Silence is Complicity

Feb 12

Updated June 26, 2022

I do my best to keep my muse out of the political spectrum, but this week, I must make an exception. Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King are examples of extraordinary humans who have uttered publicly some version of the following: “silence is complicity.” I am in no way extraordinary, but I cannot sit idly by and watch a major event in our history get grotesquely twisted.

That event was the insurrection of January 6, 2021.

I am compelled to add my voice to the conversation to help ensure that the shameful, violent attack on American democracy that occurred that day doesn’t succumb to the revisionist history that the Republican National Committee is attempting to apply to reframe that day as “legitimate political discourse.”

Let’s look first at the definition of “discourse.” According to Oxford Languages, discourse is defined as “written or spoken communication or debate.” From Wikipedia, political discourse is defined as “the formal exchange of reasoned views as to which of several alternative courses of action should be taken to solve a societal problem.”

A violent mob armed with bear spray, flag poles, and baseball bats with the intent to forcibly change the result of a valid election is not political discourse. What we witnessed that day in real time was the opposite of political discourse. It was a melee of loosely organized extremists, driven by a cult of personality that aimed to force a single course of action. The brutal, raw footage of that day is burned into my memory. We should all remember that day as it happened and not allow our memories to become some kind of hazy, retouched glamor shot of “patriots” engaging in legitimate political discourse to benefit American citizens.

Andy, Where Do You Stand?

To ensure this muse is as constructive as possible, it’s important that you know a bit about my political mindset.

I am a proud citizen of the United States of America and also a proud resident of planet Earth. We all live together on this pale blue dot that circles an unremarkable star in our unremarkable corner of the Milky Way galaxy (paraphrasing the late Carl Sagan). Our existence is fragile, beautiful, and rare. It should be treated with great care.
I am an independent fiscal conservative who has voted for Republican and Democratic candidates in the past. I choose the best person for the job and believe that unflinching loyalty to the dogma of a political party leads to fixed mindsets, unnecessary partisan conflict, and unproductive gridlock.
I believe in rational thought, logical reasoning, scientific inquiry, and the “light” that lives in all of us. I believe that education is the key to a brighter future where we tap into the best versions of ourselves as individuals and as a society. We must embrace the power of diversity, lead with equity, lift up voices, and listen with an intent to understand and include.
I believe strongly in the separation between church and state. Religious liberty should be upheld as a primary objective. My choice of the word “liberty” is purposeful. My religious affiliation (or lack thereof) should not impede on your right to pursue a different line of thought. For more on the difference between liberty and freedom, see my Muse from August 2021.
I believe in efficiency, continuous improvement, and getting “as close to the work” as possible. This means that government at all levels should be compact and agile enough to meet the needs of society in any given span of time, but strong enough to withstand unexpected shocks and external threats. Also, the implementation of policy should be localized to capture the nuance of what matters most in a particular region and handoffs between agencies and state/local governments should be smooth.
I believe that waste and unbridled spending at all levels of government will saddle our children with a burden that will be difficult to bear - especially as wage-earner population growth slows. The U.S. national debt as a proportion of GDP stands at roughly 130%. Research by the World Bank suggests that debt-to-GDP ratios above 77% lead to a loss of real economic growth. In more normal interest rate environments, our national debt will become a crushing burden.
I believe in a woman’s right to choose. For centuries, men—particularly white men like me—have been designing laws and making decisions on behalf of women. Is it tragic to terminate a pregnancy? Yes. Is it tragic to force a woman to have a baby only to socially abandon them in a nation with some of the worst family leave policies and weakest social support programs for young families in the developed world? Yes. Since both answers are “yes,” the decision to carry or abort is deeply personal and should be had within the confines of a doctor-patient relationship. I take my lead from, and listen intently to the majority of women in this country who support a woman’s right to choose. My voice is one of allyship and support.
I believe in common sense gun control. The framers of the Constitution could not have envisaged the firepower that’s available to the average citizen today, and the population density of the 21st Century would have been unfathomable too. It is a well-established medical fact that the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until age 25—especially in men. In most U.S. states, the drinking age is 21 and you can’t rent a car until you’re 25, but an 18 year old can buy an AR-15? The logic doesn’t hold. The ease with which one can purchase a gun in this country is astounding. [In the spirit of full transparency, I am a gun owner with one .22 caliber rifle that I use for target practice and to put the occasional varmint out of it’s misery on our 40 acre property.]
I also believe that we’ve accumulated massive non-monetary debts that must be paid down: climate change, institutionalized inequality, crumbling physical infrastructure, a costly, ineffectual higher education system, and children who go to bed each night with an empty stomach are a few examples.

So while I’m an efficient government / fiscal conservative at my core, I see clearly the need for programs funded at the Federal level to solve many of the aforementioned big, hairy challenges we face together as a nation and global community. Should there be a Federal solution to everything? No. Do we need a strong, well-run Federal government to lead on the world stage? Absolutely.

What keeps me up at night is that we have made public service so undesirable that we face a tremendous shortage of skilled talent - especially managerial talent. Without our best and brightest coming together to address our challenges, I’m deeply concerned that simply throwing more money at the problem won’t move the needle (except that of inflation). Can the private sector help? Most definitely, but we need our best and brightest in the private sector to have equally strong governmental leaders and managers to interface with.

A Set of First Steps Back Toward the Center

It is unconstructive to get on one’s soapbox and not offer solutions. At the very top of my list of recommendations is to install strict term limits for our political leaders, completely revamp campaign finance, install ethical standards that have teeth (i.e., ethical failures lead to education and accountability), and scrap the Electoral College. There is absolutely no way that a race for the U.S. Senate should approach a quarter of a billion dollars. Get big dark money donors out of the picture and let the people truly decide. Want to “drain the swamp” in Washington? Make the job of Senator a maximum of a 12 year gig. Congressperson, 8 years. Also, the privilege of being appointed to the Supreme Court should not last a lifetime.

Oh, and let’s get educated. A balanced civics education should be mandatory for all high school students. Many of us wave around the Constitution and our other great documents and have no idea what’s actually in them.

The Road Ahead

There is only one way: forward (which, by the way, is the motto of my home state of Wisconsin) and together. We cannot move forward if we’re so polarized and fixed in our thinking that the act of “listening” to the other side amounts to canned, party-approved responses that paint political opponents and our neighbors as “enemies” and “evil.”

The Republican Party’s leadership - specifically the Republican National Committee (RNC) has abandoned me as a voter and citizen. There was a time when I voted primarily Republican, but the consistent, demonstrated willingness to denigrate, ignore science, bully, ally with conspiracy and hate, and bend to the will of one individual by whitewashing a heinous attack on American democracy disgusts me. This is the same party that ran on a platform of “law and order” in response to the violence and property destruction that accompanied the social unrest of 2020. Apparently, law and order only applies when it’s convenient. The Republican Party’s response to the Select Committee’s public hearings—to turn a blind eye, look away, and pretend that there’s no “there, there,” is shameful at best.

A large proportion of our current crop of politicians is failing us miserably. What we need is more legitimate political discourse that’s targeted at solving real problems. We need politicians who remember their oaths and possess the strength of moral character that won’t crumble at the first sign of criticism from party leadership. A good starting point is for us all to remember the repulsion that the vast majority of us felt on January 6, 2021 and agree that the events of that day were not legitimate political discourse.

Conclusion

I found the process of writing down my personal political beliefs valuable and I recommend you do the same. It’s easy to fall in line and follow the words/beliefs of others. It’s much harder to reflect upon where you stand, codify it, and contribute constructively to the conversation.

Also, it’s not lost on me that there are a lot of “I’s” in the messages above - I’m giving you a glimpse into my political mindset so you know where I stand. However, the future belongs to us. Like any business, family, or institution, we succeed by working together.

I love our country - let’s not squander our gifts on infighting and a futile attempt to return to the past. Let’s come together and stop the childish name calling and dehumanization of “the other side.” Instead, vote for political candidates who are passionate about causes that align with your personal North Star and who see the benefits of education, collaboration, compromise, and efficiently paying down the many debts we’ve accumulated.

Silence is complicity.

Grace. Dignity. Compassion.

Andy

Updated June 26, 2022

———————————————————————————————

Republican National Committee (RNC) censure statement:

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/rnc-jan6-resolution/2d6a07e7cf8d8cfb/full.pdf

Definitions of discourse and political discourse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_analysis

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/political-discourse

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discourse

Definition of “cult of personality”