quietlyradical

Ever since the day that Donald Trump rode the golden escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States of America, the country has been more divided than I can ever remember despite the fact that I have lived through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, protests over the war in Vietnam, the outrage at Gerald Ford when he pardoned former President Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal, as well as the rise of the Moral Majority, and the Tea Party Movement.

Now, more than a decade later, but not even halfway through the second Trump administration some members of the MAGA movement seem to be waking up. Everything from the tariffs which have alienated the United States from most of its allies around the world, to the unnecessary war with Iran, which has caused the price of gasoline to skyrocket, to the cruel and illegal actions of ICE as they strive to meet monthly deportation quotes, to the questions regarding the Epstein files, the desecration of the White House (paving over the Rose Garden, demolishing the East Wing, and hosting a UFC cage match which practically destroyed the South Lawn) have cause quite a few to rethink their choice as evidenced by the President’s dismal 33% approval rating, which is lower even than those of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush at the end of their terms.

No political movement, no matter how detrimental, lasts forever, (thank goodness). However, once this nightmare is finally over, an important question remains, “How should we treat the people who voted for this?”

II. The Emotional Appeal of Shunning

There seem to be two schools of thought. There are some who believe that former MAGA should be congratulated for finally seeing the light and their apologies accepted. Others are in favor of good old-fashioned Amish-style shunning. While I am normally a fairly tolerant and forgiving person, in this case I will admit that am more in favor of shunning. Even though some may think that is unnecessarily harsh, please allow me to elaborate.

The first Presidential election in which I was eligible to vote was in 1984 when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were running against former Vice-President Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. Although I was gravely disappointed when Reagan was re-elected, I never feared that President Reagan would attempt to dismantle democracy itself.  I hated Reagan’s policies, but Reagan obeyed the Constitution, worked within the system, and appointed cabinet members with actual qualifications. Reagan didn’t show admiration for dictators the way Trump does as evidenced in his1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, where he admonished Mikhail Gorbechev to “tear down this wall.”

Now, however, I realize that Reagan’s policies laid the foundations that enabled Donald Trump to do what he is doing. Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine which was directly responsible to the rise of misinformation that could be spread by the likes of Fox News. His tax reform act of 1986 which cut the tax rate from 50% to 28% for the wealthiest Americans, was a major contributing factor in the wealth gap that plagues the United States today and which Donald Trump happily exploits. Finally, Reagan’s War on Drugs was especially harmful to minority communities and his negligence in failing to address the AIDS Epidemic read almost as a preview to the current POTUS’ outright cruelty toward black and brown immigrants and the botched response to COVID-19 which led to loss of more than one million American lives.

Perhaps if liberals and progressives had been less willing to stay in relationship with those who voted to re-elect Reagan in 1984 and then compound the problems even further by voting for George H. W. Bush in 1988, the social pressure might have caused them to make different choices, which in turn might have allowed the country to avoid the absolute hellscape we are currently facing.

I am also a firm believer in the idea that studying history is a great way to learn from past mistakes and to avoid repeating them. For this reason, I firmly believe that we need to look to the mistakes that occurred during the aftermath of the American Civil War. Despite the fact that the secession of the Confederate states from the Union was clearly an act of treason, the United States failed to prosecute those leaders responsible for instigating the rebellion. Instead, Andrew Johnson issued a series of Presidential pardons and a general amnesty proclamation to almost all former Confederates in 1868. The lack of any real consequences for the leaders of the Confederacy created the conditions that led to 100 years of Jim Crow laws in the South as well as the proliferation of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, and the Proud Boys which continue to exist today.

Those who argue against cutting off all social contact with all MAGA and former MAGA, believe that the social ostracism isn’t effective in facilitating change and instead just serves to drive them deeper underground and further into their own echo chambers. While I can appreciate that argument to a certain extent, my own experience with former friends who identify as MAGA has left me with the impression that many of them are not capable of changing no matter how much grace they are afforded. Their views are so toxic and so steeped in ignorance and hate, my inclination is to simply move as far away from them as humanly possible. Their behavior and susceptibility to believing outrageous propaganda make them forever suspect, in my opinion. Like a cheating ex-spouse, how are we ever supposed to trust these people again, and perhaps, more importantly, why on earth should we?

My view is that if we want to understand what shunning can or cannot accomplish, we should look to the Amish, a community that has elevated shunning to a virtual artform.  When a member of the Amish community violates community norms, all social interaction with that person ceases. Most importantly, however, is that shunning among the Amish also includes a redemptive, step-by-step restoration process. If the individual expresses a desire to return to the fold and publicly confesses their wrongdoing, acknowledging how their actions have hurt the group, they are able to enter into a probationary period in which they are closely observed to verify that have actually changed. If the community can be convinced that their remorse is genuine, they can then be welcomed back into fellowship with the community at large. Of course, there are some Amish people who choose to leave the community rather than admit wrongdoing and I think that’s ok as well.

For me, this model represents the ideal way to move forward in a post-MAGA world. Those who are willing to admit that they made a mistake and who are willing to make amends deserve the opportunity to do so. But if not, then I say that they should by all means separate themselves from the rest of us. It would give both sides much greater peace of mind.