“Backlash and the 2020 Election” Sydney M. Williams
Backlash is defined as a strong and adverse reaction or protest by a large number of people, especially to social or political developments. What we saw in the Middle East and North Africa beginning in late 2010 and going into the spring of 2011 and what we see today in Sudan and Algiers are backlashes against authoritarian governments. History does not proceed in straight lines. It is replete with consequential setbacks. Sometimes they are for the better – the English Civil War of 1642, the American Revolution in 1775, the world-wide women’s suffrage movement that began in the 19th Century, and the U.S. Civil Rights movement that ran through the 1950s and ‘60s. Sometimes they are for the worse, like the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of National Socialism in Germany, following the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. And sometimes the verdict is unclear, like Brexit. In 2016, it was a backlash against elitism and the establishment that catapulted Mr. Trump into the White House.
In any society there will always be groups that rise up to make a point, highlight a grievance, or correct a wrong. Generally, they are without (or with limited) violence. They manifest a dynamic society and, while temporarily disruptive, they often change things for the better. We think of women’s liberation in the 1960s and the more recent gay-rights movement, positive developments that reflected changing mores. Other backlashes are political, like Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo, with the intent to garner power rather than righting a social or cultural wrong. It is how we move forward. They are not unlike creative destruction in economics, a term used by Joseph Schumpeter to describe innovations in manufacturing.
Now, it is the continued enmity toward Mr. Trump that is causing Democrats to push beyond the boundaries of decency and common sense, even disrespecting those non-Trumpians whose conservative ideas and opinions differ from their own. Consider a few non-issue issues that are claimed vital to leftist elites, but are of little concern to middle class voters:
Social Justice: The concept that society consists of oppressors and victims. Oppressors are whites, Asians, male, heterosexuals, Christians and Jews. Victims are people of color, Muslims, females, bisexuals, homosexuals and transsexuals. Anyone who supports Mr. Trump is either an oppressor or an ignoramus. Elites pride themselves as supporters of victims.
Political Correctness: This occurs when language and policy are excised of any possibility of insult or offense, especially to one considered a “victim.” Taken to extremes, political correctness leads to a dumbed-down electorate incapable of defending him or herself. Anything President Trump says or does, according to these false paragons of virtues, is politically incorrect.
Identity Politics: This is the tendency for people to form groups, for political purposes, based on race, religion, sexual preference, or any such outward appearances, which have nothing to do with political ideas or ideologies. In the empty minds of those on the left, one cannot have a political philosophy that differs from what has been sanctioned.
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Climate: The left has trivialized science to serve their political ends. There is a refusal to debate causes of climate change. The assumption: if you do not agree with us that climate change is caused by man you are a “climate change denier,” an absurd statement, especially for anyone having grown up in New England.
Multiculturalism: This is a term that has been hijacked by the left to infer that if one does not agree with their belief that all cultures are equal, one is a xenophobe, homophobe or a misogynist. The term no longer defines a society, such as America’s, which has people from myriad racial and religious backgrounds living together but tethered by the laws of our country and the customs and traditions of our common history. In invoking multiculturalism today, the left assumes a patronizing attitude toward those who believe it was principally the magnetism of liberty that drew immigrants to these shores.
Equality: Free-market capitalism has been the principal reason poverty has declined over the past two hundred years. In his 2018 book, The Economics of Poverty, History, Measurement and Policy, Martin Ravillion suggests extreme poverty rates in 1800 were about 85%. Today, Action Against Hunger puts that number at 10.7%, with 90% in Asia and Africa. The lowest rates of poverty are in those countries where democracy and capitalism have flourished. The poorest in countries where Socialism and authoritarianism have thrived. It is equality of opportunity that needs be encouraged and offered. Outcomes are based on aspiration, effort and ability, qualities that differ from one person to the next. A promise of equal outcomes is an empty promise, as it can never be fulfilled without violating the rule of law and impinging on the rights of people.
On all of these issues the left has taken extreme positions, and they are standing fast. Too often, they let blind hatred of Mr. Trump guide their behavior. As well, they have ignored a large swath of the American public, calling them “deplorables.” On issues like immigration and education, the left has taken stance from which they are immune from any negative consequences, because of where they live and where they send their children to school. On others, like climate and political correctness, they ignore the costs, both in terms of dollars spent and/or freedoms lost.
At its essence, the difference between the right and the left on these issues has to do with our expectation for government. What is its role and what is its purpose? The preamble to the Constitution says it is to “…establish Justice, to insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” Does the welfare for ourselves and our posterity include the redistribution of taxes collected? Or has government become so intrusive that it impedes our rights as individuals? These are questions over which reasonable people will disagree. The Founders left some of these terms vague, knowing interpretation will change to reflect new societal norms. But they did emphasize the rights of the individual, and I doubt they expected the adamancy, nastiness and partiality so prevalent today.
When passions rule reason, reactions occur and often not the ones intended. Hatred for Mr. Trump can be seen in the refusal to accept the findings of the Mueller report, an investigation initiated and supported by the left. This is not a defense of Mr. Trump’s manners and etiquette. They leave much to be desired. But he doesn’t deserve the blind disdain he has received. His tax and deregulatory policies have helped economic growth and especially minorities. He has faced down those who, while misusing government agencies like the IRS and the FBI, would wrench away his Presidency. Would those conservatives who played by the Queensbury Rules have fared as well? From the perspective of this unrepentant conservative, the upside to the emotional display of Trump-hatred and the concomitant disarray among Democrats is that a backlash against the supercilious, arrogant elites now in charge of their Party might well lead to the re-election of Donald J. Trump in 2020. That is not the outcome those creating the backlash would prefer.
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