In the wake of the Republican blow out, Blue tsunami, whatever might be your favorite analogy for the results of Election Day two days ago, a CNN headline:
Republicans blame Iran war for historic midterms collapse
Right wing pundit and radio host Erick Erickson has a more prolix take on it, and may have washed his hands of the current crop of right-wingers:
Last night, the American constitutional system worked as designed and worked so well and so thoroughly that the party that lied to itself in 2020 that it had lost only because the election was stolen is now lying to itself that it lost only because of gas prices and war. Last night’s drubbing was too complete to be theft.
It was gas prices.
And it was the war.
But it was also calling affordability a “hoax.”
And it was also the corruption.
The incompetence.
…
And more and more. He really listed it out. But both strike me as being somewhat shallow thinking.
I think it’s worth stealing a few words from various memes from the last years for this Republican Party disaster and note that this is performative morality in action.
So many of the actions Erickson cites, such as Trump’s War, and many more involving the GOP-controlled Congress, such as the shirking of the formal responsibilities of Congress, and, peripherally, overt and covert social influencers, involve making and executing choices with a moral dimension[1]. For example, knowing a fact about someone, as a social influencer, and deciding to divulge or conceal that fact, is a moral decision. Connected to this is the question of ascertaining the truthfulness of any such assertion.
A weakness of public morality, as presented in popular media, is the connection between personal morality, public morality, and consequences. That is, too often personal morality is presented as a set of rules to follow with little connection to the consequences in the public sphere.
And, to cut this dry diatribe short, I will say this.
The Republican Party membership, leaders to members who’ve achieved electoral office, to those who held positions of influence[2], to the base, in too-large degree, either committed and/or tolerated actions whose moral dimension was negative. These actions are too numerous to enumerate, but we can lay down some categories:
- Lies, including rumor-mongering concerning individuals and classes of individuals, as well as organizations;
- Boasting;
- Avariciousness, especially the ludicrous kind seen over the last few years;
- Ill-choices in foreign allies;
- Ill-treatment of traditional allies;
- Ignorance on so many subjects, from laws to norms to history, without effort expended on remedying same;
- Racism;
- Right wing extremism;
- Etc
Now, what I feel is important is this: everyone occasionally lies, but that’s not what’s happening here. We need to add the context: the transgressions, explicit and implicit, were liberally employed to advance the interests of those individuals, inflate their egos, and protect their preconceptions and, of course, their frail arrogance. Worse, they were employed as necessary; not with shame or hesitation, but with bellicosity and brazenness. Lie about the results of a war, or lie about their heroism in war, or education, again and again and again.
An entire Party, built on the above, is much like a positive feedback loop, the machine ripping itself to pieces as its movements are reinforced by repeated actions. That’s the Republican Party. I, and many other pundits much more ably, have been chronicling a machine set on self-destruction, powered by greed, for money, power, prestige, and other base motivations.
The Republicans, quite accidentally, put on a show. Much like a dramatic production, Americans uncommitted to the Republicans saw leading characters lie, cheat, and steal, and then we witnessed and, in a step beyond the hypothetical production, experienced the consequences of the actions of those characters.
I needn’t list the results; my reader should consult a good news outlet if they have fallen behind. The Republicans thought they were Zeus or Odin, and as they strode forth to grasp a Kingdom, it became the illusion of the desert, flowing away and leading them off the edge of the cliff, followed by the inevitable, ghastly tumble to their political extinction.
But, for a moment, let us speak of the base, as their role may not be entirely apparent, unlike their leaders’. These are the enablers of the Republican leadership, the loyal voters who’d not think of not voting Republican, or even of omitting those who seem repulsive[3]. They had not the wisdom or courage to seek out alternatives to the nutrient-free pap being fed to them by influencers and partisan media, to recognize the mendacity, the incompetence, the prioritization of unsuitable base motivations in their political leadership. Let me crassly label this behavior: It was, and remains, a secular sin. Americans have a moral responsibility to research the candidates upon which they vote, to come to sober conclusions, and to vote those conclusions. Our system is hardly perfect, but it’s what we have, and it’s always worthwhile to ask if the flaws of the system our flaws of the system, or, in reality, are flaws within ourselves. Such are the flaws of the Republican base. I do not assert the Democrats are much better.
Returning to the Republican leadership, those who think they still have the mantle of leadership have started the blame game, but they display their shallow understanding of the society in which they live by blaming mere tactics, rather than recognizing that the character flaws of those of great influence in their own Party, those who ignored the moral code, are really what led to their downfall. It may look and feel like a drama, but ignoring it as one might ignore the lessons of Richard III signals one important, forgotten facet of the lessons.
This drama happened in reality.
And this is why following morality is important. If everyone cheats, the entire system collapses, and one discovers the unstable heap upon which we live.
1 For those puzzled by my use of terminology in relation to morality, no, I’m neither theologically nor philosophically trained, neither Sunday School nor Kant nor Camus has much influenced me. I’m an obsolete software engineer who’s read far too much, and constructed an informal moral philosophy without regard to standard terminologies of either theologians nor philosophers, much less their thoughts on the very matter. I endeavor to use common words with their common meanings, avoid language imperialism, and hope to point out contradictions and relevant facts that seem missing from the common discourse, as well as thoughts on commonly accepted philosophies for living that seem too easily received, at least to me.
2 Positions of influence is not the same as a social influencer, which is modern terminology for a person who pursues the power and prestige of being an influencer, while usually lacking applicable skills, experience, or even knowledge, using modern technology to connect with those they wish to influence. A person in a position of influence, whether a cleric or a secular official such as an occupant of an elective office or a person of high achievement, often has applicable skills and knowledge. An example of a semi-obsolete position of influence would be the relative of a monarchical family. Those who meet either definition are included in Positions of influence for ease of expression.
3 The consequences of using such voting habits, or encouraging same, were eventually recognized by Erick Erickson in this post. Note the reactions to his criticisms of this habit:
Since I said I will not vote for Mike Collins [(R-GA)] for the United States Senate, [since defeated] the incoming fire has been intense. Listeners have called the show to tell me I have lost my mind. Readers have emailed …
His realization that Party Line voting can lead to unnecessarily flawed, even repellent, candidates, is accurate; that his own friends reacted with outrage to his recommendation that such candidates should not receive their votes suggests how strongly that particular habit is taught by the handlers of the Republican Party. So long as they thoughtlessly play their role, America will suffer and those who hold the strings will benefit.
Given how the Fox News had allied itself, for more than a decade, with Donald J. Trump and his pack of grifters, extremists, and assorted ne’er-do-wells we call the Republican Party, the mess they’ve arrogantly produced and lied about incessantly, a big chunk of the Fox News audience has learned that listening only to news that plays to their preconceptions is an embarrassing and expensive mistake.
