Seems Significantly Ironic to Me

I really am not interested in discussing or debating opinions about what I am about to observe, even though I expect some sometimes strong reactions. Rather, I am fascinated by ironic juxtapositions of seemingly unrelated things.

Perhaps because they both involve commercial air travel, the group of people singing Christian hymns on a flight and the lifting of the mask mandates for interstate flights seem oddly connected. In both cases, groups of people are in close proximity for an extended time in an enclosed environment. Once in the air, no one has any where to escape, whether they don’t want to listen to group singing (whether or not Christian hymns) or don’t want to risk catching a virus from someone else on the flight (especially since we know that wearing a mask protects those around you more than it protects you). My own gut reaction is that group singing (or any other noisy activity) and going on an airline flight without wearing a mask seem insensitive to the other people on the flight, whose preferences and health are not known.

As this rumbled around in my head today, I couldn’t help pondering the meme I have seen recently comparing democracy and republic forms of government by suggesting that in a democracy the majority could impose its will on the minority and confiscate their property, while a republic builds in protections for minorities from being oppressed by the majority. Though this seems a grotesque oversimplification to me, it suggested to me that commercial air flights with group singing and flying maskless qualify for the caricature of democracy in the meme. Having lived in urban areas where growth of auto traffic pushed building freeways and rail lines, thousands of homes were taken by eminent domain (with often protested “fair” compensation), perhaps more like a democracy than a republic as cast in the meme.

Again, I am interested in the ironies of popular opinions as they intersect with messy realities, and not in arguing about singing or masks or eminent domain, nor about a democracy and a republic.

Personal Perception of FOX News

 I do not perceive FOX News as conservative news and opinion but as a sensationalist tabloid profiteering off the fears of a vulnerable audience.

Political Identities

I actually wrote this in February 2021,

 I don’t think I am making some sort of grand discovery by observing the mush of political identities that have surfaced in the last several years. A number of commentators have suggested that the Trump years, climaxing with his Senate acquittal for the insurrection of January 6, 2021, have left the Republican Party in disarray and may assure the Democratic Party some dominance in a divisive and hostile political climate. There is probably good reason for that expectation, and I am in no position to refute it. Rather, for my own clarity of thought, I want to outline my perception of what each party faces.

 The Republican Party seems to me to be a sort of home base for several mutually exclusive, but slightly overlapping  subgroups, none of which is substantial enough to be a viable party by itself but, especially during the Trump years, have found themselves either manipulated to marginalized.

1.      Classic Republicans along the lines of Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, G. Ford

2.      Libertarians (who may or may not identify with the splinter party of that name) who take a cue from Jefferson’s “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” whose champion is Reagan in the pursuit of minimizing government and taxation

3.      Authentic, principled conservatives such as David Brooks and George Will who were not taken in by Trump but espouse personal and public responsibility, market capitalism that works for the common good, and respectful dialog. George W. Bush seemed to try to move in this direction with “compassionate conservatism,” but it didn’t gain traction.

4.      Nostalgia seekers whose longing for a return to the 1950s, as though they were the pinnacle of American normalcy and greatness. Feeling left behind by the turmoils and trends since the 60s, the Make American Great Again (MAGA) mentality awakened them and gave them a voice that will not silenced.

5.      Trump personal loyalists are closely akin to the MAGA group but are empowered by his brash demeanor and angry rhetoric, having felt disenfranchised for decades they have rallied to his voice.

6.      Fringe groups, generally characterized as “white supremacist” or “conspiracy theory advocates” have worked, with some measure of success, and positioning themselves in the mainstream of the party.

 Of course, the Democratic Party is hardly monolithic. Obama and Biden may represent a quasi-moderate (though they get branded as radically leftist and even socialist/communist by some Republican voices, inaccurately I believe) who work smoothly with the established patterns of power and profit. To the left of them are figures such as Bernie Sanders (self-identified independent democratic socialist) and some of the younger, insurgent voices in the party, perhaps most often identified with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Hillary Clinton, though receding, does represent those who have articulated the voice of the party. In my mind, at least, I don’t recognize quite the same distinct sub-groups that I do for the Republicans, so their internal jockeying is more nuanced and obscure, but nevertheless real and potentially debilitating.

 My sense of the challenge for the Democratic Party going forward in the post-Trump era, is to present a cohesive, compelling vision for the US that leaves behind being anti-Trump and even anti-Republican, but something positive and hopeful. It needs substance in which all in the country benefit from practical realities of a future that promotes the common good while celebrating great diversity. It needs to demonstrate justice and compassion benefit all, not just those who have been oppressed and marginalized. Somehow, gratitude for the past doesn’t gloss over serious flaws but embraces a future of continual development. A vision in which economic and technological advances find their purpose in human fulfillment.

 I have to say that I do not really expect to see such a vision emerge from the Democratic Party in the current political climate. Nor do I think the Republicans have any interest in such a vision for the country. Each would shoot down the other should it emerge. On the one hand, this could be an opportunity for a true visionary to rally people around realistic hope for all people in the country that would transcend party loyalties. That probably means getting enough distance from the Trump years for the anger to subside. On the other hand, drifting without rudder opens the country to the danger of a demagogue. I think the dynamics of the last several years does indicate the country is susceptible to that.