Day 27: The politics of disdain, and the politics of grace

American Greatness has a nice piece called Rage Rules American Politics. Here's a snip:

Screaming at each other over policy disputes, the loudest segments of the population set out to prove that they are unworthy to ever be trusted with the power to rule over people with whom they disagree. They made their case well, and it would be advisable to refuse deference to any government that any of them control.

AG is, of course, a very pro-Trump journal, and probably the most thoughtful of the type. Some might answer that it was their guy who amped up the rage-factor in American politics, and the article even acknowledges that to some extent.

I've called it the politics of vituperation. Each side provides constant fodder for the other's rage. Closely related is to all this the politics of disdain. From Obama's desperate clingers comment to Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables," not to mention a thousand presidential tweets from the current occupant of the big white house in Washington, disdain for political rivals is the expected stance. Your political colleagues will suspect you of insufficient ardor if you display any degree of respect for the other side.

Of course, we have all at times been both vituperative in our politics and disdainful toward our political opposites, but I am talking about a permanent, settled, predictable, and unrelieved disdain. It's as if what was once merely a debate-tactic (called upon when the debater's position is weak or he is simply too lazy to actually rely on facts) has grown into an emotional pre-set.

More from AG:

By fall of 2018, an Axios poll found that roughly half of the surveyed Democrats and Republicans alike considered each other "ignorant" and "spiteful." More strongly, 21 percent of Democrats said Republicans were "evil," and 23 percent of Republicans said the same about Democrats.

And:

Chances are, the thought of being ruled by evil people fills you with dread. And you ramp up the insults and apocalyptic language accordingly, with all that entails.

Arguments about where this all started and who's to blame will get us exactly nowhere. As an individual who works with and enjoys the company of many people whom I disagree with politically, it's an attitude I can't afford. There's not much we can do about it, except to refuse to contribute. To be, in other words, a practitioner of the politics of grace.