So, here we are, the last in my series of posts that I felt compelled to write before I began writing more regularly about current affairs. In my previous posts, I outlined a series of problems that I see in the US and the world. That naturally raises the question: Okay, big guy, what are your solutions?
The short answer is that I don’t have any - well, for the biggest crises, anyway. And solving those crises is the only way to make real progress on my other suggested solutions. That’s a fairly bleak introduction, but let’s dive in.
Recreating a sense of trust and developing a common truth
I described what I see as twin crises of trust and truth in my second post in this series. Many Americans have lost faith in one another and have largely retreated into “tribal truth”. The combination of these two crises has broken our politics and made it nearly impossible to make any progress on the national and international difficulties we face.
And honestly, I don’t have a solution. I don’t really know how to fight back against these trends. It makes me think of a line from one of my favorite film and book series, The Lord of the Rings:
Of course, Theoden and company eventually find a way to fend off the orcs, so you know, we have to try. Here’s my suggestion.
Rediscovering democratic republican and intellectual virtues
In the absence of a concrete program, maybe the best you can do is expect more and ask better of people themselves. We need to reinvigorate a variety of personal virtues that could cause us to step back from this dangerous political and societal moment.
Skepticism - Now I can see someone criticizing this first choice. Don’t we have enough, largely uninformed, skepticism running wild in society? How many QAnon conspiracy theories do we need that question everything to the point of lunacy? I get it, but there is a difference between skepticism that then seeks easy answers versus a skepticism that provides no easy answers. Conspiracy theories start with a suspicion that something is amiss - that one is being lied to. But conspiracy theories always fill in the gaps with wild, new certainties that give the conspiracy theorists control over their world again because all questions have been answered. A healthy skepticism also doubts and suspects, but it ends in a space where evidence is required and the solutions might not be clear. Let’s face it - much of life is a muddle. Healthy skepticism recognizes that. Conspiracy theory - especially political ones - do not.
Honesty - Seek to tell the truth at all times, even if it admits fault. And this is true of our political group affiliations, as well. Lying is too often condoned as a necessary evil in the war against the demonic “other”, however that other is defined. But lying damages truth, and it’s no way to sustain a functioning democratic republic. In a similar way, don’t tolerate disingenuousness, either. That is, endeavor to be upfront, rather than hide purposes, goals, and facts.
Humility - The process I describe above, done right, should make you humble in the face of uncertainty. With any luck, that humility can be turned back toward our fellow citizens, allowing us to seek common knowledge and common ground as we all try to make our way through life.
Universality - We need to seek out values and solutions on which we all agree and then apply those values and solutions to everyone. This is the spirit of “all men are created equal” and the motto of the French Revolution, “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”. It’s almost trite to say it, but there is a great amount of focus today on what divides us. It remains true that what unites us is far greater.
Compromise - With the above virtues in place, perhaps we can restore a sense of compromise in our politics. Too often being uncompromising is seen as a virtue. But no democratic republic can last long if the various members refuse to find any possible way to live together.
Courage - All of the virtues above require courage because they all involve risk in some way. Risk takes bravery, but also yields rewards.
The net effect of a reinvigoration of these virtues could be to make us less certain of our own righteousness, better able to talk to and work with our fellow citizens, and less able to become a mere puppet of a charismatic leader or a crowd.
Will getting to this state of mind help us to better trust those with whom we disagree? Maybe not. But at least it could open a door. And once the door of trust is open, maybe we can make our way back to a common truth.
Like I’ve said all along, other than these moralistic words, I don’t really have a good answer to our growing societal crises. But keep in mind that the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. Violence could become the political action of choice. And once we’ve stripped away all semblance of democratic republican norms, we’re left with raw power. And that rarely ends well.
Other concrete actions
In my previous posts, I mentioned several other problems we face, too, including climate change, a geopolitical struggle to preserve liberal democratic values, and growing economic insecurity and desperation.
To solve these more concrete problems, I will just quickly say that we need to supercharge our move to clean sources of energy, firm up our relationships with our western liberal democratic allies, and expand what is broadly called the “social safety net” (though I hate that name; I’ll post about that a different time).
But as I mentioned above, without solving the crises of trust and truth, I have a hard time envisioning making much progress on any of these fronts.
There you have it
That’s it. That’s the long introduction that I felt I needed to write before I could begin posting about current affairs on a regular basis. It took a full day to write, but of course I had been gathering notes long before that. Another writer wouldn’t have required this amount of throat clearing, I suppose, but it is what it is. Look for me to fill in more details over time. Thanks for reading this far.
Bill