Fear and Republican Identity

Originally Published on Daily Kos: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/8/1917710/-Fear-and-Republican-Identity

“History has indeed taught us that when it comes to the instincts that drive us, fear has no rival.” — from Sherrod Brown’s Feb. 5, 2020 opinion piece in the New York Times.

I agree that fear on the part of Republicans, and Republican senators in particular, played into the impeachment acquittal. But “cowardice” with respect to defending the constitution is only part of the picture. I think it’s more about the multiple identities we simultaneously inhabit as individuals, and how ever evolving circumstances (i.e., the relevant social/cultural, economic, political and environmental factors) change the relative strength of those identities at any given time.

I believe Amy Davidson Sorkin was getting at this in the last line of her recent New Yorker piece: “Perhaps the Republican senators, as they trudged toward casting their vote, were making a calculation about how Trump might return the favor with one for them, or their party, or their country. Or maybe they, too, can no longer tell the difference.”

So was Mitt Romney in my opinion, the sole Republican Senator to vote for impeachment (at least for Article 1), when in his speech to the Senate justifying his vote conveyed that he had received numerous phone calls and emails demanding that he “stand with the team.” In other words, stand not with the constitution, or with U.S. citizens, but stand with the Republican team – stand with Team Trump.

In our current hyper-partisan environment, our identities as Republicans or Democrats are significantly stronger than our identities as U.S. citizens. There are a lot of contributing factors to why we’re in our current predicament. The fall out from neo-liberalism and globalism that includes the widening wealth gap, backlashes against efforts to address inequity, etc. It’s far too complex to attempt to cover in this short piece, though Ezra Klein’s new book, Why We’re Polarized, is one source for this. I’d also recommend reviewing a recent series of pieces on extremism at This View of Life magazine, a piece on “the other” that I wrote for the same magazine, and the articles at the online magazine Evonomics in general. Regardless of all of the reasons for our current hyper-partisanship, the instability created and resulting fear work against national unity as we compete for perceived and actual limited resources, power, dominance of ideas, etc.

I also think it’s fairly easy to argue that Republican identity is currently stronger with respect to other forms of self-identification than it is for Democrats. The fact that Republicans are a more homogeneous group is one contributing factor. Another big contributing factor is the Trump phenomenon. He has managed to capitalize on the anxieties and insecurities of enough Americans to give himself a stranglehold over the Republican party; some have even likened these core supporters to a cult because of the degree of their devotion and unwavering support. Peer pressure, the threat of being primaried, public ridicule, and other destabilizing tactics are employed by Trump and his supporters to disrupt Republican opponents and maintain control of the party.

So fear is important, but I think it’s most important relative to how it’s wielded to enforce one identity over others – in this case the Republican identity over our identity as U.S. citizens, or even just as humans.

While I’m concerned about the current state of our nation, the fact that the only bi-partisan vote during the impeachment process was the one to convict on the first article gives me some hope, even if it was only one Republican Senator. And the fact that fear had to be employed to obtain this outcome gives me a new hope as well.

Maybe many of these Republican Senators didn’t have the conviction or courage to stand against their Republican identity (which is currently synonymous with Trump). But many know he’s guilty and should be removed. Many know this isn’t in line with the Constitution. Many know it isn’t right.

Search your feelings, Republicans, you can't keep selling out. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of Trump.