Culture, Reflections on Life

A Return to Middle-aged Thinking

Logic.  Data.  Evidence.

I grew up being taught that these were the gold standards in pursuing an outcome.   Yet, nearly half of the US population seems to have abandoned these standards.

In raging Facebook conversations, person after person claims that our recent US presidential election was stolen, that there is a deep-state conspiracy and that a secret faction of pedophiles rules the Democratic party.

In 1692, the Salem Witch Trials epitomized the height of medieval madness.   A toxic combination of paranoia, magical thinking and fear of the Other led to  the hanging of 19 women from the Salem community.

The lesson of the Salem Witch Trials and the Trump era alike was well articulated when Voltaire (1694-1778) said:

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. – Voltaire

For me, a key lesson of the last four years is that logic, data and evidence  (rational thinking) has been a guiding force of decision-making in our society NOT because most people believed it to be true.  It is because most (or at least half) of Americans followed their leaders’ examples – and most of our political leaders (in both parties) accepted  rational thinking as a given.

Before Trump, our leaders were subject to scrutiny based on their ability to (1) argue a point convincingly, (2) craft rational policy, and (3) conduct themselves civilly throughout their lives.   Even President Nixon, who resigned in disgrace after covering up the Watergate burglary, subjected himself to such scrutiny by releasing his tax returns.   Every presidential candidate since Nixon has followed this precedent.   Until Donald Trump’s candidacy, it was considered a disqualifier if a candidate failed to publicly share his or her tax returns.

Donald Trump turned that upside down.   By building on grievances of a shrinking white populace, Trump created a loyal base that was willing to support him without reason:

…I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?
– Donald J Trump
and he did not lose any voters.   In spite of a failed pandemic response, the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans, countless atrocities against  immigrants (“The Other”), our environment and progress in social justice, over 74 Million Americans voted for Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.  This was the most votes ever received by an incumbent President.

But Joe Biden got even more, with over 81 Million American votes – and, more importantly, a definitive electoral college win.

And Trump lost.

And he fought reality one more time.   He denied the election results, even after all 50 states certified the vote, some after multiple recounts.

He fought in the courts… and lost.

He called Republican Secretary of States and Governors to illegally change the election results… and was rebuffed.

And he called on his people to the storm the Capitol and stop the certification of the Biden victory… and they did.   Fortunately, the invaders failed to stop the certification.  The US constitutional wisdom held forth against the assault.

The effect was similar to a mud-caked bed of rocks being showered by an enormous storm.   The storm washed away all of the muck and laid bare the cold stones that support the Trump worldview no matter what.

Each stone of unflinching support is uncovered as rational law, laid down by the US Constitution,  meets irrational followership.  Examples of this remarkably clear exposure are unfolding daily.

Its like we suddenly have a magic “tin-foil hat detector” to see who will lap up the irrational conspiracy vomit regardless of what is found in the chunks on the floor.

They include:
  • The vote to de-certify the election results by 138 US Representatives and 8 US Senators.
  • The collusion by government officials currently under investigation to invite a weakened Capitol target.
  • Renegade members of our local police, fire departments and government who invaded the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
  • Our friends, family and neighbors who support the invasion and Trump even after the first serious US  insurrection since the Civil War.

This morning, a friend asked me how long we have to live with this?   Will this great American division between reality and conspiracy live with us for decades?

We could look to the past.   Denying the Church doctrine or being a known atheist was once considered blasphemy, which resulted in a death sentence.   Over time, those laws faded away to more rational laws and in 1787, the Founding Fathers of the US Constitution embodied the latest thinking into their vision for a new Democratic Republic.  It had been over 90 years since the Salem Witch trials.

But what’s the saying?
The past does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

 

 We live in 2021.  The digital world permeates most aspects of our daily existence.   The corporate giants of today control data networks, databases and digital prosthetics for all of humanity.  In fact, so much of our existence is built on science and technology, it seems impossible that a Trump era could exist!

But this new era is here.   And we are neighbors and family and friends with Trump supporters.   So, I’ll look to another time when our country was so divided… and listen to the wisdom of the American President, Abraham Lincoln:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. – Abraham Lincoln

We must return to the table with each other. We need to return to a conversation grounded in reason, not rhetoric. In coming together, we must hold each other accountable to bring the better angels of our nature to include grace, equity, good will, justice, compassion and rational thinking to our future endeavors together.