Other thoughtful Republicans (or former Republicans) are mulling over their own complicity in a party that was compromising its values for power. But equally, or more so, there has not been a full reckoning on the left.
Particularly given the impending release of what is sure to be a gracefully written and elegiac memoir by Barack Obama, one could easily elide the mistakes made not only by that administration but by the elites who were so enthusiastic about it. Those mistakes gave Trump his opening—in particular, the lack of empathy, let alone sympathy, for Americans who were whipsawed by changing social norms, who felt their faith to be under attack, or who believed their livelihood endangered by the flight of manufacturing to China. A clash of cultures gave Trump his chance, and it is not clear that the culture warriors on one side have processed adequately why they lost so soundly in 2016, and only barely eked out a victory in 2020. (Source)
As I said in a post last week, Trump supporters are grownups who are ultimately responsible for their egregiously bad judgment. Knowing who this man is and what a threat he is to democracy and decency norms, people in Red American who voted for Trump have not excuse. None. Nevertheless, Cosmopolitan Liberal America must understand better its role in creating the conditions for Trump'a rising.
If nothing else, it's just a matter of prudence. There is no winning a culture war. Northern Liberals didn't win it after the Civil War in the 1860s, and they won't win it now even if they prevail politically in the short run. And so it is in the interests of Blue America to moderate their culture war animus if they have any hope of moving forward on issues like climate change, health care, income inequality, and infrastructure restoration. I don't think Democrats should compromise at all with Republican leadership, but if they have any hope of actually governing, they have to find a way of winning back more of Red America, the parts of it, at least, that haven't completely lost their minds.
Not that I think such moderation is likely to happen, of course. Culture war issues are where all the heat is for both Left and Right. The other practical issues are too boring and technical. We can't really get into a blue rage about them the way we can about abortion or guns. And we all love to feel so enraged because of the way it parodies normal, healthy feeling of being alive when so much else about contemporary life is otherwise so deadening, anesthetizing, dehumanizing.
But that points to the real underlying problem–those who are actually normal, healthy people have better, more productive things to do with their time than to get riled up about politics. And so very few get involved, which leaves the field open to those who are crazy enough to want to.
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