Arms race of stupidity should end
“To make a Peace durable,” said Ben Franklin in 1782, “what may give Occasion for future Wars, should, if practicable, be removed.”
This is especially true of wars of the ideological variety, where each side seeks the destruction of the other — and in doing so, engage in an arms race of stupidity.
Last week, a liberal special interest group promoted its podcast by featuring a photo of Gov. Scott Walker and State Sen. Leah Vukmir — both Republicans running for statewide offices in 2018 — standing behind a target that had been hit by a cartoon arrow. The graphic included the words “Open Political Season.”
Of course, political communications involving targets have been national news ever since the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in 2011, when Sarah Palin was accused of having “blood on her hands — after her political action committee issued a map that placed crosshairs over Giffords’ district.
With no evidence, Democrats complained that the map had incited the violence against Giffords. As late as 2017, a New York Times editorial declared a “link” between Palin’s map and the shooting. But the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, suffered from mental illness, had no known political ideology, and had become obsessed with Giffords years before the map was even issued. (The Times later corrected its editorial.)
At the time, Republicans rightly mocked the idea that calling a district or a candidate “targeted” was an incitement to violence. Yet last week, GOP candidates were arguing just that, capitulating to the Democrats’ nonsense just because they now found themselves on the other end of it.
This is how we end up with a political system that is completely unmoored from reality. Party A trades in obnoxiousness, Party B denounces it — but with the precedent set, as soon as Party B gets the chance to use the same strategy as a cudgel, its members fully embrace it.
And we drift further away from decency and common sense.
Take, for example, the Democrats running against Walker in the gubernatorial race; if one were to interview each of the 10 serious primary candidates, each one would decry the coarsening effect President Donald Trump has had on American politics.
But the fact remains that Trump won Wisconsin just two years ago — and thus, a number of the Democrats have now adopted the vulgarity and gimmickry that enabled Trump to shock everyone in 2016. Both State Superintendent Tony Evers and firefighter Mahlon Mitchell use four-letter words more often than Trump says “fake news.” “Good government” advocate Mike McCabe called Walker’s policies “golden shower” economics.
And Republicans aren’t immune from stealing the Democrats’ worst tendencies.
When deciding on a political strategy, candidates should revert back to first principles. Target metaphors do not cause violence. Being indecent is bad for our culture. Celebrities don’t have magical powers. Have some discipline and reject the bogus tricks you once mocked.