Opinion: Lesson learned from the Republican National Convention

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to the crowd as he arrives to speak at the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, Wednesday, July 17, in Milwaukee. Carolyn Kaster / AP
Published: 07-27-2024 6:00 AM
Modified: 08-01-2024 4:31 PM |
John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com
The memory from The Republican National Convention that continues to haunt me is the raised fists of 2,429 delegates and thousands of attendees accompanied by the chant, “fight, fight, fight.”
It happened at the end of candidate Donald Trump’s acceptance speech. During the three-day convention, the subject of unity had arisen frequently. As the hours went by, people felt they were being unified with more and more excitement, energy, and jubilation. It culminated in that mindless chant and the enthusiastic raising of fists.
Their grasp on unity was being sacrificed to conformity, what E. Stanley Jones called “herd-fear.” There was no room left for differing opinions or insights. It seemed any resistor to the crowd action was disappeared.
Also, that boisterous ending to the convention brought back a painful memory. It was the sight of massive crowds raising their fists with the mind-numbing chant, “zeig-heil” (hail victory). Shown over and over in American newsreels and newspapers during the years of World War II, it was a constant reminder of the enemy’s blind devotion to oppression. No reasoning nor compromise could break through the determination of those vacuous mobs. To this day, the memory raises a concern and a caution whenever there is a demonstration in a mass movement rooted in fear and in the determination to dominate any and all opposition.
At the Republican National Convention, it seems there was more than a hint of self-righteous herd emotion in that spectacle of fists raised and “fight” chanted. It was not a move toward greater unity. It was more a drowning out of reason and civility with no room for the diversity essential for a democracy. It was more like “the collective wisdom of individual ignorance,” as Thomas Carlyle once wrote.
An anonymous source suggests that such an outpouring of mass action is “a fatal condition to thought.” Rather than moving toward more unity, the concluding antics at the Republican Convention widened the divisions in our nation, leaving out any who are unable or unwilling to raise a fist against the opposition. They seemed to be saying, “our way or no way.” Their meaning of unity is defined as “agreeing with a particularly exclusive point of view.”
Party conventions and political rallies need to reject those seductive moments of self-aggrandizing fist pumps and “fight” chants that captured the enthusiasm in the last session of the Republican National Convention. During the coming election campaign for public office, candidates and political parties need to recognize the dangers of encouraging actions sparked by fear and dependence on the exclusivity of their particular cause. If such a movement were to succeed, it would result in the demise of democracy and the imposition of an autocracy. Most of all, it would lead to the oppression of any who resist or disagree with the policies of the coercive government.
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The aspiration for unity among the American population is laudable. However, it becomes divisive if unity is understood to be unquestioned loyalty to a particular person or platform. Unity in America means striving together for a more perfect union. It means agreeing to figure out together the best means of accomplishing a more peaceful and justice-driven future. Disagreements will abound.
Republicans, Democrats, and independents may offer different visions, means, and methods to improve our government and society. But they must be free of emotion-driven coercion as the way to enforce a particular vision of political and social life. It is time to trust the human intellect and reasoning skills and to respect the contribution of every citizen’s voice. It is time to give up the idea that perfection can be accomplished with one particular vision.
A unified America begins with a civil, issue driven, reasoned election process that includes the contribution of all points of view. If there is an acceptable chant, it may be a hand-clapping “vote!” “vote!” “vote!”