I want to extend on my “Is a next Civil War in our future” column published May 20.
It was not written as predictive, but to recognize that we live in a perilous time with the real possibility of negative outcomes. But civil war is not the only draconian outcome; it is possible for a democratic republic to descend into a dystopian nightmare without a civil war.
One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes is, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that ain’t so.” This statement has never been truer than when examining non-Fox mainstream news commentary since the November election.
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.” – Winston Churchill
This commentariat is convinced of two things; that not only is American democracy a thing, but it is also a special thing that generates only good outcomes and protects from all the bad ones; and a foundational belief in the inherent good character of the ill-defined group they refer to as the American people.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill knew something about democracy and the American character. Here’s what he had to say about democracy, “it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’’. But what he had to say about the American character was even more insightful, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
I concur with Churchill on both counts. There is no inherent guarantee that a democracy will produce morally superior social outcomes. Democracy in ancient Athens, the birthplace of modern democracy, was limited to adult, male citizens. It excluded foreign residents, regardless of how many generations of the family had lived in the city (immigrants welcomed but not included), slaves and women were also excluded from the democratic process. It is estimated that Athenian democracy was limited to about 30 percent of the adult population. When you really think about it, there is not much difference between Athens of 600 BC and America of 2021.
As far as Churchill’s second point, whether your starting point is 1619 or 1776, if you’re Black you’re still waiting for America to do the right thing.
But there is a more relevant example of how quickly things can go wrong in a democracy, leading to tragic and catastrophic consequences. Germany in the 1920s and 30s was a democratic federal republic, much like the United States. Like the U.S., it had a geographically diverse population with a highly visible minority that was socially integrated but not culturally accepted as fully German.
By the early 30s Hitler was tapping into the anger and helplessness felt by a large number of voters, and attracted a wide following of Germans desperate for change. In addition, his campaign propaganda promised to put the German people back to work and pull Germany out of the Depression. The Nazis also pledged to restore German cultural values, reverse the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, turn back the perceived threat of a Communist uprising, and restore Germany to its “rightful position” as a world power.
Masters of division and scapegoating, Hitler and other Nazi propagandists were successful in directing the population’s anger and fear against Jews, Marxists (Communists and Social Democrats) and those the Nazis held responsible for signing the armistice of November 1918 which ended World War 1. Hitler often called these people “November criminals.”
There was an insidious relationship between Nazis and the German business class that is eerily like the one that exists today between American corporate interest and right-wing reactionary Republican political leadership.
German business leaders disliked Nazi ideology but came to support Hitler because they saw the Nazis as a useful ally to promote their interests.Business groups made significant financial contributions to the Nazi Party hoping the organized labor movement and left-wing parties would be eliminated.
The U.S. in 2021 is not Nazi Germany. But the stories are analogous. The question for Germany in the 1930s is not how Hitler and Nazis came to power democratically. Instead, it is ‘why did so many Germans accept and support the obvious evil they were?’
As we remember the 1921 destruction of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, it would be wise for Black America to seriously reflect on the current political environment and our historical political relationship to white America.
Despite valiant effort and heroic sacrifice by individual white citizens on behalf of justice for Black and indigenous people, a large plurality, if not outright majority, of white Americans are hostile or indifferent to social justice for people of color. And if hostile white people are a minority, most white people will not actively oppose their attempts to oppress people of color.
There is no historic record that I’m aware of where the United States government or a substantial cohort, or any sized cohort, organized to defend the lives and property of Black Americans against murderous white mobs.
Sen. Joe Machin (D-W. Va.) epitomizes this white America. He clearly knows the right thing to do but cannot bring himself to support justice for Black Americans if it means undermining the architecture of white supremacy. Saving American democracy will not save us because American democracy has never included us. And the American people, as we self-define ourselves, cannot be relied upon to do the right thing before it is too late, because we never have.