EXPANDING THE POLITICAL IMAGINATION

Posted by himelfarb on August 31, 2017 · 12 Comments 

The other day, CNN ran a focus group on what some American voters were now thinking about their president. The comments were almost universally critical including among Trump voters. But even some of the most critical, it seems, may still be Trump supporters. It was, for me, a valuable reminder that pointing out Trump’s flaws, lies, lack of empathy – his lack of fitness to govern – is not enough. Of course, that’s not news; we already saw that during the election. What would have defeated almost any candidate in the past did not, it turns out, dissuade Trump’s supporters – and may not in the future. And this has most of us worried and bewildered. Across ideology, pundits ask how is it possible that honesty, empathy, knowledge, policy ability don’t matter.

It seems pretty important that we gain some appreciation of how we got here. What is the Trump phenomenon? Some attribute to Trump some sort of marketing genius, some undefinable charisma. But as John Harris recently wrote in the Guardian, more important than trying to understand Trump is to try to gain some understanding of Trump’s supporters. How did we get to a place where almost half of those who voted, actually voted for Trump?

So here’s the question. Is Trump the product of over forty years of attacks on the very idea of government, of decades in which government seemed to back away from our lives, when the best it could offer was the promise to get out of the way, making itself smaller through endless tax cuts and less able to protect us through deregulation and privatization, when it increasingly tied its hands through so-called trade deals which did more to protect investors than to promote trade, when the benefits of (slower) growth fell primarily to the already very wealthy? Is this why one might elect someone so clearly incapable of governing – because it doesn’t matter? Because too many believe government can’t do much for them anyways? Is this why so many will opt for someone who distracts and entertains or expresses their anger or allows them to vent their hate and scapegoat others? Part circus. Part tribalism.

If there’s truth in all of this, then pointing out the lies and incompetence and general unfitness, however important, is indeed not enough. What’s needed is also to expand the political imagination, to restore a belief that important, in fact essential, things can only be achieved together – but in fact can be achieved. What’s needed is not just an alternative to Trump but an alternative to the status quo, to the view that people are pretty much on their own and government is largely overhead. This means a restoration of a sense of the collective, the common good, an agenda to tackle together what people could never achieve on their own: reversing growing inequality, precarity, climate change and our deteriorating environment, building inclusive community and renewing democracy in the political process and in the workplace.

It’s not good enough to defend government or the path we’re on. It’s time to promise to transform government, to restore the sense that it can be an instrument for progress towards the common good. The most popular politician in the US is not Trump but, according to the polls at least, Sanders. In the UK it’s Corbyn. On the other hand, France’s more-of-the-same Macron may have beaten Le Pen but his polls are now even lower than his predecessor’s. Time for a new political offer.

For those who say we need a crisis before we can expect radical change, have you not been paying attention?

Filed under Improving public institutions, Post featured on front page · Tagged with climate change, electoral reform, inequality, politics, populism, progressive, Species loss, voting behaviour