When the country was still basking in the sunshine of new found freedom, two politicians, a Vice President and a Secretary of the Treasury, got so angry at each other they had a duel. The Treasury Secretary’s shot hit a tree branch above the VP’s head; the VP’s shot hit the Secretary in the stomach. Ouch!
The good news? No-one died that day.
The bad news? On the next day, July 12, 1804, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton died. The rest of the political class was so disgusted at the whole event that Aaron Burr was ostracized out of politics.
What caused that much animosity? Not jealousy over a woman. Not anger over a football game (this was wa-a-a-y before the Eagles ever played the Cowboys). Not one of them stealing the other’s horse (horses were a big deal then, the difference between life and death if you were alone in the wilderness).
Nope. They had dueled over political conflicts for years. Hamilton led the Federalist party; Burr led the Democratic-Republican party.
And over the years some nasty words were flung back and forth.
Sound familiar?
The US was founded on political conflict between the British kingdom and the wanna-be democracy. After that was resolved with violence, there was conflict over interpretation of the Constitution. These conflicts were generally conducted with civility. But, over time, things got more and more heated.
Right up to the Civil War. Which was very uncivil.
Today politicians generally just duck and weave around disagreements. They rarely personally insult their adversaries. That’s one reason they can be so boring on Sunday morning shows: no one wants to end up with a Hamilton stomach ache. Instead they refer to even their worst enemies as “colleagues across the aisle”. From the end of the Civil War forward, its been an unwritten rule of politics: Don’t get personal.
Until about 10 years ago. That’s when the king of personal insults came down the escalator and started flinging personal pejoratives like confetti at a birthday party.
Michelle Obama’s famous “when they go low, we go high” was an attempt to keep things civil. It didn’t work.
Rather than unify the country, for the last ten years our current leader has divided the country.
Anyone who has read newspapers, watched TV, or followed on social media has witnessed it: from mimicking the disabled to a constant stream of insults like “crazed lunatics”, “radical left”, “they don’t mind executing babies after birth”, “vicious”, “corrupt” “treasonous”, etc…
To his fan base he’s candid, authentic, real. To the others, he’s obnoxious, mean, nasty.
And that has resulted in more and more “nasty” speech from the right aimed at LGBTQ people, immigrants, liberals, etc… in social and traditional media.
Which has resulted in more and more “nasty” speech from the left aimed at corporations, conservatives, rich people, etc… in social and traditional media.
See the pattern here?
Add to that stew of disdain a growing authoritarianism. Major government leaders, as well as entire departments of the government, are being subjected to loyalty tests, from the FBI to the Defense – oops! – War Department, FEMA, State, DOJ. The National Guard has been sent to DC, LA and is being considered for Chicago, New Orleans, New York. Then there are the new Tarriffs which are alienating life-long allies, and the mass deportations.
Which brings up a fundamental of human nature: Fear and helplessness lead to anger. Wars have been started over fear and helplessness. Vietnam happened because the US was afraid of the spread of communism. Ditto the Korean War. Hitler scared Europe into WWII. The South started the Civil War because they feared the end of slavery. The French feared…starvation.
Today immigrants are afraid of being deported. Their employers are afraid of going broke without workers. Government workers are afraid of being fired for being non-partisan. Liberals are afraid of conservatives; conservatives are afraid of liberals.
Elected officials are afraid of being shot. A Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and his wife were shot. The Pennsylvania governors residence was fire-bombed. And a popular conservative influencer was just shot for being… a conservative influencer.
A lot of people are feeling pretty scared and helpless right now. And, as a result, angry. What our President and leaders – of both parties -need to do is learn the lesson of Burr and Hamilton.
Don’t throw away our shot. Stop the nasty rhetoric. Start debating ideas again. Politely.