EPISODE 3: Hope is an Engaged American Populace

Right wing extremism, white nationalism, and the rise of authoritarian tendencies are misunderstood, and fail to spark the engagement needed to strengthen and preserve democracy.  Facing the greatest threat of our nation’s history since the Civil War, Americans sleepwalk their way forward with a lackluster response.   What holds us back from a full-throated “H*** NO!” when faced with this kind of “mayday?”  How can we overcome our own resistance to responding? And how can we competently engage as dynamic citizens?

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Transcript

Welcome to American Musecast!  I’m your host, Susan Travis, exploring American politics using the construct of the hero’s journey and the archetypes of the psyche.  

Last episode we discussed a Mayday warning of the dire threat facing America – the ever-metastasizing deliberate dismantling of democracy accompanied by a rising authoritarian replacement.  In other words, democracy, our system of rights and freedoms, is being dismantled so that a dictatorship can replace it.  That’s the greatest threat.  Now, today, let’s look at the second greatest threat – the ho-hum nonchalant lackadaisical (in other words, lame) response of Americans as they face the greatest threat of our nation’s history.  Well, what holds us back a full-throated “Hell NO!” when faced with this kind of “mayday?”  How can we overcome our own resistance to responding? And how can we competently engage as dynamic citizens? Let’s dive right in.

Now, some of us know at least one person, maybe a few, who wholeheartedly engage in protests and animated political conversations, and with an all-out visible passion they run for office, organize rallies, campaigns, and protests. That’s on one end of the spectrum of citizen participation, and of course -all the way to the other end are those who are fully powered down – nothing.  Bupkus on the activity meter.  Fully checked out – don’t watch the news or vote, and mentally disengage or may even get up and leave politically related conversations.  You know who you are!  Well, maybe not - you’re not listening, are you? (laugh)

But I’d say that the largest group of us are in the middle of these extremes in a sort of bell curve.  We meet our civic responsibilities by watching the news and voting.  Spit spot – responsible citizen, CHECK!  I call us, the “little bitters,” we know a little bit - do a little bit, donate a little bit, and have only a little bit of energy for the whole shebang.  We’re pretty low energy, low information citizens, and we include the dismissive, the complacent, the confused, the weary, the hopeless, the cynical, and let’s not forget, the bitter. You one of those? Well, go team!

Now.  We may have only a basic skeletal idea of what‘s going on, and hold half-hearted or whole-hearted opinions, and we may not feel like it, but guess what?  GUESS WHAT!!  We, the ragtag politically disengaged, lightly informed populace hold this quest in the palms of our hands.  OUR palms.  Though some will never show up, others are already at the front, committed, working at capacity.  So, WE are the missing muscle that can turn this Titanic away from the iceberg.  We are the “hero-populace” that needs to accept the quest to defend and revitalize American democracy! WE, are the greatest hope.  I know, that’s sort of good news, “we-can-do-it,” bad news, “crap-I-have-to-get-out-of-my-recliner” news, but I find it encouraging, in a sort of ALL we have to do, Simple Simon, is work together to move a mountain! Hurray!

Now, as I’ve pointed out before, we’ve neglected our democracy until it’s such a fixer-upper that a lot of people just want to tear down and replace with a monstrosity that we aren’t fully imagining.  Well, we are the hope in three important ways.  1. Know more, and 2. Be better.  (H! Melania’s tag line at last applies to something!) and 3. Step Up. But I think number three is the sum of one and two, so we’ll let that rest for a minute.  Bottom line, we gotta wanna, and that’s this episode.

So, ONE, know more - spruce up our basic foundational understanding and commitment to democracy.  Get a handle on the problem.  Become mechanics and custodians of democracy.  Learn the lingo, the grain of the wood and the tools of the trade, because, before we toss away something vintage, antique, and beautiful, let’s understand how deep goes the rot and what parts might be saved.  We’ll need to understand the rot, too. We can’t fight for something, or against something that we can’t even properly describe, now, can we?  This podcast serves as a tool to help with that.  

Our political detachment is understandable.  In recent years, a worrisome orgy of disinformation and tin-foil hat nonsense has many Americans going all ostrich, bent over with our heads in the sand, leaving our decency woefully exposed to political misadventure.  We generally ignore such warnings.  America’s hair is always on fire, but now, when it’s really all ablaze, we’re a bit too numb to react, assuming it’s probably just special effects, or maybe an ordinary Wednesday.  But, remember, at some point, in The Boy Who Cried Wolf, there was a wolf.   Our sense of urgency rarely kicks in with the early warning, we all know that – it comes later, when we are fighting off the wolf, or cowering with Chicken Little under a falling sky.  

People have valid reasons for disengaging, and it’s important to accept that we aren’t all in the same place at the same time.  Let’s GET THAT.  Let’s set aside any judgment, and say “I get it, I hear you,” and mean it, so that disengaged citizens of all political stripes have a welcoming path into this journey.  Kill the fatted calf for the return of the prodigal citizen.  You’re here, NOW.

Certainly, many are simply uninterested in politics, find it boring and irrelevant to daily life, and you’re not alone if you believe you have better things to do with your time, don’t know anything about it and don’t care. ZERO interest.  

So, there are always those who steadfastly refuse to participate.  The term in political science for this citizen profile is “free-riders,” because they benefit from services, efforts, and sacrifices of others without participating or contributing.  In a way, it’s an outsourcing of responsibility, that says, “You do it” and then says, “now look what you’ve done!” when the efforts of others aren’t viewed as acceptable.

Millions of citizens grouse about attention to climate change, income inequality, and systemic racism, and grouse about books that discuss these topics, and the problem today with higher education and elementary education and rule of law – grrr, these are the real problems!  However, despite legitimate concerns with these issues, uninformed grousing is terribly destabilizing and dangerous. 

Now, many people say, if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain, but I quite disagree.  While the constitution gives us the right to vote, our very humanity gives us the right to our voice, to hold opinions, and to learn from others, and therein lies the spark, that MIGHT lead to greater participation.  Shutting down discussion, even from non-voters, places potential citizens in time out, outside of the political process.  It’s shaming, when a vibrant discussion might both inform and inspire, and might even lead to new ideas and solutions.  Engagement isn’t ONLY about voting; it’s also about teaching and learning to care, it’s about infusing a motivating hope toward a more dynamic participation. It’s about listening, regardless of whether someone has voted.  Voting is important, but an uninformed voter is problematic.

Now, all of that said, when we chime in with complaints for the sake of agreeing or engaging just enough to appear a knowledgeable critic, it’s not helpful.  Without thoughtful analysis or considering solutions, fanning discontent.  That undermines civic confidence which deepens and perpetuates when we fail to elect representatives committed to concrete solutions or even understand the complexities of issues.  

In particular, when someone starts their critique with the words, “it’s simple, they just need to X” or “it’s just common sense,” well, they’ve discounted the intricacies of the issue and shown a propensity, a tendency that is, to reduce complex issues to the kind of problem that can be solved with a stick and a piece of string.  It’s like standing in the desert saying, “It’s simple, I need water,” when the process is all but insurmountable.  None of it is simple.  And even if the solution were simple, the process is fraught with a labyrinth of obstacles, which are also part of the problem. 

Now, if you think politics doesn’t affect you, well, you couldn’t be more wrong.  We all know those who claim not to be affected or “nothing the President or Congress has done has affected my life in any way, so why should I bother? I’m not going to waste my time on that crap.”  

Well, let’s just start with that thing we call, “daily life.”    How about the post office, the small business administration or the environmental protection agency, which ensures that we aren’t smogged to death and that our water is clean?   If you breathe air, go to the grocery store, drive a car, have kids, get sick, use a bank, walk into a building, use money, have a job, collect social security, mail a letter, visit a park, turn on your lights, have an education, need a policeman, . . . with each of these daily experiences, government has touched your life.  

And even if you are cozy in your bubble, aren’t a veteran or an immigrant, you might consider that other people (like veterans, immigrants, people differently abled or less fortunate) ARE affected daily by decisions that can make a world of difference one way or another. Decisions big, and small, eventually affect each of us. When our day is spent without epic-sized worries regarding the safety of our money, food, transportation, goods and services, fraud, etc., we are free to live the day on our own terms.  We “prove” the general success of government policies when the day goes well.  Ask Somalia, how great their day is without government, a regulated infrastructure, a functioning economy and the rule of law.  Then tell me, the American government doesn’t affect you.  Tell me then, that you accomplished everything all on your own, without any help.  The benefits of a civilized society, whatever it’s warts, cannot be understated.

When we disparage “the government,” we might consider the responsibilities and challenges faced by governmental departments, run by PEOPLE.  What are the laws, the obstacles, the funding and the level of public support?  Who resists their work, and why?  We really CAN feel how they touch our lives, how their expertise is often overpowered by money and special interests, some helpful and some detrimental.  These entities employ our fellow Americans, and yes, sometimes, they’re disgruntled, because in a democracy, from the pool of “we, the people,” come government workers, political representatives, and civic leaders. Government affects their day.

Now, if we choose poorly from among the masses, we get poor results. If we disrespect these civil servants, we disrespect the organs of our country.  Additionally, when we chose incompetent obstructionists whose goal is to undermine and dismantle government, our daily freedoms dissolve and decay before our eyes.  Our systems suffer from within. So, it is in our best interest to tend a robust democracy, because a robust democracy nurtures a healthy way of life for all of us.

Another way we may opt out of our civic responsibilities out of simple confusion & self-doubt.  Maybe we never had civics, and the terms used are just a big mush.   You know, I never learned ONE THING about sports, so when a game is on or a sport discussion is in the air, I can tell it’s English, and it’s usually something about a ball, but that’s mostly it.  So, I really understand that political terms and the dynamics can seem a big jambalaya of gibberish.  I really get it.  But just because it takes some effort, doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

So, who benefits from our dysfunction?   Well, not me, and probably not you. So, who, lurking in the shadows, wants us to be confused and divided?  Who actively disrupts our engagement and our clarity?  And just as importantly, why are we so quick to give them the satisfaction?  How, in the face of the threats I’ve outlined, have we somehow managed to turn a blind eye, plug our ears, and yell, “La, la, La?”

Some of you DO have a background, some class in school, or a person in your life who more or less explains political events.  And, sometimes, without a solid memory of how it all works, we just go with what we’re told . . . what our Uncle Joe thinks . . . or what we’re told our media of choice. Sometimes it resonates, makes sense, that is.  But, often, we carry an uncomfortable feeling that there’s more to it all than we’ve been led to believe, no matter where we get our information.  

In the year leading up to the 2016 presidential election, we were deliberately led into what is called, “weaponized disinformation.” Ridiculous headlines littered our checkout stands and we stared at them for our time in the line. We could dismiss the National Enquirer headline, “Hilary Has a Secret Two-Headed Serpent Baby with the Ghost of Elvis,” but when they turned more believable, many believed, “Hillary Part of Satan Cabal” or  “Hillary Dying of Mysterious Illness.” They forgot to consider the source.  Investigative evidence proved that throughout social media, news platforms, podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook – the whole consumer driven media arena – Russia posted fakes stories designed to outrage us. “Enrage and engage” is what this is called.  Weird posts designed to piss us off could be tracked to fake accounts, and fact-checks were demonized by those choosing to slurp up the ugliness, truth be damned.  Now, once many of us realized this was happening, we could just click the person’s Facebook profile, and we could see that it was just a face with no friends, no real person behind it.  Those accounts were called, “sock puppets,” and the wild mean posts were done by “trolls” from Russian “troll farms.” Another basket of jargon to describe the new elements of propaganda. 

These days, the Chinese have their fingers in our pie, and in 2024, interference will be more sophisticated and determined than before.  If we’re disengaged, we’re ripe to be duped again, but this time, we will not be anything close to “victims” of such shenanigans, particularly if we’ve lost our bullshit detectors or chose not to use them.   If we have an appetite for hating our fellows, there’ll be an all we can eat buffet of hate and resentment.  This time, having been told, we will own our choices.  Seriously.  Heads up.

So, why do foreign governments interfere in our politics?  Well, proof that their dictatorship is a best practice, and that a democratic uprising is ill-advised lies in the crumbling of the greatest democracy of the modern era.  The message is that if America didn’t get it done, they can’t either, and governing is best left to a dictator.  If Americans are easily manipulated by lies, it proves to those living in an autocracy, like Russia or North Korea, that free speech isn’t a good idea.  If our systems can be manipulated, we prove that we aren’t the strong beacon we claim to be.  We aren’t “better than this,” if we don’t choose to be.  And, so far, they got EXACTLY what they paid for – a destabilized America.  A bit of false information, rude behavior, and we took it from there - we were at each other’s throats, believing the worst in each other, doing their work for them by creating our own worst versions of ourselves and our fellow Americans.  The Russians call those who promote their strategy, “useful idiots.”  How embarrassing. 

We might also ask, what entities within our country so happily fund disinformation?  We can assume power and greed, but there’s a shadow in that cave, too, because the United States is now classified within the democracy index as a “flawed democracy.  We’re no longer among the top 10 democratic countries in the world, much less number one, and we now rank lower than other advanced industrial democracy.  We are no longer a stable democracy, which means we are vulnerable at our very core, at the heart of our values. It’s not just me saying it; it’s measurable, and giving up, accepting our own confusion with a shrug, will be catastrophic to our democracy.

At this point, political and social truth resides in a sort of hall of mirrors.  It’s there, but all around are distortions, people burping back lies that deflect, shifting blame, and twisting accountability from themselves to those they seek to betray.   It’s overwhelming, it’s complicated, and it’s deliberate, so if we’re confused, it’s not so much that we’re stupid – it’s because we’ve been tricked – conned, and we’re still not fully accepting that we’ve been HAD.  And half the country is going back for more.

To top it off, many are simply exhausted, stressed or depressed, or all of the above.  The firehose of lies and scandals, the unrelenting outrage and snark, every night another chyron reading “Breaking News,” the assholery of friends and loved ones, the pandemic.  It tested our resilience, and stomped it a bit flat.  This new era is not for the faint of heart, and it poses a true risk to mental health.  “It’s no use, no idea what to do,” many feel dejected, defeated, and hopeless.  Isolated and disempowered, worried and desperate, checked out given up, powerlessness.  All that.   It legitimizes our instincts to turn off the news and retreat to the fetal position.  Well, don’t do it.  Please.

I found a quote from an original poster on 2002 thread about political engagement which touches on the demise of honorable political discourse and how we consume information.  Hutch1970-ars, states, “Politics and religion are two of the most influential factors on human existence and our future. A strong passion for any cause these days is violently reacted to as extremism by others, as our survival instinct whispers to us "Don't stand out! Don't get ostracized! You NEED the herd!!" as a result we get duller and duller while the leaders of the herd keep us fed, watered, entertained...tell us a limited version of what is going on, and what we should concentrate on. The single greatest epidemic in the world is apathy, and I believe it's a plague deliberately being spread by those in power. I'm finding myself increasing so torn, drowning in the noise that gets screamed out by both sides - that I want to shut myself in and avoid . . . the “unnecessary drama.” But in good conscience, I can't....so pass the migraine pills, it's going to be a long day.”  Wow. Hutch1970-ars drops the mic on that one.   

However depressed and exhausted we are now, imagine how that will increase if we elect a dictator and descend into an authoritarian regime.  We’ll talk about what that means in the coming weeks, but the people of Hungary and Venezuela can attest to how it feels.  Now, we must protect our mental health.  We must put the mask over our own nose and mouth first, otherwise we can’t help with larger efforts.  If we succumb, we are useless to the task.  Engagement can mean keeping to the high road of dignity and human decency.  Knowing that we are doing our personal best and being part of something this critical, a participant, is empowering, and there’s a niche for everyone.  Reducing public despair is a tremendously powerful contribution in and of itself.

But of all the ways we resist good faith engagement, I’d say that our greatest affliction is cynicism – that unhealthy toxic field just over the fence, pretending engagement.  That voice who never tires of saying, “they’re all the same – the best you can do is pick the lesser of two evils, my vote doesn’t count anyway.”  It’s a little poop sandwich of both-sidesism and whataboutism.  Posturing as knowledgeable and dismissive, this voice amplifies defeatism as a legitimate alternative to hope.  Everybody sucks, and all I have is a poop sandwich.  Well, thank you, Eeyore!

First, our political representatives are a part of we, the people, and WE are NOT all the same.  There’s no moral equivalency between supporting democracy and espousing authoritarianism.  They are opposites, not the same ideologies, not the same values, not the same integrity.  Not everyone lies.  Not everyone is corrupt.  Not everyone exploits. Not everyone wants to shoot those who disagree.  Not everyone is a sore loser.  So, however imperfect and human, we are decidedly NOT all the same.  Many are exhausted from good faith efforts akin to pushing a car uphill with your nose.  Not all the same, and it does industrious representatives a disservice to paint them with the same brush as those who deliberately thwart their efforts. 

Now, let’s assume you’re convinced to take all this seriously.   What’s the antidote?   Well, the disengaged are the hope, the muscle that needs to be rebuilt.  Aside from those already toiling, the rest of us are the hope.  If our behavior and perceptions of one another are the problem; then it’s in our hands to be the solution.  All of us.  Democrats, actual Republicans, Independents, and, quite critically, those who don’t even know what they are.  WE are the antidote, IF we re-engage as savvy, informed, reasonable mature citizens postured from a place that consciously insists on “the high road.”  That place of being better.  We have some catching up to do!  We’re politically flabby, out of shape, and we need to work out.  No spreading lies or stupid memes.  NO threats. No violence. No hate.  We the people, helping our fellow emerge from complacency, confusion, hopelessness and cynicism.  Just, WE THE PEOPLE, in defense of dignity and grace.

It starts with being the change we want to see in America.  Does us no good to beat others at their own game.  That strategy makes us part of the problem.  Just because fighting fire with fire works on fire, that doesn’t mean it works on people.  We need to be what we want our country to be.  People of character.  We need to double down on what we believe.  Be twice as civil, twice as savvy about our political system, and twice as honest about what we put out into the world.  Bottom line, we need to be the better choice for those who are undecided.

You know what’s encouraging about this last issue?  Well, as I mentioned before, the disengaged populace is the one mayday that we can do something about in this very moment.  I’m doing a podcast, and you’re listening, and that’s a step forward from yesterday!  A step that helps find our way back to being the citizens America so desperately needs and deserves.  

As we discuss healthy democratic principles and note the unhealthy behaviors amid our full spectrum of political engagement we learn about our own short-comings, political and otherwise.  Sometimes it’s “them,” sometimes it’s “us,” and sometimes it’s you, and sometimes it’s ME, but we all need the tools for identifying, processing, and resolving challenges to democracy.

The absence of citizen confidence, the poor parenting of our young democracy points to the need for a new paradigm, a new model, if you will, that includes dynamic citizenship.  Many speak of a work-life-balance, but we need to incorporate citizenship into that balance.   It’s true, that in many ways, we are divided because we have different values, but as Sting said, “The Russians love their children, too.”  It’s not a pie-in-the-sky to imagine that we all should envision and work toward a new resilient way of being. It’s how movements begin.   

I’m a hopeful visionary.  I’m . . . the Anti-Cynic, keenly aware that we get NOWHERE, only worse, by not trying.  Even part-way is progress . . . even if it takes generations, it’s the arc of history, bending toward justice, that proves a very good and hopeful legacy for the American future.

Overcoming despair and cynicism is an American tradition!  We beat down slavery, segregation, gained 2/5ths more humanity for blacks than many wanted them to have, expanded voting rights, and squashed McCarthyism like a bug!  If disengagement were a cancer, we’d say, “We’re gonna beat this thing!” The point is that we HAVE heroically and successfully answered other calls to quest, and won, but not by disengaging when we are most needed.  America’s greatest failings happen when the public turns a blind, intellectually incurious eye.

Assaults on our successes don’t negate them (as in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, or the assault on the Voting Rights Act) but rather illustrate that stewardship of our successes, including the establishment of democracy, requires continued vigilance.   So, my point is, that we can do what we set our minds to do, and movements start with little sparks. 

So, hear this, and take it to heart: “All that is needed for evil to succeed, is for good [people] to do nothing.” Edmund Burke said that in 1710 though, he said men, but we’re bringing women, too. Anyway, if that is all that is needed for democracy to fail, it will fail while good Americans do nothing.  But if we flip it – and all that is needed for democracy to succeed, is for good Americans to DO SOMETHING, to participate . . . well, ragtag hero-populace, reporting for duty!  

In the upcoming week, think about your level of engagement, and how, given the stakes as outlined in depressing Episode 2, you might challenge your own politically sluggish ways.  But, own your disengagement and turn it around.  Journal and talk with others about what you need to overcome your disengagement.  If you ARE nicely engaged, think about how you might talk about that in ways that inspire others.  I’ll include some inspiring movies and suggestions in the show notes.  

That’s it for today!  Our next episode will look at Richard Haass’ book, The Bill of Obligations, which outlines citizen responsibilities which protect our rights and freedoms. 

So, for my dear listeners with a fire in the belly, please follow this weekly podcast, share it with others, and tell ‘em how great it is!  I welcome your comments and observations in the comments section, but use your manners.  I’m a real person, you know, not a chew toy!  So, buckle up buttercup!  Let’s get out there, and steward democracy!