Persuasion > Hate-Mongering
Without endorsing all the flourishes of Kevin Williamson’s rhetorical style, his latest for The Dispatch is worth reading. In short, Williamson aims at the laziness inherent in our current politics, where the best argument for why Republicans who are pro-life should vote for Herschel Walker is that he is not a Democrat. But as Williamson points out, this is not just a Republican problem. He notes politicians on both sides of the aisle “seem to have forgotten how to ask for votes and how to engage in old-fashioned democratic persuasion.” Because neither party is willing to find any common ground other than resorting to baseless name-calling, we’re left with politics where everyone, from elected officials to your next-door neighbor, can no longer disagree without being disagreeable.
This concept, disagreeing without being disagreeable, used to be part of what it meant to be involved in civic life in America. It is how you get work done anywhere. Conservatives and liberals alike used to be able to find common ground to pass laws that suited Americans because that is who they are paid to represent. Lazy politics, where name-calling somehow replaces actual policy meant to help all Americans, robs us of more than our ability to get along. It also strips away what should be a foundational belief for a functioning society that our political opponents are decent and good people who simply have a different idea of achieving positive outcomes for everyone in this country.
What would our politics look like if we could reclaim this attitude toward one another? Instead of viewing the problem in politics as needing to beat the other side so our side can stay in power, we saw the work before us as needing to better the lives of all Americans. This view could help lower the temperature as it reframes all Americans as allies working to contribute something to the fabric of our nation.
Or, as the apostle Paul would say, it calls us to look at each other as members of the same body. When you can convince someone that certain parts are not required, they begin to despise, hate, and want to get rid of that part at all costs. We have spent too much time acting as though we do not need our thumbs, legs, or noses. And this has made many in our nation unrecognizable as they view political opponents as disposable or worthy of being forgotten. But it is not too late to start reminding ourselves and others that we can all work together for the common good, so long as we stop seeing each other as disposable once we disagree.
4 More Things:
1) Bonnie Kristian's excellent new book, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community, was released yesterday. I got an advanced copy of the book and can say that you will not read a more insightful, hopeful, and helpful source than Kristian on how we got to this fake news era and what we can do to move forward. It is also worth noting that AVC will have another free webinar with Bonnie on Oct 20th at 8 pm ET. If you can't buy the book, don't miss this webinar.
2) AVC board member and John Brown University professor Daniel Bennett interviewed another AVC board member and current doctoral student at Duke Divinity School, Kaitlyn Schiess, for Bennett's newsletter. It's a simple get-to-know-you interview, but Schiess is someone who should be on your radar as she is a needed voice into how the Bible should impact our politics.
3) What happens when you cross Elmer Gantry and Jonas Nightengale with election-denying and a dash of insurrectionism? You get Michael Flynn's ReAwaken America Tour, and the AP has a depressing but excellent tour profile. The AP's reporting makes it clear that the tour is just one big grift for Michael Flynn, known now as a spiritual general, and his cronies. The only problem is that, unlike Gantry and Nightengale, Flynn is not selling Christianity with a side of faith healing. ReAwaken offers a mix of Christianity with conspiracism and election-denying.
4) Herschel Walker, senate candidate in Georgia for the pro-life GOP, is still making news after the bombshell report dropped that he paid for a woman to have an abortion. According to the Daily Beast, Walker now claims he does not even know the woman who has a get-well card and a signed check from Walker and is the mother of one of Walker's four children.