Fight for Democracy, Part 25: It’s Not a Fucking Game!

One of my biggest frustrations with our political discourse is the many sports analogies which get used to describe the process. We ‘lost’ that one. The Dems got outplayed. Our team needs to do a better job at [whatever]. It’s not just that the analogies are fundamentally wrong - the winners and losers in politics are largely determined by the spectators (voters), not the players on the court - but those analogies and terms represent how voters tend to absolve themselves of responsibility.

When we complain about ‘our team’, it’s passing the blame for failure off on those who represent us. Sometimes that’s valid. Sometimes our representatives vote for something that they campaigned against. Sometimes our Party takes positions we disagree with. But most of the winning and losing that really upsets people are the fights that happen along party lines, and those are decided by whichever ‘team’ has more players, and it’s the voting populace who decides that. We the voters are the ones who score the most points by dint of who we vote for. While any single person only has a very small influence on the result of politics, the sum total of voters are the ones who decide who wins.

We don’t want to face this because it means we are the ones who failed when we lose. But it’s the truth. We didn’t do enough to make sure our representatives were out there fighting for our beliefs. We didn’t do enough to help get Democrats voted into office. We didn’t do enough to voice our opinions to make sure they represent our wishes. When Democrats vote against your position, how can you complain if you didn’t do anything to contact your representative to tell them which way you’d like to vote? It’s true that some people do more than others, and some people do all they can to help their team, so maybe you are one of those who volunteers for campaigns, who donates money to support your ‘team’, who contacts your officials on every issue and stays politically active. But if not, you need to look longer in the mirror if you want to find out who’s to blame for our current situation.

But it’s not just ourselves we need to blame. It’s our neighbors. When Democrats lose a vote to a Republican majority, the blame should fall on the voters who elected such representation. And I think that’s the real uncomfortable truth people want to avoid. We blame our ‘team’s’ loss in the election on the candidate. On the campaign they ran or the message they used. We complain about how and where they spent their money. We yell from the cheap seats about the play-calling, the tactics used, the effort they put in, and even their choice of graphic design. But they lose because the people sitting next to us voted for the other guy. Because our neighbor votes Republican out of some misguided notion of economic prosperity. Because our uncle Larry is old-school soft racist, and there’s no changing him now. Because so many white people vote out of fear and resentment when they are doing better than every other group by every measure. We excuse their behavior because it seems too hard to change and too awful to admit the truth.

The truth is that we have, by and large, figured out which side is right and which is wrong. Which one is inclusive and which is exclusive. Which one values women and minorities and which one discriminates against them. We are not deceived by dog-whistle racism, much less attracted to it. We are not taken in by deceptive descriptions of tax plans and healthcare systems, much less outright lies about policies and their effects. Somehow we have the intelligence/enlightenment/moral character to see through the media hype, campaign ads, and generally crappy political discourse to recognize which side is better, but to expect others to do the same is asking too much. Screw that.

Sure, there is always a lot of blame to go around. And I fully realize changing people’s minds is hard and it’s unrealistic to expect most people to have the time or inclination to dive as deep into politics as I go. But it’s really not that hard. One party is explicitly racist. Their de facto leader spouts racist beliefs all the time. Their stated policies are clearly bigoted and they advocate for the right to discriminate. They routinely win the support of the KKK and the alt-right. And if you look at who their players are you will see a stunning lack of diversity in race, gender, and religious beliefs. People don’t vote off the nuanced political positions you hear pundits talk about. They don’t have a deep understanding of macroeconomics or even a sense of how their health care system is structured. People are tribal and vote off emotional responses, and when they vote for Republicans they are telling you who they are at a fundamental level and it’s bad. They are bad.

Not wholly bad. They are mostly kind and decent human beings who treat their neighbors (you) with respect. They volunteer for little league and work hard and contribute to our society. But the ethos they apply to the people they interact with directly is far different than for groups as a concept. They support a racist organization which wins them over by disparaging the Other and dehumanizing people. They vote for a corrupt organization that seeks to curtail democracy and scoffs at our laws and norms. That’s bad. They’re bad.

And bad things will happen if Republicans win. Will KEEP happening. Hate crimes will continue to rise. Millions of people will lose health care (thousands will die). Children fleeing violence will be torn from their parents and locked up in cages. Our environment will be harmed and our entire planet will continue on its path towards inhabitability. Our world will involve more suffering even if our own lives will not. It’s not a fucking game and don’t you dare think of it as one.

I think it’s fair to complain about losses, to search for things ‘our team’ can do better. Messaging is important, financial support is necessary, and our Party leaders need to be held accountable. But never forget where the ultimate power lies: with We the People. It’s still true. If we want our side to win we need to fight harder for them. And if they lose, it will be because a large portion of our society made a reprehensible choice, whether they see it that way or not. You don’t have to hate your neighbor, but you should keep a clear mind on who really makes up the other ‘team’. They are who you are fighting against.