Successful leaders show respect, not scorn
“Keep Your Dirty Government Fingers Off My Medicare,” said a sign waved at Sarah Palin’s “Death Panel Tour” events. It was roundly mocked by progressives for its ignorance of who delivers assisted health services in the U.S.
We should have listened more carefully to the subtext.
The death panel nonsense was among the creation moments for Trumpism. Like many populist conservatives, then and now, Palin effectively played on the fears of working class voters about government. What the confused sign wavers were signalling in part was their deep anger at being left behind by politicians and governments and their fear of losing their few remaining benefits.
Their rage at being ignored by elite leaders, or worse being pitied, as their social station, standard of living, and children’s prospects began to fall, was of huge benefit to Trump as he successfully manipulated their rage into a cynical victory.
American law professor Joan Williams has just written a powerful book dissecting these discontents, White Working Class. Among her searing insights is that class consciousness on the left has been replaced by class cluelessness, even callousness.
The disrespect of the white working class by a generation of politicians in America is reflected in a few shocking statistics: after decades of increasing longevity among all Americans, in 2013, for white working-class men, it began to fall; one in four white children lived in a poor neighbourhood in 1970, today, it’s 40 per cent!
Populists have been especially successful in exploiting divisions over values. Liberals are seen by those who hold them as wilfully disrespectful of their views about religion, family, abortion, etc. As Williams points out, if as a politician you see your base as family, you don’t hound a Latino pro-life voter out of your coalition; as you would not publicly insult your bigoted Aunt Mary at a family dinner — out of respect.
Attacking climate change deniers as scientifically illiterate dim bulbs, is hardly likely to change attitudes. As Williams suggests, using a farmer to describe the damage to his family and their land is more respectful as a persuasion tool, it’s also likely to be more effective.
Canadians now have a quiet social conservative as Harper’s successor. Who do you think is more likely to shift that community’s views on gay rights? A hard-edged leader who refused to permit discussion, a shirtless leader accepting kisses in a Pride parade, or one who says simply he respects every Canadian’s rights, including LGBTQ rights, adding that his is going to prove that to Canadians in more meaningful ways than a parade.
Liberals and New Democrats do no disservice to their values and convictions in addressing those who differ with respect, even respectful criticism. Smacking someone as demonstrably nicer and more thoughtful about inclusion, differences and social tolerance as Andrew Scheer, as “Harper-lite,” is very likely to backfire.
Perhaps we are seeing the arrival of a politics that puts a premium on civility, grace and argument, not insult; a politics that can embrace a spectrum from a passionate young Sikh lefty to a mildmannered right-wing conservative with a smile. And if that is to be sustainable, as Williams chastises American progressives, it starts with respect; not empathy, and not pity, for those whom the elites have failed.
Canadians rightly take pride in our leadership on diversity and tolerance. It is a very good thing that those who made that a core message to Conservatives won more votes than the candidates who flirted with racial and ethnic division. But it is also important for Liberals and New Democrats to advance their political attack within the boundaries of respectful discourse. The Conservative candidates who did not, got trounced.
Virulent populism took root in the U.K., the U.S. and elsewhere in the years since 2008 for many reasons. High among them was the deep frustration that white working class voters felt about being left out, ignored, disrespected.
Was it expressed in racist, sexist and Islamophobic terms? Yes, too often. The more powerful pushback against those divisive values is surely to address the underlying causes of that anger, not attacking as “deplorable,” the social victims who fall prey to populism’s seductive power.
When progressives can point to rising incomes, falling addiction, better health care, access to housing and education for non-elite families, populists fail. Until we do, they can prevail.
Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a Broadbent Institute leadership fellow, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.