The USA’s upcoming midterms elections are certain to bring drama, – and not just the familiar, nail-biting drama of counting the votes. In the run-up to the election we are likely to witness sustained efforts to suppress votes – and sustained resistance to these efforts. In the aftermath, we can expect a fight over the legitimacy of the results themselves. Even so, if the polls are largely on target the chances seem good that on January 3rd a Democratic majority will assume control of one or both of the House and Senate. At best, though that is just the beginning of a journey.
My new blog series, From Rage to Renewal, explores whether and how an electoral opening might become the beginning of a sustained journey of democratic renewal.
For decades, as readers familiar with this blog platform know, my principal interest has been less the details of day-to-day political combat than the practical challenges of achieving social and economic gains across a wide variety of messy, constrained governance contexts. But over the past fifteen years, it has increasingly become apparent that many of the foundational presumptions of pragmatic incrementalism can no longer be taken for granted. At moments of discontinuous change the constraints themselves shift abruptly – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Something more than incrementalism is called for.
America’s unfolding drama is a potent (and enormously consequential) example of what can happen when politics as usual is forced to reckon with discontinuous, destabilizing change. What does it take to pause, and then reverse a downward spiral of polarization? How to initiate and then sustain a pathway of renewal in which an expansive vision of a better life for all can again take hold at the center of American politics?
The series introduced here aims to track, in real time, how these questions are being addressed. To do so, it moves back and forth between three perspectives: a close-up look at the immediate political moment; a panoramic view of the drivers of polarization and the far horizon of possibility; and careful attention to the journey in-between.
A first post focuses on the current midterm moment. Hopefully, the midterm results will re-energize the vital legislative check-and-balance guardrail that helps protect America’s constitutional order. Yet the times call for way more than a pause – and a downward spiral could all-too-easily be reignited by the interplay of opportunistic political entrepreneurs, narrowly self-interested economic elites, and a civic opposition that chooses to fight fire with fire. Follow the link below for the full argument, plus some initial reflections on what will it take to go beyond a pause, and initiate a cycle of renewal:
https://briandlevy.substack.com/p/the-midterm-moment-its-possibilities
A second post shifts the angle of vision from the close-up to the panoramic. It explores how both downward and virtuous spirals can be fueled by interactions among two sets of drivers:
- On the ‘demand-side’ is the social psychology of hope and fear, how the balance between them is shaped by circumstances – and how it affects the ways in which people engage with their broader environment.
- On the supply side are political entrepreneurs – and what narrative they choose to fuel.
The post lays out how these interactions fuel downward spirals. Then it turns the tables to show how, symmetrically, a parallel pattern can provide momentum for cumulative virtuous spirals of hope and inclusion to take hold. See the link below for the full argument, with special attention on how to shift from us-versus-them to more deliberative political discourse:
https://briandlevy.substack.com/p/drivers-of-polarization-and-renewal
The Rage to Renewal series is on Substack, where I’ll be following the unfolding American drama. I’ll, of course, also continue posting here on WWG, with its broader, more eclectic focus.
