In the wake of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle, the take-no-prisoners political rhetoric that found traction with Americans during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign has reached new levels of toxicity.
With gerrymandered voting districts hollowing out the political center, figures on both ends of the spectrum have ratcheted up the vitriol and sweeping demonization of opponents.
Over the summer, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat, encouraged her supporters to challenge any Trump administration officials who step foot in a restaurant, department store or gas station to show "that they're not welcome anymore, anywhere." Some activists are now doing just that, harassing conservative politicians and their families when they appear in public.
Some Republicans, emboldened by an insult-spewing president, have responded by lamenting their own party's past prioritization of virtue and civility as foolish and weak. As evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. explained recently in a tweet that quickly went viral, "Conservatives & Christians need to stop electing 'nice guys,' " because the country "needs street fighters" like President Donald Trump to battle the Democratic "liberal fascists."
Whether it's politicians looking to fire up the base, or advocacy groups hoping for a fundraising surge, we have no shortage of voices willing to fan the flames of fear and the win-at-all-costs mentality that comes with it. When our country faces an existential threat from (whichever political party is not your own), the stakes are too high to cling to hopelessly outdated notions of civility.
These messages are finding a receptive audience. According to a Pew Research survey, 70 percent of active Democrats were already saying that Republicans make them "afraid" and 62 percent of active Republicans were saying the same thing about Democrats in 2016. Indeed, we fear the opposing party much more than we agree with our own party. In the same survey, only 16 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats said they "almost always" agree with their own party.
It appears that our political discourse is no longer driven primarily by ideas — it's driven by fear of our fellow Americans. Members of the opposing party don't simply disagree with my views on government; they have morphed into my enemy, and they must be stigmatized and shunned until they are stopped.
Does it have to be this way? The tyranny of the present — fed by a 24-hour news cycle and an ever-shrinking attention span — can lead us to ignore lessons from history. Ignorance empowers us to act as if our current political moment is unique, and as if the unprecedented direness of the situation justifies whatever tactic proves necessary to secure victory.