulted a Chinese invasion of Taiwan to the forefront of American fears and increased Washington’s willingness to respond with military force. Yet how many Americans can truly envision what a third world war would mean? Just as great power conflict looms again, those who witnessed the last one are disappearing. Around 1 percent of U.S. veterans of World War II remain alive to tell their stories. It is estimated that by the end of this decade, fewer than 10,000 will be left. The vast majority of Americans today are unused to enduring hardship for foreign policy choices, let alone the loss of life and wealth that direct conflict with China or Russia would bring.”
Closing notes:
Wishing everyone much health, happiness, and harmony over the upcoming holiday season and throughout the new year!
See you with the next issue of TLBR in four weeks, on Wednesday, January 11th!