In a speech receiving the Irving Kristol Award from the American Enterprise Institute, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Britain, had some wise words on the state of politics in the West, and specifically in the United States.
He warned that we’ve come to “indulge in magical thinking. So you get the far right dreaming of a golden past that never was and the far left yearning for a utopian future that never will be. And then comes populism, the belief that a strong leader can solve all our problems for us. And that is the first step down the road to tyranny, whether of the right or of the left.” He continued, later observing, “We need people willing to stand up and say, rich and poor alike, we all have collective responsibility for the common good. And we need a culture of responsibility, not one of victimhood, because if you define yourself as a victim, you can never be free.”
There is a lot to unpack there. Sacks certainly has figured out the populists’ routine.
The “golden past” that the Trumpian populists long for today takes many forms. They sanitize, romanticize and elevate the “Lost Cause” of the antebellum South. They dream of a pre-Great Society, even pre-New Deal government. They pine for America’s industrial world domination of the 1950s and 1960s. They seem enamored of a pre-Brown v. Board of Education and pre-Warren Court legal system. This nostalgia allows them to treat everything since then — from globalism to minority activists to gay marriage to justice reform — as a deviation, an intrusion into “real America.”
What others see as progress — enhanced civil rights for minorities, women and criminal defendants; the rise of robust capitalist democracies around the globe (who compete with us economically) — they see as losses. A sense of loss comes when you see things to which you believe you are entitled whittled away. If you have enjoyed cultural, economic and political dominance, it’s a bitter pill to see others reach parity or pass you by. And if you are convinced there is a finite number of jobs or other prizes, everyone who succeeds is poaching your opportunities.
Holding up the “golden past” allows President Trump and his ilk to stir anger, resentment and aggrievement. Not only can Trump present himself as the sole person — “he alone” — to solve his fans problems, but also he can cast anyone who criticizes him or checks his power (and his facts) to be obstructionist, evil, liars and more. There is no legitimate opposition and dissent (he rails at media that can “write anything they like”) because they are preventing the Great Leader from solving all our problems and returning us to the “golden past.”
The “golden past” also has the benefit of not only legitimizing resentment but also absolving those who’ve lost out of responsibility for their fate. Instead of the conservative culture of personal responsibility, Trump has spread the gospel of victimhood. His followers cannot possibly be held responsible for their economic, social and emotional condition. It’s not the lack of physical mobility or education or lifestyle choices that have consigned Trump’s followers to a less than ideal life, you see, but rather malevolent forces beyond their control — foreigners, elites, fake news, China, cities, trade, political correctness and so on. The corollary is that since nothing is their fault, nothing more is asked of them or of better off, primarily white Americans (who are financially secure but culturally aggrieved). You can pay less taxes without losing services you like; you can enjoy higher income with less education; and get can better health care and pay less. Trump will tell you it’s all “fantastic” and the reason it’s not happening is because of dastardly critics including the press.
Imagine instead of a charlatan peddling a “golden age” and creating scapegoats we experienced a renewal of citizenship, community and civic responsibility with a president who unifies and bolsters Americans rather than divides and infantilizes them. That’s what great presidents from Lincoln (and his Homestead Act and land grant colleges) to Teddy Roosevelt to JFK (“Ask not . . . ”) have all done. They lead and they rallied, they empowered and they inspired. We could use some of that about now. The “golden past” is for today’s losers; the future is what America has always embraced.
