The Personal Touch: Something Each Democrat Can Do Right Now For Our Country

"The Ministry has fallen." -- Kingsley Shacklebolt in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Dear Fellow Democrats ,

Most of us are emerging from the last stages of mourning. We are ready, even eager to take action. What should we do? All three branches of our national government and most of our state governments will soon be held by the GOP which is on a path to becoming an authoritarian, white-nationalist party. Thus, many tasks await: preserving previous gains, protecting the vulnerable, organizing for the next election...well, it is a long list. Many suggestions for individual and collective action are appearing.

Here I will make a suggestion for something that each of us can do on our own - something quite important, yet often neglected. My suggestion will cost no money and require no committee meetings. But it may be difficult, distasteful, and in a certain way dangerous, so I shall have to persuade you to do it.

What to do

I begin with a simple, stark fact. Between now and the next election, we need to convince millions of Trump voters to vote for Democratic candidates, and keep on voting for them in subsequent elections.

This task is challenging not only because of fake-news sites, but primarily because the nation's media and social media is currently bifurcated into two separate clusters presenting two different views of the world. For example, your FB feed is currently filled with reports of abusive language and threats against Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, Jews, and women, but your conservative friend's FB feed is filled with reports of rioters and violence against Trump supporters. Your usual media outlets have generally pictured the USA on an upward trajectory. Crime , teen pregnancy , and unemployment are down, for example. By contrast, your conservative friend's media outlets have generally pictured the USA on a downward trajectory.

Many, perhaps most of the voters whom we need to persuade get their information and more generally, their picture of the USA from conservative media and social media.

For a clue to dealing with this situation, consider how people living under authoritarian regimes come to realize that the state-run media is presenting a distorted picture. How do these people come to reject the picture, resist the propaganda, and (sometimes) eventually replace their regime? When the media is co-opted, people are persuaded by person-to-person communication with those they trust. Although we do not (yet) live under an authoritarian regime, we too can adopt this tactic.

My suggestion is that each of us try personally to persuade our friends, relatives, acquaintances, and others who trust us to adopt a liberal perspective, and ultimately to vote Democratic in future elections.

It would be comforting to believe that Trump will do the job for us by reneging on his campaign promises, and thus driving his voters into the arms of the Democrats. But a more likely scenario is that the GOP will succeed in fulfilling some of their promises, and find some way to blame Democratic obstructionism for their failures.

It would be comforting to believe that better candidates, better platforms, and better campaigns will do the job. But while these things will certainly help, and may achieve some successes, they will not address the fundamental problem. We need to change peoples' perspectives, not just their view of a few candidates.

Flipping a person's entrenched worldview is tough, but possible. And friends, no matter how difficult it is, we have no alternative. If Trump voters stay Trump voters, we will not retake and hold our state and national government.

How to do it

Step #1: Acknowledge the obvious truth that Trump voters are not a uniform group. They had various different reasons for voting for Trump. Some were moved by a desire for change, others by repugnance for Clinton, yet others by the simple fact that Trump was the GOP nominee. Some single-issue voters (e.g. pro-lifers) voted for Trump because of their issue despite clear-eyed recognition of his flaws.

In particular, the overwhelming majority of Trump voters are not unpersuadable "deplorables." I am not denying that prejudice is wrong, or that it is widespread, or even that voting for Trump raises a red flag. But prejudice ranges from mild to terrible. There is a huge gulf between (a) kind-hearted, but insensitive people who feel guilty for their occasional racist remarks, and (b) fervent KKK supporters who spray-paint the N-word on buildings. Granted, they have something in common, but lumping everyone on this spectrum together under the label, "racist" is misleading and counter-productive. Flipping the worldview of KKK supporters is certainly a longshot, but we must not let fear and bitterness blind us to the fact that most people on the other end of this spectrum are fundamentally good people. The worst one could say of them is that they didn't hear the dog whistles during the campaign. Or they did hear, but thought that the whistles would have no bad effects. Or they realized that there would be bad effects, but thought Trump would nevertheless be good for the country on balance. This deafness, nave optimism, and misvaluation are better described as blunders than bigotry, for terms such as "racist" and "bigot" are often used to refer to people near the KKK side of the spectrum. This is why so many Trump supporters are puzzled and offended when accused of bigotry.

You might recoil. "How could any right-thinking person miss the dog whistles, think they would be harmless, or not take the harm to be a deal-breaker?"

The answer is simple. As all teachers know, it is common for people to miss things which are blatantly obvious, especially when living in a bubble. It is common to misjudge the effects of words and actions. It is common to mis-weigh the pros and cons of even an easy choice. We have all chosen option A when option B was a no-brainer. Not to mention the fact that denial is an almost omnipotent force in human life.

Anyway, whatever you think about Trump voters, we need to recruit them, and we won't succeed by calling them bigots. We will recruit them by helping them to hear the dog whistles, and see other things that they are not likely to see on FOX. Accusing individual Trump voters of bigotry is tempting, and it makes the accuser feel better. But it will not make the Trump voters more likely to vote Dem in the next election. To persuade people, you must make nice. (Confession: I wish I could follow my own advice on this point, but I have failed to do throughout the campaign, and will probably do so again.)

Step #2: Establish (or reestablish) contact and build relationships with Trump voters. Swallow your pride and re-friend those people you unfriended because of their politics. Anger and fear incline us to blame and run away from Trump voters, but right now is not the time to be severing ties. We need to reopen, maintain, and improve lines of communication.

Step #3: Once you are ready to talk to Trump voters without name-calling, what should you say? People are different; there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Think carefully about how best to persuade each person. You know them; you must determine how to persuade them.

A few dos and don'ts to start you off

Start with common ground: shared values, experiences, beliefs about the world. Move gradually to expand points of agreement. Build bridges, not walls.

Personal stories and examples generally work better than impersonal data and statistics (although the data and statistics may be necessary to dispel misconceptions). For example, I tried to convince someone of the difficulty of getting a photo ID by citing statistics, but only when I described the process of helping my elderly father to get an ID did I make any progress.

To break down stereotypes, point out counterexamples who are already known to the person you are trying to convince (hardworking Black colleagues, sweetheart Muslim neighbors, etc.). The dramatic gains of GLBT people were not made by appeals to rights, but by the discovery that respected relatives, friends, neighbors, and co-workers were GLBT.

To build empathy for people of different races, genders, religions, socio-economic classes, try to get Trump voters to imagine themselves in the place of those people.

Listen to the views, and particularly the grievances of Trump voters. Really listen with an open mind. Spend a long time. People are much more likely to take you seriously if you have already taken them seriously.

Avoid criticizing people or attacking their beliefs. A confrontational approach will just alienate them and incline them to stop listening.

Telling people what to think is generally ineffective. Instead, tell stories and provide information, and let them draw their own conclusions.

I am a philosopher, a specialist in arguments. But arguments are not generally convincing. Socrates convinced none of his opponents; he just silenced and angered them. So use arguments if you like, but don't expect too much from them.

What you should expect

My suggestion may seem daunting. There are millions to persuade, and consciousness-raising is slow and difficult. But remember that there are lots of us, and we have two years.

Since convincing people takes a time and requires numerous conversations, don't expect quick results. Play the long game.

Indeed, you should expect resistance and resentment. Your reward for bestowing enlightenment will not be gratitude, but rather the satisfaction of having done your bit for your country.