Fixing Politics Should be Part of Every Policy Initiative
With the departure of our former president, we have the opportunity to begin repairing the damage to our political institutions that began before he came on the scene.
Our politics was already broken; confidence in government at an all time low. Some 70 percent of the public, both Democrats and Republicans, think politicians are not honest, do not care about average citizens, and put their own interests above that of the country.
Democracy requires widespread public trust. That trust is not there now. Charlatans and demagogues thrive in its absence.
Every office holder, every activist, should take on themselves the responsibility of rebuilding that trust. Every strategy, every policy initiative, regardless of the subject, should include as one of its goals, increasing public trust in the process. As political actors we have the responsibility of making the practice of politics better: more welcoming, more participatory, easier to access, less toxic, less confrontational. In short, more democratic.
In all of our planning, the question needs to be asked, how do we get this done in a way that makes our politics better?
Democracy is self-government. Self-government thrives on participation. If people are reluctant to participate the quality of our democracy declines. Anger and invective turn people off, make them reluctant to get involved. One young person contemplating becoming active told me, “I have seen so many people get worked up about politics/issues. They never seem to listen to the other person, they just get angrier and angrier … Frankly, I see nothing constructive in this and want nothing to do with it.”
As participation declines, politics is no longer something we do, but something that is done to us by those with power. They, not us, make the decisions that control our lives.
In the words of Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish political scientist, without the state being continually vitalized by citizens taking part, it degenerates into “that rather shallow, bureaucratic, strongly centralized, institutional machinery, manipulated by crafty organizational entrepreneurs and vested interests, which it is doomed to become.”
As our politics comes closer to that description, trust declines. Demagogues take the stage and find an audience. We follow because what we are getting isn’t working for us. They point to the other as the cause and channel our anger.
If they hit us, we have to hit back … harder. Because they are such a great danger, we have to do whatever it takes to win. The end justifies the means. As in any arms race there is an escalation of retaliatory actions.
Anger and fear increase. I think it fair to say that in the weeks before the election many on both sides were in near panic that the other side would win.
Conversation across the partisan divide is difficult, almost non-existent; not only because of the anger, but also because there is little overlap in the perceptions of reality. No matter what the question polled, almost without exception (distrust of politicians being one) there is a great difference between what Republicans think and Democrats think. There is little agreement even on what the facts are.
What to do?
We can start by lowering our rhetoric, abandoning inflammatory words, and eschewing personal attacks.
Why would anyone do that, you ask, when our most recent president rose to power and wielded it for four years precisely because he was the master of inflammatory words and personal attacks? Isn’t that a winning strategy?
Perhaps not. Not in the long run. When Trump left office last month, his approval ratings were at their lowest. In a recent PEW poll, more than half of Republicans said they were often or sometimes concerned or embarrassed by his statements.
If Republican voters are thinking Trump is not a good role model to follow, it may be time for all of us to rethink the effectiveness of the extreme adversarial approach. Beginning with looking at our own attitudes and practices and holding ourselves to the same standards that we demand from our opponents.
I found the results of a 2019 PEW poll fascinating but not surprising. Partisans demand a higher standard of conduct from the other party than from their own.
“While most Democrats (78%) say it is very important for Republican elected officials to treat Democratic officials with respect, only about half (47%) say it is very important for officials from their party to treat Republican politicians with respect. There is similar divide in the opinions of Republicans; 75% say Democrats should be respectful of GOP officials, while only 49% say the same about Republicans’ treatment of Democratic officials.”
“Most Republicans (72%) say it is never acceptable for a Democratic official to call a Republican opponent “stupid,” while far fewer (49%) say it is unacceptable for a Republican to use this slur against a Democrat. Among Democrats, 76% would rule out a Republican calling a Democratic opponent “stupid,” while 60% say the same about Democrat calling a Republican “stupid”.
Not many of us readily have conversations with people who think we are stupid. None of the articles I have read on the art of persuasion advise starting with calling the other stupid. More common is the advice of Abraham Lincoln. “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him you are his true friend.”
Most of the messages I see from elected officials, partisan organizations, activists and party leaders do not extend the hand of friendship. The partisan divide is too wide a breach for respect to cross.
There is much that needs fixing with our politics, some of it has deep roots and quite difficult to fix. And can’t be fixed until we start talking with each other. The first step, perhaps, to starting a conversation is to demand of ourselves what we expect from others.
The realists may scoff that politics is no place for following the Golden Rule. They should also consider where the alternative has brought us. Mending our democracy has to be an included goal in everything we do.
Douglas Kane is the author of "Our Politics: Reflections on Political Life" published in 2019 by Southern Illinois University Press
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