American Culture Wars Gerry OShea
The
distinguished Canadian theologian, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, writing fifty or so
years ago bemoaned the emergence of a shallow culture, lacking depth and
authenticity, where truth is considered changeable and the importance of family
and community is undermined. He defines
the term culture broadly as the total amalgam of connections, stories,
feelings, rituals, practices and values that inform the way of life of all
groups.
Surely one
of the most perplexing happenings of the presidential election last year was
the failure of the Republican Party to produce a manifesto setting out their
main policy proposals for the electorate. By comparison, the Sanders wing of
the Democratic Party made their support for Joe Biden contingent on reaching
agreement that some of their priorities would be included in the party
platform. This was negotiated to their satisfaction and the consequent party
unity, missing in 2016, benefited the Democratic campaign.
Republican
aversion in recent times to providing a thought-out rationale for their policy
positions is part of an anti-intellectual culture which they seem to embrace.
For example, they do not believe the compelling evidence for climate change,
and in dealing with the COVID crisis, Anthony Fauci, representing science and
research, was sidelined in favor of
anti-mask-wearing crowds and medical quackery from the White House.
It is a truism accepted by all political
parties that emotions win out over reason in voters’ preferences at election
time. The textbook idea that citizens study the policy stances of the parties
and intellectually weigh up each side before deciding who to support does not
accord with real life.
America’s legendary
melting pot has morphed into a grievance culture. So many groups have complaints
about how they are treated by comparison with other groups that it is hard to
find individuals who aren’t tainted by the blaming game. This is the world of
hurt feelings, of citizens’ perceptions
of how they and their families and social groups are respected in the wider
body politic.
For
instance, evangelical Christians have a distinct attitude to life. They feel
strongly against the availability of abortion in America, but even apart from
that, they club together in support of conservative causes, and they form a
large reliable bloc of voters for any Republican candidate. Donald Trump’s
womanizing and lack of any observable moral compass upset them and a small percentage
withdrew their support, but, despite everything, the vast majority identified
the Democrats as representing a dark and hostile culture force and so they
voted along traditional lines.
On the other
side, black people are reliable Democrats. Nine out of ten African-American
voters supported the Democratic candidate in last year’s presidential election.
To solidify his backing in this important constituency, Mr. Biden chose Kamala
Harris, a woman of color, as his running mate, and he promised that his first
nominee to the Supreme Court will be a black female.
The
Democrats’ courtship of non-white voters invites the consequences of Newton’s
Third Law of Motion that for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction. This perceived preferential Democratic focus on minority concerns
annoys many white people who feel that their issues are not respected and they
look to the Republican Party for succor. While the mantra that Black Lives
Matter is widely affirmed among Democrats, most Republicans vehemently oppose
what they interpret as an anti-white trope.
Many people
seem to crave an ideology that would guide all decision-making by eliminating
complexity and pointing to an unambiguous path of righteousness. However, when
we think of the three great ideologues of the 20th century, all of
whom offered clear answers to the thorny questions about the use and abuse of
power, we realize the advantages of a messy democratic system. Stalin, Mao and
Hitler knew how to play the emotional nationalist tune and together these
tyrants, steeped in their versions of ideological purity, caused the deaths of
millions in pursuing their grandiose and evil plans.
James
Carville, Bill Clinton’s right-hand-man in the 1992 presidential election, is
remembered because of his colorful personality and his pronouncement about
winning elections that “it is about the economy stupid.” Sounds like an
axiomatic truth that people will vote their pocket books, supporting whatever
candidate or party helps them pay the mortgage and supermarket bills.
How then
does one explain many white workers’ allegiance to the Republican Party when
the Democrats offer a better financial deal for them and their families?
Republicans are wedded to cutting taxes for the rich, claiming – without proof
- that enhancing the surpluses of
millionaires will lead to trickle down benefits for ordinary taxpayers. Rational
economic considerations are certainly not the determining factor for these workers
when they choose to vote Republican.
Despite Mr. Carville’s engaging personality,
he will have to concede that elections are decided mostly in the market place
of emotions, filled with images, analogies and feelings about the candidates,
topped up with an abundance of moralizing against opponents.
How do we
account for the Q Anon phenomenon which has become a prominent presence in
American culture? Certainly, it is away outside the world where reason and
logic prevail. The Q adherents openly profess that prominent Democrats led by Hilary
Clinton and Speaker Pelosi and funded by George Soros and unnamed Hollywood
stars are really closet Satanists who have kidnapped and are torturing
thousands of children for their own sexual gratification. Shamefully, belief in
this vile balderdash is very much part of our culture.
The mysterious Q figure, who has the
allegiance of about one quarter of Republicans, has prophesied various
indignities for President Biden and triumphs for Donald Trump, none of which
has happened. That doesn’t seem to matter. By all accounts, the Q numbers are
growing.
The new
science of gender identification has become a central point of cultural conflict
among Americans. The biblical story of males and females created to increase
and multiply never dealt with the full gamut of sexual possibilities. The Genesis
tale suffices for the majority of people, with anybody outside the binary
male/female romantic story often dismissed as a freak of nature.
Traditionalists
still look askance at homosexual couples embracing in public, but they throw
their hands up in despair condemning the culture that allows gay marriage.
Really complicating this scene is the emergence of a vibrant community of
transexuals, against whom, sadly, thirty murders were committed last year in
America. Conservatives blame liberal
culture for all this confusion about sexual identity, especially in cases
involving trans people participating in sporting competitions.
Using
religious imagery to describe the outrageous cultural expression that we
witnessed on January 6th, Kevin Clarke, a senior editor in the
Jesuit magazine, America, wrote poignantly about what has corrupted our
imaginations: “Crafting idols out of our politicians; stacking guns into
shrines in our homes or wearing them across our chests like amulets; and
poisoning our minds with litanies of false conspiracies; we embrace extremism
that leads to hockey sticks slashing across the heads of police officers.”
Gerry
OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
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