Liberals, listen up! Not all that’s Right is Wrong
In the last two days my left wing partisanship has been mollified by news that undercut my picture of the political right wing as a monolithic tribe.
Of course I’ve been aware that my bias (and possibly yours?) has been simplistic and irrational, but when I hear leaders on the hard Right speak, all my objectivity flies out the window.
Time for a correction through hearing from regular people.
“Hands across the Hills” attempt to bridge a painful divide
On November 29, on NPR’s Here and Now,* came a report on “Hands across the Hills,” a gathering of Trump-voting West Virginians and Massachusetts liberals face-to-face.
A link to the Here and Now story follows. I recommend, if you have the time, to listen to the podcast, which has the greater emotional force. The transcript is quicker, but loses some of the human touch.
Hands across the Hills: bridging the chasm
The effect from hearing voices from “Hands across the Hill” has been more profound than from watching televised “Town Halls” held by MSNBC and CNN, that attempt to make all voices heard within a divided community. These events have always felt flat to me—divergent views get expressed, but there’s little empathy between the sides.
The impact of “Hands across the Hills” is emotionally compelling—in particular, the voice of coal-country Trump voter Gwen Johnson. Johnson is articulate and soft-spoken, with the affect of a kindly grandmother. She conveyed a receptivity to, despite political disagreement with, the viewpoint of liberals from the Bluest of states.
What stood out most to me is Johnson’s acknowledgement of climate change. She is not a climate change denier, she is one whose priorities are set by culture, tradition, economic plight, and love of neighbors. “We’re not blind to that,” she says, and goes on to explain what matters most in coal country is the immediate well-being of family and friends, who have been stuck in a dismal and worsening economic rut for many years. The jobs resulting from Trump’s coal-boosting have meant an upturn, however temporary, in the circumstances of people whom politicians on both left and right have failed. She speaks of the pride and sacrifices of miners engaged in dangerous work going back generations.
Listening to Gwen Johnson shifted my view of the Trump voter—at least, a coal-country Trump voter—more than any of my conscious attempts to override my all-too-emotional anti-Right bias. Empathy rising. Many Trump voters are not The Enemy. But they have been swayed by Trump’s fear-mongering, promises to lift them up, and his ability to persuade them that he is on their side and the political Left is not. That persuasion is built upon the resentments that have grown out of economic despair and the sense of not being heard. Hillary Clinton, for all her good intentions, did not grasp those resentments fully.
Split on immigration: Bundys speak out against Trump’s wall
As I began reading this story on the Bundy clan’s opposition to the border wall in The Washington Post, I had an eerie suspicion that I was actually reading something from The Onion. In fact, I even went to snopes.com to see if this was some kind of politically warped joke. But apparently it’s for real.
It’s for real that Trump supporters Ammon and Cliven Bundy, property-rights militants and anti-government militia leaders, have spoken out against Trump’s proposed border wall and the harsh treatment and demonization of immigrants and asylum seekers.
As reported yesterday in The Post, the words of Ammon and Cliven belie the caricature of hard conservatives joined in blanket enmity and suspicion of outsiders.
Ammon Bundy on Immigrants, the Wall, and Fear
Ammon Bundy put his finger precisely on Trump’s fear-mongering: “It’s all fear-based, and frankly it’s based upon selfishness — ‘I’m going to lose something by them coming in,’ ” Bundy said of the anti-migrant rhetoric. “I think that’s incorrect. But also to base your arguments or your motives or your actions upon fear is a very dangerous thing to do.”
Bundy, unlike Trump, actually has an ideology based on rugged individualism. Trump has no ideology of rugged individualism and private property rights—he has expressed his comfort with eminent domain—and indeed has no ideology at all aside from the conviction that he should be king. I suspect the Bundys have no fondness for kings, and if Trump was about to succeed in breaking the justice system, they would rebel.
I was lured to the Washington Post piece by The Guardian, where Ammon Bundy’s father Cliven was quoted echoing much the same theme:
“They can’t build a wall to stop people … I don’t think it’s going to do any good,” [Cliven] said, adding, “We have an obligation between both countries to deal with each other, and we are neighbors … Those refugees who are coming from far south, I think we gotta deal with them. I don’t think they’re that big of a problem.”
Cliven Bundy questions use and purpose of the border wall
What’s the lesson here?
I’d like to be able to tie together these two stories with some perceptive insights, but I leave the insights to you. All I can say is, people are complicated, can always surprise you, and often in positive ways, so that communication is good. Too bad so many lines of communication are broken, and we can attribute much of the blame to the ruling class, who love to keep us divided.
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* Since the segment offered a link to Here and Now host Robin Young’s capsule bio, I took the plunge and clicked on it. For years I have been wary of chancing seeing a photo of Robin Young and being jarred, as I so often have been, by an incongruity between the radio voice and the physical appearance of one of my beloved personalities. So I feared disappointment with seeing the carrier of the Robin Young voice. Finally I dared it and was rewarded by seeing that Robin Young looks just like her voice! Try it at: http://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/robin-young