"Backlash"

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Backlash”

April 19, 2021

 

“You must have known the storm was coming

When the clouds appeared.”

                                                                                                                                Lyrics

                                                                                                                                “The Tempest,” 2008

                                                                                                                                Pendulum (Australian band)

 

The arc of a pendulum carries its bob in an equal and opposite direction from which it starts. Metaphorically, it describes our country, as politics is subject to the same laws of physics. 

 

In 1937, Albert Einstein, then living in Princeton, New Jersey but thinking of the Europe he had left four years earlier, issued a warning: “Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny are fueled by perennially rejuvenated illusions.” Even without those extremes, political power in the U.S. has vacillated between Democrats and Republicans. In the seventy-six years since the end of World War II, Democrats have held the White House thirty-six years and the Republicans forty. Thus, political extremism has been contained, not by politicians but by the wisdom of voters. Even today, a balance exists. While the Presidency is held by Democrats, conservatives dominate the Supreme Court. And the Congress is divided, with the Senate split 50-50, and the House with Democrats up by 218-212, with five seats vacant. We are a divided nation, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as minority voices are heard and unafraid to speak out, and as long as extremism remains confined. 

 

In February 1788, Thomas Jefferson looked hopefully at the incoming Presidency of George Washington, the only individual to win election (and re-election) without being a member of a political party. He wrote William Stephens Smith, a Federalist Representative from New York: “We are now vibrating between too much and too little government, and the pendulum will rest, finally, in the middle.” That turned out not to be true in the post-Washington years, and it is not true today. In the nation’s most extreme backlash, a Civil War broke out in 1861. A hundred years later, from the mid-1960s to the early-1970s, Civil Rights and the Vietnam War caused a backlash of protests that turned bloody.

 

Today, we are in the midst of another such turmoil. The difference, in my opinion, is that this time the causes are politically manufactured. There is no question that inequalities exist. They always have and always will. We are not equal in athleticism, intelligence, looks, aspirations or diligence. But today’s “victims” have little in common with those held in bondage a hundred and sixty years ago, with women who were denied the vote a hundred years ago, with blacks who had to comply with the lie of “separate but equal” public schools of sixty years ago, or with gays who were shunned two decades ago. We have come a long way, which is reason to celebrate, but we also acknowledge that all democracies are works in progress. Differences should be aired, respectfully and with tolerance for those whose opinions differ.

 

But that is not the case. Progressives have become intolerant of any disagreement with their orthodoxy. Progressive judgements are nurtured in schools and colleges, where diversity is championed except when it involves thought and ideas. Censorship of conservative opinions are justified on the basis that one should not express anything that might be deemed hurtful to so-called “victims.” Social media organizations, despite their claim to the contrary, do not offer open platforms for debate, and the newsrooms of mainstream media groups have become propagandists for favored politicians. 

 

Progressives are hypocrites. They erroneously say we are “systemically racist.” Their words have reversed the slow march of a people who were evolving toward multiracialism. Their claims are an anathema to all that Martin Luther King stood for – that we be judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin. Progressive Democrats in “blue” states would like to reinstate SALT (State and Local Taxes) deductions to pre-2017 levels – a move that would benefit the wealthy, not the middleclass families they claim to represent. They would like to have student loans forgiven to the amount of $50,000, something that would help college graduates but do nothing for those with only a high school degree. As well, such a move would destroy the concept of personal responsibility, something a democratic society needs of its citizens. Progressives offer rebates for those who can afford a Tesla or solar panels, but nothing for the family who has to make do with a gasoline-consuming Ford or who must buy electricity from the grid. All these are costs that must be paid for with higher taxes.

 

Because progressivism is inculcated in our students, starting in elementary school and the media has largely become a propaganda machine for left-wing politics, the divide between the “favored” and “unfavored” has widened to dangerous proportions. To Progressives, skin color is more important than character. Students are taught a language that no longer allows for gender differences. Personal responsibility has succumbed to “victimization.” Progressives in gated communities would like to defund the police, with little effect on their lives, but devastating to residents and business owners in inner cities. Illegal immigrants, who take jobs from low-income Americans and who provide cheap labor for wealthy “woke” suburbanites, are welcomed by Progressives, hoping that when they become citizens their vote can be bought. Policy goals of “packing” the Supreme Court, federalizing election laws and ending the filibuster reflect a desperate reach for power, not for a fair and open democracy. The hypocrisy is as thick as molasses.

 

Politics should not be so divisive. Elected officials should think of what is right for the Country, not what is best for themselves. Parents and schools should instill in their children and pupils an honor code. Old fashioned traits like hard work, honesty, respect for the law and tolerance are not peculiar to whites but are universal traits that lead to success. Schools should teach civics, so young students will realize that voting is a privilege and a responsibility, not simply a right conferred on one’s 18^th birthday. We should curtail illegal immigration but expand legal immigration. We should not divide ourselves into oppressors and oppressed but view ourselves as fellow travelers, fortunate to live in this land of opportunity. We should judge people based on character and merit, not on race, religion, ethnicity or gender. But will we? Progressives believe division leads to power – a dangerous and combustible conclusion.

 

It would be wrong, in my opinion, to suggest the United States is ready to explode. But the pendulum has been pulled far back by “woke” elitists. From their ivory-towered college classrooms, their sound-proofed newsrooms, their glitzed-up Hollywood studios, and the inner sanctums of their corporate offices, they seem unaware of what constitutes the typical American, what they think and how they feel. They are ignorant of the consequences of what they have wrought. Accusations of systemic racism and the teaching of Critical Race Theory foment divisiveness, and divisiveness leads to hate and hate leads to violence. A backlash will accentuate the segregationist tendencies of Progressives and make meaningful integration more difficult. These elitists remind one of Marie Antoinette in early 1793 who was allegedly told by her seamstress: “There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” Storm clouds are gathering. They could be dispersed, but if not, a backlash, when it comes, could be worse than anything we now imagine.