“Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.”
--British philosopher, mathematician, historian, and social critic Bertrand Russell (1872–1970)
Got to thinking about it, and I’m pretty certain I don’t know any MAGA Republicans personally. And I know a lot of people. In this line of work (spouting opinions on the op-ed page and interviewing people on the radio), you’d think I would.
Maybe some of them, because they have lives, don’t get up in the morning thinking about political labels. Or maybe some of them are MAGA and afraid to say it out loud. Maybe they know it’s hard to defend and were raised to do unto others.
I don’t know whether to delude myself into thinking most of my “traditional Republican” friends tossed aside character, held their nose, and voted for him, thinking well, at least I’ll get less regulation, or whether they actually buy it.
Maybe because I’m a recovering political operative, I thought 2016 was a fluke. He didn’t win as much as Hillary lost by ignoring crucial swing states. His appeal seemed narrow, and more data to bolster that argument surfaced in every election since. Until this year.
My thinking evolved a little in 2020 about how those I thought were get along, go along, common sense pragmatists were changing. It was the Covid year, and I was wrapping up a career stint at Kansas Farm Bureau. A man I considered the salt of the earth put up a huge sign on his farm. “F--- Biden.” Really? What happened to do unto others? What happened to the sense of decency that came to define us as Kansans?
Into my second month hosting a new radio talk show on KMAN in Manhattan. ‘Within Reason’ is designed for conversations which are just that. And they have been. Had a lot of candidates on before the election and they all took their cues from the host. No breathing fire, just help us understand your motivation.
I invited the two traditional Republicans from our area seeking election to the U.S. House. Tracey Mann dodged the question about character. Derek Schmidt didn’t want to come on until after he won. Thinking purely from a raw political campaign strategy perspective, I couldn’t argue with either tactic. Don’t put yourself in a position to say anything publicly that might be construed as insufficient fealty.
Thinking solely as an engaged American, it did make me wonder when, exactly, we crossed the line into the uncharted territory where fear completely overshadows decency.
As a young adult, I started to ponder whether we, as American society, spend entirely too much time and energy focused on one office – one individual. I suspect it’s wrapped up in my generation’s experience with Watergate and how the country reacted to that seemingly singular focus on one President.
A couple of generations later, are we reaping the whirlwind of too much emphasis on one office, one individual? Has it become a political fait accompli? Does the President of the United States have too much power? Is that why so many people are genuinely afraid?
At this exact moment in our history, MAGA is flowing, reversing three election cycles of ebbing. Will we navigate toward more checks? More balances? We may find out very soon.
These geniuses and deep thinkers he’s putting up for crucial Cabinet slots. What kind of “leadership” does new Senate GOP leader John Thune intend to exercise? Will he deep-six these lightweights and tell him to try again? Thune strikes me as a middle of the country pragmatist.
Which begs the question, if you’re a Republican in Congress, does a fundamental lack of courage reflect on your character?
I have always been a news junkie. The jones for the truth gets a little itchier during presidential election years, and I tend to devour mass quantities in search of it, right up until the election. Since then, I’ve not consumed the postmortems but scratched my head and pondered how to write this column.
The truth remains elusive and too many people are scared.
Mike Matson’s column appears every other weekend in The Mercury, and he hosts ‘Within Reason,’ weekdays at 9 a.m. on NewsRadio KMAN. Follow his writings at mikematson.com
Comments