Administrative Note: Lately I’ve been trying to stay out of domestic politics because it is so toxic, and we’ve just about gone past the point where Americans can disagree without being disagreeable. I wrote the first version of this article around the time of the Trump conviction and the flood of toxic memes from both “sides” of the subject. Between Biden’s mental meltdown, replacement by Harris, and now the assassination attempts on Trump, the finger pointing of both “sides” over, well, everything, combined with name-calling and mud slinging rather than discussion of vital issues as we approach the election, against my better judgement I’m reposting this plea to tone it down …
The political environment – and the media that feeds off of it – has become so toxic it is undermining the fabric of society. That’s a long topic as to how and why we got here. The point of this post is simple: this election will be over in November (or a few weeks or months later depending on legal shenanigans, and sadly the next will begin even before this one ends). Some of you will be told you “won”, some you “lost” in order to fuel and amp up the outrage for the next cycle. Don’t carry that outrage – it’s mostly artificial. And, worse, the outrage is already passing the levels it can trigger violence.
My guess is most of you know who you are voting for. I’m not going to try to influence that. But consider that to a reasonably honest and neutral observer, the candidates for the major offices and their parties are deeply, horribly flawed. For the most part their policies and positions are irrational and designed to reinforce constituencies, not solve problems. Neither of the two major party candidates would be considered for elected office in anything approaching a sane system. Leaving aside the hard core partisans who will never acknowledge this, I suspect the majority of people are uncomfortable with the candidates and are not voting for them personally, but for or against a party based on a single heartfelt issue, or the positions the parties say they will take (even if they usually don’t in practice). And some people, like me, are doing “defensive voting” – voting for the candidate or party they think will do the least harm.
So please keep in mind that despite the fact you are being told that the candidate running against “your” party or candidate is evil (and in fact probably is), their voters, even supporters, are probably for the most part just like you. They aren’t evil, and if you listen to their concerns you may find they aren’t even wrong, just prioritizing differently. Sure, there are horrible people out there, and they tend to get the publicity (again, remember the philosophy of modern media and politics, enrage to keep you engaged). It’s not “whataboutism” to point out that these bad actors seemingly exist in roughly equal numbers on both sides. The problem is your extremists will likely seem less bad to you than their extremists since yours are closer to your beliefs, and you know they are a minority of your “tribe.” But that doesn’t mean they aren’t extremists to someone with a different point of view.
While we like to think elections are for the best candidate, they almost never are because of the way things work in politics, especially America. It’s obvious the two existing parties need drastic overhaul or replacement, but structurally our system is designed around them, and third parties just can’t seem to get traction. As to people who choose to vote for third parties or even not to vote – who can blame them, given this environment? Lessor of two evil votes might slow down the slide towards evil, but that is a compromise some people don’t want to make. Unfortunately we don’t have “none of the above” on the ballot. If we did, I think it would be an eye-opener. While it’s not what I would generally recommend, it is a valid moral choice to not lend legitimacy to a broken system by not voting, as long as it is a decision not to vote. Register to vote, show up, pick the candidates you can stomach, but if you feel you can’t vote for the corrupt, senile, or outright dangerous candidates the parties are hell bent on nominating, don’t. The parties and political scientists study those results, and it does send a message. Those who say inane things like “if you don’t vote you don’t have the right to complain” are simply wrong both morally and practically. If the choice is between Harry “Two Face” Dent and The Joker, don’t get bullied in to lending legitimacy to a either horrible candidate if you feel you shouldn’t.
So please respect that most people who are voting differently from you, or not at all, often have real, rational reasons for doing so. They are rarely evil, dupes, bad citizens, or ignorant. Unfortunately, they may well be propagandized – not by Russians, Chinese, or the John Birch Society, but by their chosen media outlets and party. Oh, and if you are a major party supporter, guess what: that means you. In the limited areas that I’m pretty confident I have good information and technical understanding (and people call me knowledgeable or even “expert”), I find the public discourse is usually lacking in substance, nuance, and often just plain wrong (and in private, decision makers and their staff are often no better). That has made me extremely suspicious about the things I don’t feel I have a handle on. That’s insane: we need to have authoritative, trustworthy, somewhat politically neutral sources of information. But in modern America, the reality is there are no neutral sources of information I’m aware of.
Will the election be “free and fair?” I’m sure the losers will say it wasn’t, but that’s really the wrong question. Let’s be honest here: the American electoral system isn’t either free or fair. It doesn’t meet the standards to which we hold other countries and regularly use as an excuse to invade them. If the system worked, we wouldn’t likely be facing such catastrophically bad candidates. The question is, will the election be according to the laws and rules that you (yes, you) have allowed to be put in to place? And the answer that, as it was in 2016 and 2020, is probably yes. So stop it with the “stolen” or “last free election” or “end of democracy” – and especially the dangerous “foreign interference” rhetoric – it’s not theft to be better at playing a rigged game than your opponent. The problem of course is this shouldn’t be a game susceptible to being rigged.
So when your candidate loses (and for roughly half of you that will happen), you probably feel it’s horrible, and you will be told how terrible things will become. Neither is really true … yes, elections matter, but not as much as you think, or as little as they should. The reasons things seem to be going downhill doesn’t have much to do with who does or doesn’t win this or any election. It is structural and, like most things, complicated, didn’t happen overnight, and will be hard to fix.
I study societies and communities under stress. To me, things look grim for the US if we don’t get this under control, especially the lack of the lack of credible information and rational discussion of critical issues. We can and must climb out of the sewer that social media, the “infotainment” industry, and most of all the fear and anger driven environment that the parties driving those forces have created. The only way I can see to do that is at the individual level, with rationality and empathy in balance. Listen to the “other” – and try to understand the real reasons behind their concerns (not the cartoon caricature you have of them). Consider how you appear to them (and understand they have been presented with a caricature of you).
In summary: Please stop it with the inflammatory rhetoric, and posting or engaging the funny (to your tribe), snarky, or insulting political memes. Don’t engage in name calling or pointless, substance free debates on social media with those that piss you off. Discuss issues, not personalities or comic book caricatures. Push the leadership of your political tribe to work to find real solutions to the real problems we face – not just create straw man adversaries and biased, short term actions geared to fuel the next election cycle. Because fueling that fire will get us all burned.
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