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America, we must speak. In one way or another, our country has arrived at a historic crossroads, at a time that seems relatively ordinary and with an election that, honestly, should not be of much importance. As historians and political scientists will say, the mid-term elections follow a cyclical and highly predictable pattern: after the first two years of a new president's term, his party is likely to lose congressional seats. Opposing grouping and his enthusiasm for the party. in power begins to fade.
Despite the historical importance given to the medium-term summits of 2018, it is almost certain that this will be the result this time too. Democrats will surely win a few congressional seats, probably more than enough for a modest majority in the House of Representatives, though in the most Republican-friendly scenarios they are not up to par. As far as the Senate is concerned, it will almost certainly be in one or two seats in the current Republican majority of 51 to 49 years, one way or the other. The broader struggle that has been engaged to rid America of its borders, to find an antidote to the current epidemic of right-wing nationalism and to restore a sense of common ground and shared goals – all that remains to be done.
I ask this both facetiously and not, in a sense of real wonder. If you live in this country – from elsewhere, if you live in the world – you have seen and felt over the past two weeks why this election is important. However, it is difficult to describe this with precise words. No one can deny that something has gone wrong in the United States, although we clearly disagree about it.
This is a particular diagnosis, in some ways. Our national economy remains strong, according to most of the supposedly important indicators. We are bogged down in the same unnecessary and nebulous overseas conflict for 17 years, but beyond this endless waste of human lives, money and global goodwill, there is no serious threat of war with a foreign power. Looking beyond the spectacular episodes of violence that have become characteristic of our society, violent crime rates are reaching or approaching unprecedented levels. Whatever you choose to define our national disorder, it can not be captured in statistics like these.
All that is wrong is cultural or psychological or perhaps spiritual; maybe all three. This is not new and it extends from the top of society to the grassroots. It is not manifested by the most glaring and obvious signs of social disorder, but by seemingly unrelated phenomena: Extraordinary levels of economic inequality; worrying rates of suicides and drug overdoses; the toxic universe of the Internet, which was supposed to bring people together and maximize the dissemination of information, but did the exact opposite, led us into separate caves where we dance around the fires of tribal joy and adore false idols.
It has become commonplace to say that Donald Trump and his allies are undermining democracy, and it is hardly necessary to list a host of examples: the hateful and confrontational rhetoric, the mysterious relationship with the Russian government, the obvious desire to a police state, flirting nudge-wink with white supremacy and other versions of extreme right nationalism. All of this happened, but focusing on these details as they came from nowhere is the ultimate example of putting the cart before the horse. Democracy was indeed undermined before Trump and his friends introduced themselves and perceived an opportunity.
Trump is only one symptom of what hurts America, not the cause. If Trump was the vector that unleashed Cesar Sayoc Jr., who attempted to blow up many liberal personalities with mail bombs, or Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 Jewish worshipers in their Pittsburgh synagogue, this is the only reason why. is not the same thing by saying that he bears the responsibility for their actions. That's what we all do, which is one of the reasons why many of us have been upset over the past two weeks. We all allowed that to happen.
It is essential that the Democratic Party win these elections. I say this with certain philosophical and political concerns, and without being quite sure that in the big story it even counts. But a big victory on Tuesday would have enormous symbolic significance, not so much for the party and its candidates as for the rest of us. This would give hope to many people who have felt hopeless over the past two years; this would suggest to many discouraged Americans that, despite all the contrary signals, our destiny remains in our hands.
It's important for Democrats to win, but not because they are prosperous and strong and they know what they are doing. It would be a laughable claim. On the contrary, the Democratic Party seems surprisingly unprepared for this moment. It is a timid coalition in internal conflict, with no clear ideology or constitutive nucleus, deliberately avoiding controversial or conflicting positions and having spent nearly 30 years defining itself entirely in negative terms: do not republicans, do not fiscal liberals and spenders, do not left.
In fact, it may be more accurate to describe the Democratic Party, in its state of weakness and uprooting, as a different aspect of the same cultural and political decadence that produced Trump, rather than as a reality. antidote to Trump.
There are certainly signs of a ferment and change within the Democratic coalition: if this ferment first formed around Bernie Sanders in 2016, it has now spread well beyond beyond him. (One of the many reasons why Bernie is expected to stay off the field in 2020.) A year ago, almost no one had heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, who will both be elected to Congress this week; or Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams, who can make history as the first black governors of their respective southern states. As they and many other examples suggest that Democrats could have a brighter and more daring future.
I do not have any illusions about the fact that a majority in the House of Democrats, or even a Democratic Senate, will end the Trump presidency. This obviously does not happen, and in any case, it depends on us. Nor do I believe that Democrats in power can or will do much to repair Trumpian's past two years of damage and put the country on the path to mental health and normalcy. That assumes far too much about the nature of the damage and the definition of "normality", and again, it is ours.
I am not in a hurry to be part of a coalition of big officials, in which liberals and conservatives with university education sit around a table, discussing the terrible man who accidentally became president. and concluding that it's time to put aside ideology in the name of patriotism. One thing that Trump and Steve Bannon have understood is that this kind of pundit class posture – the frightening "debates" of The New York Times between Frank Bruni and Ross Douthat, for example, now seems untrue and corrupt. When people like these start to agree on something, make sure you have your wallet and keys: it's usually war or money, and their agreement signals what's going on something serious and that ordinary citizens do not vote.
But what I have to admit is not so different. It's important for the Democrats to win because, as one of my friends said, this is the only car in the driveway that will actually start. Whether we like it or not (and I do not think so at all), they are the only vaguely normal political party in this country at the moment. To be direct, they are the only party to oppose a slow and metastasizing fascism.
I moved away from this word by thinking about the Trump phenomenon; he usually feels lazy. But after the shocking events of the last two weeks and the ever darker tone of last-minute Republican propaganda, no other word will suffice.
Donald Trump is not Hitler (although there are intriguing similarities) and the parallels between the current political situation in America and the 1930's Germany are very approximate. On the one hand, the Nazis were quite honest about their willingness to dismantle democracy, build a police state and purge the nation of Jews and other undesirables. They told the constituents what they were going to do, and then they did it.
Today's Republican Party, almost remade overnight in the image of its new leader, looks like a horror movie mashup character, both psychotic and zombie. He can remember elements of his old life and his discarded and semi-coherent belief system; he feels compelled to claim that these alleged principles fit one way or the other with his new credo of racial authoritarianism. He must pretend not to pay attention to democracy and the rule of law, while pointing out to his supporters that these elements are not meant to apply to all. He must claim to be the "least racist" party of all time and be outraged if he is accused of fanaticism, while working hard to overthrow all the progressive social reforms of the last century.
It is imperative that the Democrats win these elections, because the process of moral and intellectual decay that has lasted for decades in the Republican Party has finally ended in a virulent and dangerous madness. Republicans have almost entirely abandoned traditional "conservative" politics in favor of a radical program aimed at "defining democracy downwards" and staying in power indefinitely at the head of a pseudo-democratic state founded on racial and economic apartheid. A fascist state, in other words, whatever term it might apply to itself. Donald Trump catalyzed and accelerated this process and became its primary beneficiary. But it has not started, and there is no reason to think that it will stop when it leaves the political scene.
Do the Democrats understand the grave and unique danger we face at this historic juncture, where at least a third of Americans would be delighted to follow Trump and the Republicans in the dark and where an unknown number of others would be willing to follow? I do not know. How does one of us understand him?
Do Democrats understand that only an energetic and positive agenda can bypass the rise of right-wing nationalism and start building a different American model, and that defensive half-measures will never be enough? You know the answer to this question. To make this possible is ours. This work can begin on Wednesday.
I am not an advocate of Democrats
do not want to be part of a coalition of responsible, adult, moderate and conservative Liberals. We do not advertise at Salon. I think it's important that the independent media maintain a critical distance from the two main political parties – which is not the case. the same as pretending to be impartial or refusing to express an opinion. Years ago, Bill Moyers – one of my major role models – told me that when he stepped out of politics and journalism, he became a registered freelancer, what did he do? He considered it a matter of principle. The question of who will win and who should win, he said, is never the most interesting; These have more to do with what is happening and the stories we choose to tell.
Andrew O 'Hehir
Andrew O. Hehir is editor of Salon.
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