Domke's second lecture was partly an analysis of the present state of political life in America, and partly a spirited call to action. It began with a lengthy quotation from Dr. Carol Anderson's book White Rage, pointing out how much this country could have achieved for citizens of all races if we had all quietly accepted and implemented the 1954 anti-segregation ruling by the Supreme Court in 1954 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and had greeted the election of Obama in 2008 -- greeted his election not necessarily because everyone agreed with his policies, but as a symbol of our nation's increasing acceptance of American diversity.
Rather than confront all change with "massive resistance."
Domke used Dr. Anderson's words as a springboard to support his conclusion that, after years of his having worked primarily to build bridges between left and right, he now concludes that today's world requires us to channel our efforts into securing permanent political gains -- not in just being "nice."
Professor Domke discussed four factors that endanger democracy in today's world.
1. White Christian nationalism, always simmering beneath the surface, has been "unleashed," made acceptable by Trump and his allies. The symbolism of the attack on the Capitol -- led primarily by white males. Since 2008, the percentage of Americans who call themselves Christian has fallen from 54 percent to 44 percent. Evangelical Christians feel besieged, which has led to an interweaving of political and religious identification. Domke feels that we need to hold white right-wing Christians "accountable" for their words and acts.
2. A massive political division between urban and rural Americans. This division was made evident by Sarah Palin's campaign for the vice presidency in 2008. But the percentage of Americans who are neither rural nor urban, but suburban, is 51 percent. These are today's swing voters, voters who Trump thought would be his automatically in response to his language intended to scare suburban women into voting Republican. He failed to realize that suburban voters are rapidly becoming more diverse and liberal, a factor that offsets to some extent the danger of the urban/rural divide.
3. The "siloed" media environment. This began with cable TV in the 1980s, worsened with Fox News in the 1990s, and has become extreme with the development of internet news sources. Surveys show that Democrats "trust" three news sources by over 60 percent each -- CNN, ABC, and NBC, with CBS coming in just under 60 percent. Republicans trust only Fox News by over 60 percent -- 67 percent, actually. The next highest in trust is ABC with 37 percent! Trump allowed himself to be interviewed almost exclusively by Fox. To erode this "silo-ing," a president needs to open himself to questioning by unfriendly as well as allied sources, regardless of how uncomfortable that may be. He needs to talk to those who don't naturally hear him.
4. "Diametric" difference in governing wishes. When asked (1) if the Democratic president should work with Republicans, even if some unpleasant compromises had to be made, (2) or stand up for your principles, even if not as much gets done, Democrats favored (1) by 62 percent to 37 percent. Asked the similar question with respect to a Republican Congress's dealing with a Democratic president, Republicans voted for (2) by 59 percent to 38 percent. Party leaders follow the wishes of their constituents.
Domke remarked that these four factors were merely observations of problems we face today. He hasn't developed any solutions.
As for the future, Domke gave his call to action. In 2016, and even worse in the 2014 mid-terms, the Democrats were hurt by three factors.
1. We weren't sufficiently alert to the forces favoring the Republicans: e.g., Hillary's personality in 2016, same-sex marriage.
2. We weren't sufficiently equipped to fight even if we had been alert.
3. And our forces were not sufficiently mobilized, even if we'd been equipped..
Democrats made remarkable improvement in all three area by 2018 and again by 2020, as the 2020 results in Georgia and Arizona, for example, suggest. In 2020, the nation saw the highest percentage turn-out of voters since 1900, to a large degree by new Democratic voters. We can't let up.
Domke showed a clip of today's ceremony at the Mall honoring the victims of Covid-19. It was an excellent and moving display, and was done with an appropriate objective. We need to do more of that under Biden's presidency.
Finally, although the Democrats have very narrow control of both houses of Congress, insofar as possible we should try to achieve victories in four areas before the 2022 elections:
1. Voting rights legislation. For example, adoption of the "For the People Act," passed by the House but bottled up in the Senate by Mitch.
2. Turn the South blue. Since 2008, the Democrats have made steady gains in flipping red Southern states blue. Texas and Florida aren't there yet, but we should keep working on them.
3. Fortify Congressional representation, governorships, and legislatures in the North, especially in the industrial Great Lakes states.
4. Choose "optimism." This sounds a little airy, but Domke says that optimism doesn't mean a prediction of a happy future, but an "ethical choice" to assume that success is possible and to work hard toward it. Doing so is how we can -- as MLK put it -- bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.
In summary, we need to get off our duffs. Not just assume that a Biden win means ultimate victory.
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