Anne Applebaum: Biden Gambles That 'We the People' Still Exist

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/democracy-biden-speech-trump-maga/671325/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/R6Qm2

The principles of classical liberalism that underlie the American political system emerged in an era, the late 17th century, when people were exhausted by violent religious wars. The philosophy that eventually created our democracy was therefore designed to “lower the temperature of politics,” as Francis Fukuyama has recently written, to take issues of existential truth off the table so that people could live in safety. In liberal democracies, citizens were persuaded to adopt a culture of moderation, restraint, and adherence to the rule of law; respect for the rights of others to think what they want; support for independent courts, checks and balances, and neutral institutions such as election boards. None of that has necessarily been very inspiring to people who want high emotion, feelings of unity, or moral crusades in public life. In Liberalism and Its Discontents, Fukuyama argues that the values of liberal democracy are by definition “thinner than those offered by societies bound by a single religious doctrine,” and he is right.

This is the deep source of the most serious problem facing Joe Biden, and not just Joe Biden: how to energize citizens to defend moderation, how to create excitement about institutions that were designed not to be exciting, how to build enthusiasm for the political center—the people of all political beliefs who still respect the rules and understand why they are important. Above all, how to get Americans to see that the challenge presented by the “MAGA Republicans,” as the president called them in his speech last night, is not a normal political challenge. Trump’s political movement is not a threat to liberal democracy because of its beliefs about taxes, spending, welfare, immigration, energy policy, or even abortion, however vehemently some Americans might disagree with them. Nor is it threatening because it is conservative, for it is not conservative in the traditional sense at all.

MAGA Republicans are rather a threat because their leader does not accept the outcome of elections when he loses them; because he does not believe that the rule of law applies to him; because he does not adhere to the culture of restraint, tolerance, and moderation; and because he is now seeking to help elect other politicians who feel the same way. In their drive to change the political system, and to ensure that they can retain power even if they lose, Trump’s followers have verbally and sometimes physically attacked Capitol police officers, election workers, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and civil servants. He and his acolytes use violent language, and they inspire violence in return. As Biden put it last night, they “tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people.”

For most of his presidency, Biden has dealt with this problem by largely ignoring it, scarcely mentioning Trump at all. Instead, he sought to change the subject, to speak about infrastructure or climate policy rather than existential issues. As a way of dealing with violent political division, this tactic has a long history. It was used in Northern Ireland, for example, where the idea was to get people to talk about building community centers so that they would stop talking about killing one another. Some European politicians challenged by the far-right in their own countries have tried something similar. Pablo Casado, until recently the leader of the Spanish center right, once told me he wanted to focus on the economic issues underlying the culture wars. He hoped to build support among people who wanted a pragmatic conversation, not an ideological one.

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