When what is disgusting or unconstitutional becomes respectable
Antisemitism, disenfranchising voters and vulgarity loom large
Our nation’s democratic politics has been less than decent at least as much as it has been decent, but at least it was understood that there is a difference between these, leaving decency gratefully in the fallback position. That is, as long as that is the citizenry’s sober appreciation of political virtue, along with honest acknowledgment of political vice, all is not lost. But when political life accepts and even honors vile speeches and deeds, the normal give and take in our elections threatens to throw us into mortal combat.
The most menacing challenge to decent politics today is the noisy and ugly bigotry of antisemitism. A powerful faction of the Democrat Party is openly hostile to the independence of Israel, even to the point of denying the utter barbarism of Hamas terrorism on Oct. 7. Thousands of foreign and American students in far too many of our colleges and universities have demonstrated publicly their hatred for Jews and their sympathy for Israel’s enemies. While polls show that the vast majority of Americans reject that bigotry, the sad fact is that the Democrats are deeply compromised on this fractious issue, and worse the Biden Administration is hampering Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas.
Respectable antisemitism has a long history in Europe and America. During the Middle Ages, Jews were tortured for their beliefs and expelled from numerous European countries. But the worst calamity came in modern times in the racist German Third Reich, the horrors of which were thought to have rendered antisemitism beyond the pale. The United States harbored that bigotry in the remnants of Christian believers holding Jews responsible for Jesus’s death on a cross. More secular leaders of our leading universities kept Jewish enrollment limited by quotas a century ago lest too many Jews overtake Gentiles in their careers.
It is more than ironic as we all know that the same prejudice with a different rationalization is now being proffered. Snobbery can take different forms, however identical the arena in which it manifests itself. “Colonizers” is the current academic epithet, and avidly expressed, unlike the unstated envy of more talented and industrious Jews in the professional world.
Those here or in Europe who have in the interim maintained their racist attitude may well take satisfaction at the current dramatic racist spectacle. Politics makes strange bedfellows as it is unlikely that the traditional antisemites would feel comfortable marching in mass demonstrations with Arabs or Muslims. But it’s a start!
Then there is the related phenomenon of Democrats doing all they can to demonize their Republican opposition. This week brought the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court to keep Donald Trump’s name off that state’s ballot. This follows four prosecutions against Trump in four states on civil and criminal charges. The court relied on a section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which says that those who rose in rebellion against the United States in 1861 cannot hold public office. Then it declared that Trump’s challenge of the election results of 2020 constituted rebellion. But Trump did urge or take any violence on Jan. 6, 2021.
Interestingly, not only people on the Right but also on the Left have denounced this decision. The common argument is that voting is the main means of citizens’ participation in our form of government and courts should stand aside. But Democrats are, once again, helping Trump, drawing him sympathy and support, just as their prosecutions have done. The bipartisan reaction to the Colorado court may well be a hopeful sign, however malign that decision.
Finally, we must take note of another worrisome development. That is the common and every day examples of vulgarity in every part of the public domain. Politicians, sadly and consistently, in public, utter the H, A and S words, while bleeped journalists routinely speak the F word. On Facebook, all of these words appear frequently. Sex scandals have become an opportunity to lower standards still further.
What am I—a prude? Let’s distinguish public and private. We should not wish for public speech to deteriorate into what we commonly indulge in private speech. Public speech should aim at the highest and most respectful consideration of public issues. Some may believe that Facebook and other social media should not be held to that standard, but their full-scale participation in public discourse surely demonstrates that they are a part of considerably more than mere private conversations.
Antisemitism, dirty politics, and vulgar public speech, however much they may differ, have in common an animus against good and decent politics. Irrational hatred, attacks on voting and lowering the standards of public discourse all show contempt for political life. Our politicians are often written off as unprincipled, self-absorbed and unduly ambitious. But the alternative is worse. Kings, oligarchs, dictators and tyrants are hostile to politics as the last thing they want is opposition. Better to trust the give and take of democratic politics than the overrated benefits of forced unity.
We should hold our politicians to the highest standards, with all the shortcomings of the process. Don’t give up on politicians. Hold their feet to the fire!