Part I: Malaise In Our Politics
Part I: Malaise In Our Politics/November 19, 2020/By: Lawrence S. DiCara
The malaise many of us are sensing this November is not a new phenomenon.
On July 15, 1979, Jimmy Carter delivered the somewhat infamous “Malaise” Speech after retreating to Camp David and then requesting the resignations of his entire cabinet. The country was suffering from significant economic reversals. Sadly, some of the fact patterns of the 1970s are with us today, given high unemployment and economic insecurity and the anger which is so evident among so many.
America has endured difficult times on many occasions throughout its history. Over twenty years before his election as President, Abraham Lincoln had spoken in Springfield, Illinois of a national unease, specifically of “the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country…the lawless in spirit are encouraged to become lawless in practice.”
Perhaps we have come to a similar moment in our history. There are so many conflicting messages in the public square. Many accept generalizations about those we have never met. It is an us vs. them era. Our divisions appear greater than at any time in recent history. We find it difficult to agree as to who has won a national election. I question whether there is a national consensus about most anything.
My old colleague Joe Moakley would tell me stories as to how different Congress was in the last years of the 20th Century than when he arrived in 1973. Colleagues no longer spoke to each other or socialized together. It was as if there were now two teams – Montagues and Capulets, Hatfields and McCoys; it became very diffciult to reach an agreement. Certainly, our politics are no better almost 20 years after Joe passed away.
There are also other changes. We were taught that, if we worked hard, we would be treated fairly. Many have argued that earned success is the key to true happiness. In the modern world of identity politics, however, are we becoming a nation where merit – promoted since the very beginnings of the Republic as an antidote to aristocracy - is now being replaced by arithmetic? As some speak of equal results, as opposed to equal opportunity, are the rules being changed? I question whether that is healthy for the nation. The founders were very clear: “no title of nobility shall be granted by the United States”; in America, public office was not to be passed down from one generation to another. The Authoritarian in Chief has been surrounded by a royal court. Will sons/daughters and their spouses soon be vested with multi-colored sashes as they exit?
As Jill LePore and others have discussed, we are also hindered by those, many of them graduates of our greatest universities, who have dismissed the opinions of church-going white working class people who were the cornerstone of the Democratic coalition for decades, as being unworthy [See: Hillary; Deplorables; 2016] Perhaps Joe Biden, who was educated at less prestigious schools, may be an antidote to such corrosive elitist thinking.
We continue to see frightening trends which are not healthy for our politics. As Prof. Thomas Ferguson and his colleagues have recently written: “Right-wing populism…tends to embrace strong, authoritarian leaders; to exploit social divisions; to blame social scapegoats (immigrants, minorities and women) for suffering and distress.” The Trump message has been one of fear of “others”, whoever that might be. He has welcomed white supremacist groups to supplant our duly constituted law enforcement agencies. Vigilantes have surrounded courthouses seeking to influence the orderly tabulation of votes. Demonstrations may continue during this interregnum. As Prof. Timothy Snyder has argued, his hard-core supporters are angry and will not go away. Will they become the 21 Century Peronistas, who have played an important role in Argentina’s politics for decades? Many historians have argued that democracies are not destroyed by outsiders, but from within. I pray the next four years will be a great improvement over the nightmares we have endured in recent years.
Perhaps it is best to end this essay about malaise by quoting an encouraging verse from Tennyson, which Robert Kennedy adopted as the title of his last book over fifty years ago:
“…..Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”