Shards from the Embattled Republic

An occasional list of links to provoking commentary. Some annotated by me.

Barbara F. Walter writing at The New Republic: "...The United States is the first white majority country in the world to go through this grand demographic transformation, but it will not be the last. The world will be watching how we, as a multiethnic, multi­religious democracy, navigate this change. The declining white majority can choose to further weaken our democracy in an attempt to institutionalize minority rule, and continue to stoke racial fears. They may think that this is an attractive strategy that ensures that power will remain in their hands for generations. What they don’t realize is that this also leads them closer to civil war." Actually, I fear more and more of the members of the old white majority think civil war might relieve their anxiety. That's a dangerous fantasy.

Political scientist Liliana Mason reports: "White Democrats and Republicans had basically identical levels of racial resentment in 1986; today they’re 40 points apart. So one of the most passionate divides that we’re seeing between the parties right now, more than it has been in decades, is, does systemic racism exist? Does systemic sexism exist? Have we done enough to overcome it? Have we gone too far?"

The Why Axis

From Convergence Magazine: "'Being part of the 2020 effort was one of the most profound experiences of my life,'” Stephanie Greenlea [from the union UniteHERE] said. “'In a moment of such intense and global rupture, with structures falling apart, and people being abandoned left and right with no net, over and over I saw people rise to the challenge, and do extraordinary things not just to improve their own lives but to build something better. That, and stories like it that are happening all over the place, need to be documented and told.'" We have experience with fighting back, our way.

Theodore Johnson, director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, writing at The Bulwark, explains the likely Year of the Black Republican: "Put simply, movements like the Tea Party and Trumpism deepen partisan identity and make it far easier to identify who you’re for and who you’re against, even to the point of overlooking other traditional cues. As such, a black candidate who leans heavily into the movement’s symbols, rhetoric, and harsh critiques of prominent Democrats not only becomes an acceptable avatar but also an aegis against accusations of racial intolerance within the movement itself. Further, donning the partisan identity with the recognizable features of contemporary movement conservatism works to mitigate the perception of black Americans as beholden to big government progressivism that places these candidates at a disadvantage in Republican primaries from the outset." It's a good gig if you can get it -- and you want to take it up. People being people, we should not be surprised if some will. There is, of course, a principled Black conservatism, but that's not what Johnson is talking about.

Don Moynihan warns: "The attack on American democracy by one of the two main political parties in America should be the dominant theme of our politics right now. It’s not. It’s a five alarm fire generating a one-alarm response. I don’t know what can fix this dynamic. But we should stop assuming it will fix itself. If you like living in a democracy you should oppose the people with a record of trying to overturn elections. While such opposition still matters."  For some it's a five alarm fire, but not enough of us. It burns to keep the threat front of mind and heart. But losing democracy would be worse.

More Moynihan: "We often think about attacks on democracy in terms of election outcomes. But public administration is democracy in action. We can’t keep watching our public institutions be attacked and assume that they will still meet the expectations we place on them to provide quality public services."

A Slate book review: " ... the impression left by Lessons From the Edge: that [former U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Marie] Yovanovitch—as well as [Fiona] Hill and [Alexander] Vindman—inhabits a different ethical universe not only from Trump but from nearly everyone else who sold their souls to work in his White House. All three were immigrants from families who viewed the U.S. as a place that enabled them to achieve what they couldn’t in their homelands. As a result, they understand America as a set of principles as much as a land or a source of sentimental patriotic identity. This may make them naïve in the eyes of some, but as Yovanovitch persuasively argues, it is people like them who stand between American democracy and the autocratic forces Trump represents." Those of us with long histories struggling for justice for immigrants are getting a reminder that it is not only poor, Salvadorans, Haitians, and Hondurans whose lives allow them to see the good potential of this imperfect country. It's also highly accomplished white professionals who migrate from the less privileged parts of Europe. Those of us with long roots here owe gratitude to our perspicacious new neighbors .

From the Los Angeles Times: "The two brothers suspected of involvement in the recent deadly shooting in Sacramento, Dandrae and Smiley Martin, share something in common besides blood. They both beat women — a warning sign for gun violence, according to researchers. In 7 of 10 mass shootings, the perpetrator (let’s be real, usually a man) either had a history of domestic violence or was targeting someone he had a relationship with. About 1 in 4 homicides in the United States are related to domestic violence, and too often include bystanders." January 1, 2019 to 26 April 2021 were big times for gun sales; 7.5 million of us became new gun owners in that period, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Jessica Valenti opines: "I often wonder if the stereotype that women have more ‘emotional intelligence’ is true or if we’re just trying not to be killed. Of course we’re attuned to the world around us, we have to be."

From the military publication Task and Purpose:  "A study released last year by Brown University’s Cost of War project estimated that 30,177 active duty service members and veterans have died by suicide since 2001. In 2020, the suicide rate for service members aged 18-24 was more than double that for civilians in the same age bracket." 

Let's give the last word here to Margaret Atwood: "Don’t panic. Think carefully. Write clearly. Act in good faith. Repeat." Apparently even Margaret Atwood has to make herself available to the public on publication of a new book. We're the luckier for it.