Two insidious concepts corrode liberal democracies
American democracy too has become a captive of these concepts
Thursday, September 14, 2023. By B. Kumaravadivelu
There seems to be a serious concern among several political thinkers in America that liberal democracies everywhere are hopelessly backsliding. They usually cite non-Western democracies in Asia (e.g. India), Africa (e.g. Tunisia), South America (Brazil) and others to support their argument.
They, however, tend to downplay the fact that democracy has been backsliding in the United States as well. A country long considered to be a bastion of democratic value is no longer seen as a role model for others.
In America, as elsewhere, two concepts seem to be the driving forces behind such a backsliding: identity and ideology.
According to historians, while the concept of identity has been in use for a long time, it became a popular term in academic as well as in public discourses only in mid-1960s. It has been generally used to refer to traits that connect individuals to certain groups based on race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, or language. The focus here is essentialized, stereotyped group identities rather than the identities of individuals within that group.
In recent decades, politicians across the political spectrum have been exploiting the essentialized identities of different groups in order to build a vote bank for their own narrow political purposes. Identity-based politics (or identity politics) has proved to be a highly divisive strategy polarizing the American society in harmful ways. All this is done in the garb of addressing real or perceived grievances arising from discriminatory practices.
The cacophony about identity-based politics gets stridently louder during election seasons. For instance, before and during the 2016 presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump amplified white identity politics as he constantly and masterfully used audible dog-whistles to drum up support from a section of the white community. Not lagging behind was Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton who amplified the group identities of women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, LGBTQ communities, and others.
The divisive trend continued during 2020 elections and is likely to continue during the upcoming 2024 elections as well.
To make things worse, identity has now been linked to another divisive concept, ideology.
Unlike identity which is partly given (e.g. our ethnic identity) and partly acquired (e.g. our professional identity), ideology is socio-politically constructed. Communism, liberalism, conservatism, etc., are political ideologies that are constructed in order to influence a particular strand of political or economic policies and practices. These are no more than belief systems created by dominant groups in a society with the view to maintaining and legitimizing their own social and political power.
Moreover, ideologies are abstract concepts that may not have any resemblance to practical or material life. The oft-quoted affirmation from the Declaration of Independence that “All men are created equal” is a statement of liberalism rather than a statement of reality. Hence, like any other ideology, it’s open to dispute.
Among many critical voices is that of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan. He asks: “Is it true? Are all men truly created equal? Are all races and ethnic groups equal? Are men and women equal? Are all religions equal? Or do we simply agree to accept that as true — and treat them all equally? … But where is the historic, scientific or empirical proof of the defining dogma of American democracy that “all men are created equal”?
Ideologies lend themselves to questioning because they are not governed by or even penetrable by facts. Therefore, ideologized politicians and pundits can deliberately distort them by spreading fake news and falsehoods. They can thus present an alternative reality and an imaginary world deliberately blending the distinction between information and disinformation, myth and reality.
Lately, there has been a disturbing trend to channel identity through ideology. That is, identity is now seen and acted through the lens of ideology. As theology professor Leroy Huizenga observes, “ideology and its effects on how we conceive of our identities is dangerous, especially with regard to our cultural and political debates, because it is estranged from nature, from reality, and sooner or later reality bites back.”
In its refurbished avatar, ideology has been infected with malign forms of two isms — nationalism and fundamentalism. More specifically and more worryingly, muscular nationalism and religious fundamentalism, a blend that can be toxic for a pluralistic society like the US.
Nothing illustrates this blend more vividly than the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol during which some of the rioters prominently displayed the Cross and the Flag.
Characterizing this blend as Christian nationalism, Paul Miller, a former advisor to Presidents George W. Bush and Barak Obama, says that American Christian nationalists firmly belief that America has always been, is and must remain a “Christian nation” and they expect the U.S. government to keep it that way.
As Amanda Tyler explains in her introduction to the book Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection, “Christian nationalism is a political ideology and cultural framework that seeks to merge American and Christian identities, distorting both Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy”
Just the one act of insurrection on a fateful winter day marked the erosion of the separation of Church and State, a separation that the Founding Fathers so assiduously validated.
The act may have been perpetrated by fringe elements of the society but they found a patron saint no less than the President of the United States who weaponized religiously inflected nationalism for his own political survival.
This may not be the only version of American nationalism, but it’s the version that makes the loudest noise these days, one that strikes at the very root of American democracy.
What does this fringe constellation of identity and ideology that is fortified by Christian nationalism do?
It valorizes mono and vilifies multi.
It celebrates one religion, one race, one culture, one language.
It worships and nurtures Us vs Them mentality.
Like termites, it eats away the vitals of a nation, sapping its energy as well as its soul.
With a closed mind, it fails to understand that the edifice of a pluralistic, democratic society can be built only on the foundation of diversity.
The sooner it opens its mind, the better for the nation’s well-being.
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