“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend.” – Thomas Jefferson, April 22, 1800
This week’s Reick Report was going to be about a state program that is actually having a positive effect on Illinois businesses, but the events of the past few days have shoved that to the side for the time being. I beg your indulgence.
Hot Topic of the Week: The Wages of Toxic Rhetoric
The beauty of our experiment in self-government in America is that we all get a voice in who governs, from the local level to the President of the United States. But the natural capacity for optimism that Americans have traditionally possessed has been sorely tested by deepening political divisions, with many saying that what stands in the way of progress is constantly having to deal with people who don’t think like us.
The basic principles that we all hold in common impose moral boundaries on our political life while giving us room for disagreement. The genius of our politics is figuring out how to tackle common problems while continuing to disagree about the right way to solve them. When we talk about the problems that confront us, too often we tend to talk about one another than to one another and spend far too little time trying to find solutions to those common problems. Within that discussion we must remember how to disagree without being disagreeable, or worse.
The assassination attempt against Donald Trump on Saturday evening is a horrible moment for America that could have been much worse. Yet we can’t forget that a man was killed while protecting his family and two others seriously wounded while they were engaging in the long-held American tradition of democratic participation. But can we really say that it comes as a complete surprise? Political hostility and hateful rhetoric have risen to a level that has led to violence, murder and now an attempted assassination. We’ve seen this far too often in the past; I’m among those who still remembers the summer of 1968.
We can look back and see how the straight line of toxic partisan rhetoric can lead to unstable people doing unspeakable things. The rhetoric, the vilification of political opponents and making elections about people instead of ideas has to change. An elected official or activist standing up and demonizing a political opponent or idea gets more play than one who quietly sits down and works on a solution. The American people are entertained (or sickened) by their elected officials but left with no real solutions that work for their everyday lives.
Everyone who could get to a microphone has condemned this attack, calling for a “cooling down” in our politics. But it’s easy to denounce political violence in its immediate aftermath; what happens afterwards is what really matters. As we’re already seeing, the cycle of blame never really stops. We have people on the Left identifying the shooter as a registered Republican, and people on the Right pointing out that he contributed $15 to a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, as if either of those things matter. But in today’s politics, it’s easy to ascribe motives when you’re ignorant of the facts. God only knows what we’re going to endure over the weeks leading up to the election.
But nor can we let the threat of violence have a heckler’s veto over our speech. Free speech comes with responsibility; it gives us legal license to say pretty much anything, but no moral license to exaggerate, defame, lie, or ignore the context in which we speak. There’s a line we must not cross, the First Amendment notwithstanding, out of respect for decency, truth, and democracy.
Let there be no doubt, the shooter alone is responsible for his actions. But everyone on both sides who fashion themselves as leaders need to stop describing the stakes of this election in apocalyptic terms. Democracy won’t end regardless of who gets elected to any particular office unless you have little faith in American institutions. Our system isn’t brittle; it bends but it won’t break unless we lose that faith completely.
So, this week and always, let us consider Thomas Jefferson’s quote – that friendship and the ties that bind us as Americans are stronger than any political differences.
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