“the release of stupidity and evil from the discipline of reason and intelligence.”
And there you have it. The degradation of education has reached its natural nadir.
Until we teach our young truth and reason again, our recovery will be in limbo, awaiting an awakening b
26
Excellent
8
In trying to better understand Trumpism, I have found helpful the work of Hannah Arendt, another perceptive writer who escaped Nazi Germany. In On the Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), she sounded a warning that should resound with Americans living in the age of Trump and his propagandists. “In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”
63
On the Internet the other day I saw a video of The View where Joe Biden comforts Meghan McCain over her father's diagnosis of brain cancer, the same disease which killed Biden's son, Beau. It was the most touching demonstration of how people ought to respond to each other in a democracy, no matter which side they're on, which truths they believe nor how vigorous the debates are. He tells her that he and her father are best friends and that if he called her father at that moment and said, "John, I'm at such and such a corner in Oshkosh. I need you. Come," her father would come. Oh, that we could all love each other like this!
22
Excellent lesson, David. We all must aim for what is better, indeed higher, rather than the easy fruits of ochlocracy and its plutocratic analogue. Next lesson please! Social memory labors to remember yesterday...
7
Democracy would be far more "glorious" in the US if conservatives didn't devote so much effort to suppressing the minority vote.
24
This is a bunch of impractical, delusional baloney.
Lots of people would agree with Mr. Brooks totally except that the ideals shouldn't apply to people of color or poor people. Moreover, the rich Plutocrats are the only ones who perceive the ideal in its utter perfection, so they should rule. Then they could administer the ideal world and dole it out to the less deserving as they see fit. Certainly, the man on the street has no correct vision of the world or the country, so it should be provided by those in power.
That is how it is and how it is going to be until the poor people get angry enough and then a revolt, hopefully peaceful, will occur. The French Revolution against the Royalty was bloody; maybe that is what it takes.
Mr. Brooks has no other plan for how to achieve his idealistic nirvana.
16
It's amazing that only now, with the country in the grip of President Trump, that Brooks awakens to our dangerous situation with the GOP committed to his support. Brooks is unable to see the key roles of racism, fact-denial, and unbridled greed.
15
If we are that great, why do we have so many people living in extreme poverty in our midst?
If we have such Christians as Pence among us, why are they not screaming out against the abomination of the Republican tax bill that will increase our already extreme inequality?
Pence wants to visit the place of Jesus birth. How sweet! Were he to see Jesus on the street, he would avert his eyes and hurry on.
41
When Brooks' Republican Party is about to pass legislation that's been called, among many bad things, "the worst piece of legislation" ever, what he talks about is Thomas Mann and democracy.
Sheesh, talk about denial, avoidance, "didn't see it; I was too busy writing thought pieces;" and, finally, we can expect to hear him say: "whoa, don't you see how bad those secular liberals are?"
7
So this Thomas Mann said, "humans are the only creatures who can understand and seek justice, freedom and truth?"
Oh please!
Studies have shown many animals understand fairness (justice). Freedom seeking is shown regularly by creatures escaping captivity. Truth? Do humans understand truth? Do humans seek truth?
11
Two responses:
1. Hate speech - the advocacy of the repression of a class, race or religious minority is NOT merely offensive speech or ideas, it is not protected by the first amendment and it is a talking point of the alt-right to confuse conservative dissent and hate speech in the minds of the public and the media. They have succeeded - witness the unthinking and indefensible propensity of the media to treat demonstrable falsehoods as countervailing ideas worthy of equal treatment as "news" in the 2016 election cycle. If you want to defend objective truth, you must refuse to acknowledge demonstrable lies as a meritorious alternative point of view worthy of equal representation as objective "news" or "opinion." By definition, there are no "alternative facts" - and only the dishonest authoritarians will claim otherwise.
2. "Man" is unequivocally NOT made in your god's image. All gods are demonstrably the creation of men as a means to claim and justify power over other human beings - hence the innumerable logical fallacies in the holy books of all major religions, which are nothing more than instruments designed to defend the institution of the organized religion and its political and economid power. Please keep your religious superstitions out of lectures on the perfection of the secular state.
15
Is it possible to have a true democracy in our gun-toting nation? Too often we are resigned to bullies taking charge. And, if you don't stand up to bullies, you end up with one in the White House!
6
Mr. Brooks,
How foolish of you to say on the PBS Newshour that there is "no moral difference between a 28% and 21% corporate tax rate"!
Did you take math? 25% is a meaningful difference, maybe even a moral statement. And yet you say that economic inequality is the issue that needs to be addressed? Always trying to have it both ways.
10
They despise the masses … while they make themselves the mouthpiece of vulgar opinion.” They offer bread and circuses, tweets and insults, but have nothing but a “rabbit horizon” — all they see is the grubby striving for money and power and attention.
The authoritarians and the demagogues subjugate action through bullying and they subjugate thought by arousing mob psychology. “This is the contempt
of pure reason, the denial and violation of truth in favor of power and the interests of the state, the appeal to the lower instincts, to so-called ‘feeling,’ the release of stupidity and evil from the discipline of reason and intelligence.”
Though written before Trump was born this is the perfect description of Trumpism as it presents itself today! Mann somehow is warning us about the dangers of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. We should heed his warnings.
6
Bad as Donald Trump is - and he is bad! - this time in the history of our country has made David Brooks probably one of the best Op-Ed writers ... ever? I can't wait to read this series. Thank you David Brooks.
9
The dominate culture in this country compromised both their integrity and democracy early on beginning with the genocide of American Indians and slavery. Both of these dynamics were motivated by the pursuit of wealth. At different times this concept of democracy was applied to the victims of this so called concept. There was never any consistency and the people through different forms of racism, liberal whites included had no interest in extending that concept past themselves unaware that that position was destructive to their own concept of democracy. A self inflicted gun shot wound that festers and corrupts the center. All in pursuit of me first money. Now we have white women reacting to the practice of a corrupt white male democracy while for years and years they were just as complicit in subverting democracy, Clinton Steinum et al included, as their male counter parts. Mann’s ideas are as it should be, the problem has always been in the practice. While this dominate culture slept in pursuit of fame and fortune demigods slipped through the back door. Black Women in Alabama showed white America what democracy is all about. Progressive Democrats are showing what democracy is all about. The dominate culture both male and female for the most part are still subverting democracy
1
Thoughts:
As Kevin Phillips points out in “Wealth and Democracy”, every modern empire from the Spanish to the Dutch to the English began its decline by transitioning from the creation of wealth through manufacture and trade to wealth creation through investment and expansion of the financial sector. The result was a widening of the gap between a wealthy elite and the increasingly disaffected middle classes. The resulting decline in general prosperity was quickly matched by a corresponding decline in political power.
A democratic republic needs educated, knowledgeable and participating citizens in order to function optimally. Maintaining and governing a democratic republic is hard work.
“As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” H.L. Mencken, 1920
4
Somewhere in one of his writings Machiavelli said that, if one generation ever really did achieve wisdom and virtue in government, a new generation would arise opposed to the principles of wisdom and virtue. That seems to be what we have today. There's no law of nature that says this must turn out well for humanity.
7
Philip Astor, an UN special envoy investigating extreme poverty was just in the US to find out why we have over 41 million living in poverty right here. This alone disqualifies us as a healthly democracy. To think that we are giving tax cuts to the vultures on top so that they can pick the bones of the poor is revolting.
When we all get in the streets? When we all demand our future back?
8
Not only is democracy an inspiring ideology but also a practical system of governance, a system that has made America the greatest country in history, at least until now. Sustainable economic greatest is built on a base of a free and thriving people. Freedom to practice one’s religion, for example, is built on a willingness to let others practice their religions or no religion at all. Otherwise, religion just becomes a blunt instrument for controlling the masses. And this goes on and on to all the ideals put forth in our Constitution, not just a tear in the eye while singing the National Anthem but a pragmatic formula for a stable, sustainable, successful government of the people, by the people and for the people.
3
Despite the Cynicism of Many Readers, I will read and appreciate the "Discussion" prompted by the initiative and production of David Brooks, even when said Discussion is, like many community conversations, denigrated by competition and control seeking. I'm too Old for High School
and, especially post-Stroke, of even Weaker Mentality than Before.
I'll try to sort out and beyond the intended "Debaters". I'll even stifle my
Own words. (I wish our beloved "President" could do That'!)
3
The notion that individual human beings embody “infinite dignity” merely by being born is appealing but dangerous. Appealing because it feeds individual and group narcissism. Dubious because history and life repeatedly violate a claim that many people, in their complacency, simply take for granted. Dangerous because it downplays the role of human agency in articulating and promoting universal human rights. Dignity flows from the long fight to establish human rights, neither of which is a given or guaranteed by being born. What does “infinite” dignity even mean? Wouldn’t simple human dignity be enough?
2
Thank you, David Brooks, for yet another insightful column. While it is encouraging to read the ideals of Thomas Mann, I do hope that you will balance this substance with a plan of action.
3
History is cyclical, not a steady ascent toward higher ideals. This means that in the natural order every exciting new idea inevitably must grow old. If it remains valuable, it must be laboriously renewed, rediscovered. This is the current plight of democracy, a brilliant ideal that has grown weary with age -- corrupted by success, robbed of its spiritual insight, reduced to a commodity to be sold like a trinket in the marketplace. Brooks's endeavor to take us back to original understandings can be a useful exercise if it rekindles in our souls the idealistic view of human nature that is the essence of the democratic impulse.
6
After reading 20 or so comments I simply must say how deeply thoughtful and intelligent almost all of them are .
That they were from the “all” segment of comments speak well for democracy.
2
For a democracy to be strong and healthy, it must be founded on a shared vision and shared values. The United States has been 'coasting' for the past several decades. We've been culturally influenced away, over generations, from the ideal of 'a better future if we invest today' into a 'get what I deserve now, no matter what the impact'. Climate change? The future's problem, no sacrifice or lifestyle changes needed now... Decaying infrastructure, declining living standards, increasing homelessness, spiraling student debt - all these are founded on an unwillingness to pay now for things needed, and unwillingness to pay taxes to support a common good. We have elected and re-elected politicians who are willing to promise that no sacrifices are needed, that magical thinking will allow spending now while 'future growth' will make paying the bills easy and painless. American now couldn't build the Interstate Highway system. American cities can barely maintain functionality in their water and sewage systems. Our power grid limps along, aging while maintenance is shirked to increase quarterly profitability. Any business managed for long-term growth becomes a target for Wall Street sharks, "kings of leverage" who will manipulate corporate goals for their own immediate profit whatever the impacts on workers jobs, factory communities, and the country. The erosion will continue as long as we make the 'common good' an opportunity for privatizing and profit.
12
I agree with Mann's essential vision, with one exception: it is in no way necessary to believe we are "made in God's image" nor even to believe in any sort of divinity beyond the human spirit. One can absolutely be good without god. Nor do we need to speak of a "fall from grace" or "original sin" in order to live a moral and ethical life and to strive "for freedom, justice and truth."
9
Wonderful article. I agree with the ideals presented by you from Thomas Mann.
However, the Coming Victory of Democracy maybe years away, arriving at an evolutionary rate. The human race must evolve to the point where they can be reasonable en masse. Such an evolution is not guaranteed. We have seen how a small minority can bring about great destruction. So, what can we do in the meantime?
3
Democracy requires mutual respect to work. There is none of that now. The elites throw money at populists who preach racial resentment but in the end sell out the working class. Is there a point at which non-college educated whites will figure out the scam, overcome their racism and vote their own economic interests? It's not at all clear. Not at all.
6
Hmm, I believe it was Aristotle who said that the second-to-last step in the degradation of the polity (he didn't use the word polity) was Democracy, after which came tyranny through demagoguery. Aristocracy was several steps earlier.
Aristotle did not have much faith in the common person.
2
If democracy is the next step towards tyranny— I wonder if Aristotle considered a republic as the step before democracy.
I wonder...?
Nice column, Mr. Brooks.
Erudite and short on the preachy hogwash. We need more of this kind of thing.
7
Agreed.
1
Great choice for a column. To put Mann's thinking in another, perhaps more modern frame, progress and hope are primary expressions of humanity's confidence in itself. To believe in both, you have to have confidence in our species that overrides Calvinistic views of the depravity of humanity that are manifested daily in our world.
If we don't believe in progress or hope, where does any expression of community go? Democracy is the only system to believe in, because all others fail belief in our best selves. Remember in these trying Trump times, his people represent the worst end of the human spectrum, not the best. We ARE capable of electing those on the best end. We just have to believe in truth again, and practice it in our public affairs.
4
Excellent points Tom. I expect an avalanche of reccs...
Good column. I will take you really serious if you say::
" I was wrong to support the Bush presidency and the Plutocrqcy creating policies of the Republicans in the 00s."
10
Little do I wish to diminish a favorite novelist's stress on democracy as an affirmation and expression of the value of the individual. However, let's not diminished the value of free and competitive elections for safeguarding us against the sort of depredations we'd see were militias beating and shooting folks and state powers endangering free press and enlightened public opinion.... (Oooopps, wait!)
2
Ever since we read Mann's Joseph and his Brothers, an enormous, epic novel ( four novels really, written in the thirties and forties) of wisdom, conscience and spirituality that is in the pantheon of great literature, Thomas Mann has been revered in our home. All his novels struggle with the difficult human journey from frailty and weakness to spiritual elevation. We are so glad that Mr. Brooks restores Mann from the antique shop of forgotten literary geniuses. Mr Brooks reminds us that Mann lived ( as we do) in a time of moral crisis, yet clearly understood its implications and the lessons for humankind. Joshua
9
"Liberal democracy" cannot be sustained if there is not a fair, just and equitable distribution of the fruits, i.e. financial rewards, generated by that form of government. The existence of a growing inequality of income in America is having a divisive, corrosive impact upon our society and, particularly, dangerously concentrating more and more power in the hands of the relative few. If this yawning imbalance is not corrected, we are doomed with either eventual revolutionary upheaval or an authoritarian crackdown on popular dissent in our future. Income inequality, its pernicious effects, and its necessary corrections need to be fully addressed in future columns, Mr. Brooks.
The current Republican/Trump tax legislation is, despite the totally false and deceptive claims attached to it, the perfect example of what happens when outsized economic power and influence is narrowly wielded to overwhelmingly benefit that "relative few" to the great detriment of the vast majority of Americans. It reflects great disrespect for the "infinite dignity of individual men and women".
12
Man in God's image is precisely what Trump and his mob--especially the conservative Christians--are not. What would Jesus say? My heavens.
Yes--there certainly is an innocence associated with the incredible gullibility of Trump's supporters. The Fox-Republican-Trump "propagandists and demagogues, " as Mann warns us, have eaten their brains.
Though, for instance, their willingness to respond to Trump's racist, sexist and other demagogic pandering is not innocent at all, and is simply appalling.
Consciousness is certainly of a higher order. I hope consciousness will triumph for America, even if all or most of Trump's supporters prove to be a lost cause.
2
Seems the centrist liberal media is not strong enough against the dominant rw Gop and it’s media amplifier. Fox with unrelenting propaganda puts the main meda on the defensive, calling everything too liberal that doesn’t support the right wing that dominates.
The destruction of health care for all, or of Medicare, S. Security etc shouldn’t even be discussed in any modern democracy. But here its advocated.
Many media pundits won’t go too far in the progressive direction, as defined in our distorted politics. They see little prestige in being perceived as too left wing, the way it’s now defined.
So to advocate or even dare to explain how other countries find many ways to fund national health care for all at affordable cost is avoided in our media. This keeps the public uninformed and weakens pressure against our lawmakers for reform in the public interest.
Same with funding higher education, infrastructure , gun safety, and how a fair tax policy would work and used to work. Pundits could discuss our own past, when the middle class was expanding, and fair taxes and regulations protected the public from the exploitation and downward living standards of today.
But the media want to stay safe and influential, identified with the powers that be, while still looking more humanitarian and rational than the Gop radical rw. This is what motivates them it seems.
4
I like the emphasis on dignity, which is very European, but I wonder if it is sustainable in the US.
In the EU’s Charter dignity (Article 1) precedes life (Article 2). The same is true of Germany’s Basic Law where “human dignity is inviolable” in Article 1 and the clauses of Article 2 provide for the “development of the personality” before life.
Americans, in contrast, emphasize liberty, undoubtedly a fine thing to be sure, but one which Europeans subordinate to Mann’s dignity.
This distinction has practical legal and practical implications. Consider that Germany’s right of expression (Article 5) is its limited by “personal honour”, a notion incompatible with the US’s First Amendment.
This divergence between American liberty and European dignity has been traced in a fascinating article by James Q. Whitman in Yale Law Journal. I would urge Brooks to (re-)read it because it is from this divergence that several aspects of contemporary American culture that he deplores (shouting down of speakers at colleges) find resonance in limitations of freedom of expression that Europeans and Canadians find perfectly sensible (laws regulating hate speech).
Dignity and liberty are perfectly compatible as ideals for any society, but if Brooks wishes America to start presuming in favour European dignity, he may find that he has to give up a presumption in favour of liberty.
Link to Whitman article: http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1647&...
5
Samuel: I think the democratic party-- in the interest of retaining & rebuilding our fragile democracy--should use the preamble to the constitution as the party's mission statement. Yes it contains the word liberty, but other lofty words & ideals are just as evident. One would think that originalists could agree that there is more to the USA than the amendments which emphasize our liberties. Probably the preamble's commitment to the "general welfare" is an inconvenient truth to those on the right who want to destroy any hint of "the commons." Maybe it's time for modern democrats to remind the destroyers (and on-the-fence pundits like our Mr. Brooks) what this country is supposed to be about.
The beautiful words: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
2
By bringing up the college students intolerant of speech, you fail to see that most college students (with the exception of those at some small, elite schools) want what you and Thomas Mann want: a public square reclaimed from those vulgar propagandists who demean it and appeal to fascist, authoritarian impulses, including the Milos, the Richard Spencers, and the MAGAs. While Charles Murray may not deserve to be maligned as he was, he has again and again explained class stratification largely in terms of a genetic and racial caste system, an idea fundamentally antithetical to our best ideals and the core assumptions of classical liberalism. The students are rightfully suspicious of the education they are receiving: They have never been schooled in liberalism, though they have an implicit feel for it, and yet they are being called upon by us to rhetorically defend the values of liberalism against practiced demagogues. What they need is not our castigation but rather our instruction.
8
Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for taking up this cause. We eagerly await your thoughts.
1
David, please do not use the bath water of the GOP to bathe all of us or mankind. The political party of your choice is the problem. The other political faction is trying indefatigably to champion the cause of the individual human beings.
We are ready to welcome you into the Democratic Party. Stop shedding those crocodile tears.
4
“Unlike other animals, humans are morally responsible.”
I can’t believe people are still saying things like that.
2
Meaning animals show moral behavior I assume? Couldn’t tell what you meant.
1
The best thing you have written in a long time. On the nose. If the TIMES reporters would just read your work it would solve a lot of problems.
Congratulations, you have come through again. I love your mind.
2
Thank you Mr. Brooks for your most thought provoking piece. In my opinion this what good journalism and media is all about. Let us hope, no pray, that our "leaders" in Washington and the state capitals of our great country take a step back and take time to think and ask themselves why they entered public service as a career. Not to serve themselves as the Republicans are presently doing, but to serve the people who elected them.
We as citizens also must , as you so gracious stated in this piece, think not about ourselves but of our fellow citizens.
3
David, you had me with you, until the end. Too few of us can afford such noble aspirations. What people want is to strive to make things better for themselves and their families. They need hope, that their striving will succeed.
Before Ronald Reagan, most of us were living the American Dream: work hard, and things get better. Nowadays, if the poorest 5% of us work hard, things will likely still get worse. The less wealthy half of us, on average, do not get better at even a rate of 1% (it was at least 2% before Reagan), in real terms. [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/opinion/leonhardt-income-...] The top 1% now get better at a 2% to 6% rate.
The American Dream is dying, and Congress is doing their best to kill it off soonest. It is not clear to me that effective democracy can survive a potential or possibly present, lack of hope in more than half of the public.
6
Thank you, Mr. Brooks for reminding us that we are not alone. Thomas Mann was not only a brilliant writer, but a social philosopher and activist as well. His words and deeds give us the memory, the framework and the hope that we can overcome the dark days, live up to and achieve true democracy (as he defines it, and as it holds true). It is the moment to set aside petty differences of how, why and when, and work together. Consider this a renewed call to arms for democracy. We can and will do it.
2
Mann's views on Democracy are extremely positive and provide an intellectual case in support of Democracy, but the actual existence of democratic institutions depends upon the willingness of people to trust that they will work, and that requires real confidence in the faithful trustworthiness of all to participate in a system where the majority decides for all. When we look at Mann's views, we are looking at something that is very Platonic, ideal forms rather than the less than perfect actions of people. When we look at real democracy practices we can see that sometimes majorities are determined to deprive minorities of things which they would not wish to be deprived of themselves. This is sometimes called illiberal democracy, where a majority deliberately seeks to eliminate the rights of dissenting minorities in favor of their own preferences or simply to lash out against those who have done better than themselves. While making clear the advantages offered by Democracy can serve to restore people's faith in it, if some are seeking to deprive many others of their rights and abilities to fulfill their needs using democratic institutions to do so, then democratic institutions are not going to have the trust needed to make them function to the benefit of everyone as the must to endure.
2
The US founders believed that abuse of government powers could be restrained by paring them down to the minimum necessary to manage a sovereign nation and its relations with other nations. The restriction of governmental powers to only those delegated and enumerated in the constitution was not enough for them. They demanded specific restrictions on the use of delegated powers that are now called the Bill of Rights, before they would ratify the Constitution as drafted.
2
Thank you David Brooks for writing an editorial piece that generated all of these inciteful comments, I love it that this format allows so many deep thinkers to speak to important topics and that we can ponder topics from the point of view of so many brilliant people from around the world. Thank you David and the NYT.
3
We got lazy....Started believing our own PR about that "beacon of light". the lamp got wet and went out. and then we all argued about whose fault that was...Muslims? NRA? Planned Parenthood? Gays? Hispanics, Black Americans? And we elected someone who feeds that beast on a daily basis and keeps us arguing and blaming anyone else we can find.
How sad that all we needed to do was find the matches and light the lamp again. We appear to have forgotten that freedom is simple and open. Dissent and anger are hard, mean and empty.
2
The road to true democracy a' la' Mann starts at Kindergarten and goes through the full educational experience of every child and young person in society. Only if we embed the values of Freedom, Justice and Truth in our future citizens and teach them how to pursue these values and reject demagoguery, only then we have a hope to restore true democracy to this land. As long as we allow media channels to embed hatred, bigotry and xenophobia in our children, we promote a future of fascism. This, unfortunately, non-democratic may suit well those plutocrats that support such media channels, since non-democratic systems tend to be good to them. My great hope is that their greedy over-reach, in the form of the new big heist of the American wealth will wake up enough of the voters that followed the Trumpeter from Hamlin (ok, more like NY) to change direction before he leads us all to drown in the deep water.
2
Your take on democracy is fusion of two separate conceptions of democracy: democracy as an ideal and democracy as a reality. Few would deny that the former conception is desirable. Here the requirement that each individual has intrinsic self-wort is a fundamental prerequisite as you rightly noted. The latter conception, however, is the many faces of "democracies" around the globe today, warts and all. In these democracies, the fundamental prerequisite, where it has surfaced, flickers as the candle flame in whirlwinds of human impulses and political development. Where lower human and social impulses flare up to sequester the social infrastructure of reason, democracy goes to die an agonizing death. The death of functionally ideal democracies is a but one consequence of entropy: perhaps only after a near ideal democracy dies do we realize how much concerted spiritual and moral energy is required to sustain it.
1
Interesting, timely article. However, one element is omitted. As Thomas Jefferson wisely observed 'Democracy is not possible unless the population is literate.' Regrettably, the land of America has become an illiterate land of stupefying ignorance. Truly, functional illiteracy is America's greatest enemy.
9
Thank you Mr. Brooks for helping us see beyond the "rabbit horizon." Your review of Thomas Mann's perspective reminds us that we have been here before. We worked ourselves out of that pickle and we can, and will, do so again. We must remember, however, that it will take time and effort.
1
Okay, I do like hearing such high-minded calls to our better angels. This kind of talk is one degree of separation from the usual rhetoric of Democratic politicians in this country. That's why I vote for them, even if they are often too beholden to their wealthy campaign contributors. It's idealistic, something to strive for.
It is light years away from the rhetoric and the underlying motivations of Republican politicians. I would love for you to apply your analytic skills to this fundamental division. And some reflection on how you came to be an acolyte of Buckley and Reagan, even Paul Ryan and his Randian ilk, and have steadfastly defended anything and anyone labeled "R" -- until very recently.
7
In his testimony before HUAC Mann said he was a "Non-Commumnist", not a "Pro- Communist". "As an American citizen of German birth I finally testify that I am painfully familiar with certain political trends. Spiritual intolerance, political inquisitions, and declining legal security, and all this in the name of an alleged ‘state of emergency.’"
HUAC thought otherwise.
Mann later joined protests against the jailing of the Hollywood Ten and the firing of schoolteachers suspected of being Communists. Mann eventually left the US after being forced out of his position at The Library of Congress and settled in Switzerland.
In essence, what trials Mann underwent were Republican induced in the '50s. I know no evidence or reason to think that the 1950's attitudes and beliefs have changed in tenor or purpose in the early 2100s.
Trump is just the current symbol, not the cause.
8
Fat finger alert:
"Early 2100s" should, of course, be either "early 2000s" OR "early 21st century".
1
Good praise for great work.
Several, including Judith Martin (Miss Manners) have noted for years that because of the values mentioned here, manners are very different in a democracy from what they are under other forms of government. Then along comes Trump, with loathsome and quite undemocratic manners. To the degree this helps him succeed, we will be less of a democracy.
2
Democracy is the only form of government that can vote itself out of existence. A repeat of 2016 will just about do it, assuming there's anything left.
1
This completely overlooks the fact that all things human become increasingly complex with time rather than becoming simpler. Our constitution has been rendered immutable by and for clever people who have twisted interpretations of its language to their service. We no longer have a democracy because we can't change the way our government works. Is a nostalgic look back going to solve these apparently human shortcomings that cause us to let these sorts of things happen?
I doubt it, but I'll read it anyway...
2
As I live and breath, Mr. Brooks is becoming a Democratic Socialist. Mob mentality aka tribalism rule the day and with it as noted in this article. the loss of what Democracy, in its loftiest sense, means to the individual . The same mentality that allows banks and major corporations to privatize their profits and socialize their losses contrasts mightily with the notion that individuals should blaze their own trails with no expectations from society at large vis a vis the government.
Yes, the framework of our national debates have sunk into a hole where not even light can escape from. Our national disease of intolerance, apathy and ignorance is longstanding however, the patient is not yet terminal and the arch of Democracy as Justice is long however is does bend in the right direction.
1
Many readers here are commenting how our skewed campaign finance system is ruining our political culture.
America seems more like the Soviet Union all the time.
We have 1 extremist party that dominates our 3 branches and most states.
It has its own state-run media monopoly, Fox News, that broadcasts the Gop message from coast to coast with propaganda, and no respect for truth or evidence.
The Gop media is organized and powerful, and stays on message, no matter what. There is no comparable, well funded and organized progressive media.
The Democratic party is not free to be a true opposition, as it needs to compete with the Gop for funding to run candidates.
The centrist media and NY Times, even on the more progressive side, is made defensive by years of Fox News and Limbaugh attacks. They stay safe while just looking more humanitarian.
Not 1 NYT columnist grapples with our big money political donor system as the ultilmate cause of all the problems they lament. This is an example of indirect control of the media---American style, despite our 1st amendment. Criticizing big money in our elections has been labeled too left wing. The center has been molded over years by megdonors, until the citizen majorities have little influence.
The media pundits avoid all this, and stay on the surface of the news--amplifying the personal dramas and palace intrigue. Trump and our big money political financing is great for the media's bottom line.
5
I frequently enter discussions on a conservative message board on Delphi Forums. Often when I provide a link to a NY Times article I am ridiculed for being a pawn of the left wing media. In these cases I always ask for the best alternative source for news. I have never received an honest answer. These are politically engaged people who are claiming that there is no reliable source for accurate accounts of national events. How do they stay informed? That is a secret they are unwilling to share with the likes of me. At least President Trump has identified who he regards as among the best sources of news: Alex Jones and the very talented legal mind of Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano.
1
I could be wrong, but isn't "shouting down offensive speech" also an act of free speech?
2
The modern mob is the Republican Party, hypnotized by Trump and other leaders whom they support against their own economic interests. In "Mario and the Magician", his 1929 novella, Mann warns us about the hypnotic power of a fascist authoritarian, at a time when they were proliferating. People didn't listen back then either; let's hope they learn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_and_the_Magician
2
It is also worth noting that Mann was forced out of his job as Consultant in Germanic Literature at the Library of Congess during the McCarthyism purgings in the 1950's. He was 77 years old at the time. Although a naturalized US citizen he then returned to Switzerland and died , age 80, in Zurich.
3
There is no comparison between college students that shout people down, and those that think anyone they define as "other," including LGBT, brown peoples, women, native Americans, "elite" college professors, "libtards," free thinkers, non-Christians, poor people, etc., are subhumans who need to be expelled, jailed, beaten, tortured, and/or murdered.
The first group may be occasionally rude, but the second group are violent thugs.
There is no moral equivalence between Neo-Nazi Neo-Confederate, Neo-Putin, Same-Old-KKK fascists and the college students that shout them down.
I counsel those that fight fascists that speech is a better weapon against speech than shouting also. But they learn the history of the Nazis l and see that polite politics did not stop them from turning a fledgling democracy into an aggressive, genocidal, fascist regime, and don't always listen to me.
Democracy is not some ethereal high minded pursuit. It is 500 year battle we have been fighting against the .1% which thinks they are all that matters, and the rest of us exist to serve them, like Trump.
3
Mann, was right, but only to a point. Democracy is only built on "respect for the dignity of the individual man and woman..." so long as it is grounded in a system of protections for minority opinions and rights. Otherwise it can just as easily become a system of a oppression as any other form of government, as James Madison observed in the Federalist Papers.
So, the design of the "procedural or political system" turns out to be infinitely important after all, and everyone living in a democracy should be required to learn about that system if democracy is truly to be a "spiritual and moral possession"
4
With the great liberty afforded by our Constitution and Bill of Rights comes great responsibility to understand what these documents actually say and mean. One of the overlooked characteristics of the founding fathers is that they were literate, they read, yes books, frequently the Bible, and whatever the printed materials of the day, and often in languages not their own. And also, they wrote. They could put words together in cogent sentences without screen scraping or depending on a speechwriter.
How as a nation will we remain viable when so many among us read little, and shallowly, and lose interest in anything longer than a tweet, and seize up in panic when more than a few words are greater than two syllables?
A fine essay by David Brooks, but he is preaching to the choir, people who actually read, and I am betting by the comments, people who read seriously. Maybe to reach everybody else, he should try more humor in the form of puns, repeat punctuation such as exclamations marks three or five in a row, and use strings of emojis for emphasis. Or, better, he might endeavor to translate the founding documents into puns, punctuation, and emojis.
2
A good article aptly describing the trajectory of democracies around the world. I wonder whether a significant factor is how wealth is distributed today compared with thirty years ago. Wealth distribution has reversed in that time - we now see about 80% of it go to the richest 10%. (Bloomberg today).
Trump and his ilk promise to do something about, which got him elected. He won't of course.
3
I've read a couple comments into 691 and I knew you were going to catch heck. I do kind of wonder how, with such knowledge, you were able to turn a blind eye to the dismantling of the heartland - surely you knew? I would ask Paul the same. But, you are right, a democracy requires thought and discussion from all sides, and this depends on respect of other's thoughts. However, I'm pretty sure, many are tired of saying "please", --- like what is up with leaving people to worry about CHIP?
2
I am struck by the number of times "moral" appears in Brooks's quotation of Mann. I think this is where the 21st century pursuit of freedom and rights go wrong--we emphasize our rights but forget our responsibilities that come with those rights.
We want free speech, but speak constantly not just vile words without considerations to others, but untruthful words that convey no reality and definitely no wisdom.
We want gun rights, but let our young kids get of them to shoot themselves or others with, while care not the havoc that abundace of guns have done to us.
We want religious liberty, but we cultivate no love, no compassion, no tolerance of those different from us.
We want to be free person free from authoritarianism, yet we can't think for ourselves, blindly follow what appeal to our anger and insecurity.
I think democracy can be glorious only if the people are moral. Ultimately, I think democracy is not just about allocation of power and rights but individuals coming together to take responsibility for ourselves and others. From this shared responsibility then is a community and nation possible.
6
"Democracy begins with one great truth, he argued: the infinite dignity of individual men and women." If one considers this one simple yet profound statement, the United States is not a functioning democracy and hasn't ever been one. Think about how we treat our children, let alone men and women. According to the study from the National Center on Family Homelesness released in 2014, two and a half million children homeless with half younger than 6 years old, an 8% increase at the time. We are surrounded daily, hourly, by clear evidence of man's inhumanity to man, and that is without pointing fingers at any political party. Because I personally believe in this one great truth -- "the infinite dignity of individual men and women" and children, I also believe we are perpetuating a great lie by claiming we, or any nation for that matter, live and operate in a democracy. As a nation we can certainly move toward that ideal. To my mind, America has seemed to retreat from a democratic ideal in recent decades, but who really knows? We didn't have this kind of access to information decades ago. All I know is every single day I wake up being totally grateful for newsprint so I can become a little more informed, read a great many others' thoughts, and then engage in internal debate which, hopefully is, in itself, humanizing. I am glad that Mr. Brooks will be writing future articles addressing first principles while also sad that they have become so necessary.
2
Thank you for an erudite column David. The idea of Democracy is what blossomed into the reality of democracy. Now ideas and vision are damed as being too idealistic.
I commend you for being willing to take the heat of the pragmatists and anti intellectuals.
I also commend you for ignoring those who want to label you as Republican or Democrat. As you once said - those are the boxes so many want to stuff people in these days.
3
It's unfortunate that so many people still can't get it through their heads that "free speech," means free speech for all, let alone that as court after court has said loudly, it's mostly the unpopular speech that needs protecting in the first place.
You don't get to pick and choose, folks. You get to argue back, you get to demonstrate against, you get to oppose, you get to vote, but you don't get to pick and choose who gets a say. We all do, or none of us do.
As Brooks' excellent essay and Thomas Mann say far more eloquently, the hope of democracy is that each and every viewpoint is as sacred as sacred gets, and that even the dumbest ideas contribute something we all need.
Sorry, folks, but leftists need to get something simple through their heads: a lot of people in is country don't agree with them about issues they hold dear, and they aren't going to see our particular light some day.
Then we need to wrap our heads around this one: a lot of the people who disagree, who see the world differently, ain't dumb, ain't ignorant, and ain't thoughtless.
Mind you, it's tough when you have a whole passel of morons thumping the Bible and screaming at you, especially when they're screaming about things--like your sex life--that are none of their darn business.
1
Thomas Mann was the best writer of his generation and won a Nobel Prize. He had many children, and at least two of them were writers: Erica and Klaus. Erica’s husband, the actor Gustaf Grundgens, whom she divorced before she followed her father to Los Angeles, is the subject of the film Mephisto, — made and directed by my favorite Hungarian filmmaker, Istvan Szabo. It is generally considered a classic and easy to find — 1981 w/Klaus Maria Brandauer playing Gustaf. I watched it several years ago when we were just beginning to hear about our "moron" (Tillerson's adjective) and his hankering for running for president. I had premonitions about what was going to happen. Gustaf and his actor friends all thought Hitler was the clown, the fool, not to be taken seriously or worried about. It is truly a great film.
3
David Brooks doesn't find enough going on in American current events to lambaste his party. The FCC erasing net neutrality, the upcoming vote on tax "reform" (which has been described as the largest upward transfer of wealth in history), the actions of Pruitt at the EPA and the shrinking of our national monuments.
So he basically gives us a book report with plenty of quotes. I doubt he's even read Mann's supposed masterpiece "The Magic Mountain," as it's tedious and insufferable. But the irony, Thomas Mann emigrated here and immediately had more rights than our "colored" Americans, our military was segregated when we fought the Nazis, and Hitler got plenty of his ideas by observing how racism flourished in America.
Brooks might have the diploma from the University of Chicago, and the prestigious slot writing Op/Eds in the Grey Lady. But he's got the intellectual depth of a toothpick.
1
Mann also wholeheartedly supported the Kaiser in WW1, seeking a cleansing proof of German cultural dominance. Regrets?
Well done Mr. Brooks! You have been on a hot streak lately. Thomas Mann indeed gives us courage to yearn greatly.
You've come a long way from mocking Jedediah Purdy's
"On Common Things" 20 years ago for his aching earnestness and sincerity. Now we can clearly see the corrosive and cumulative effects of snark on the public square. As a rap verse goes, "A little irony is like yeast. It helps us rise. Too much? We rot, we fester, we draw flies."
Please, David, The nation has two major parties. Both of them have seem to forgotten what 'majority rule' means...Look at the asinine filibuster rules our Senate uses in which a super-majority is needed for too many bills to become law. They both use negative campaign advertising too broadly. The only product of negative advertising is lower turn-out in elections. One party uses voter suppression/obstruction to reduce the opposition vote total and one party has gerrymandered the other party into irrelevancy in nearly 20% of our districts. The abuse of the citizen's right to vote is so gross as to make me believe that one party does not actually believe that 'all men are created equal'.
2
Look at the difference in other democracies.
They fund their political campaigns using finite public money set aside in advance, not unlimitted spending by the richest corporations.
They limit private donations to keep their political influence more balanced.
They ban the super high-cost campaign ads that our rich donors fund, and that manipulate our voters.
They give free media time for all candidates to get their platforms out to the voters.
The upshot is that several countries, including France, Holland and Britain voted down their ultra rw parties in various 2017 elections. Their conservatives are not as rw as the US Gop.
While the USA, that bastion of constitutional democracy, voted in its extreme rw radicals. They now dominate our 3 branches and most states, the Trump cabinet, and are poisoning our politics, our tax policy, and health care.
5
The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall were one of history's great head fakes. They resulted in a sense of triumphalism and optimism that were illusory. There was a belief that the dual pillars of Western creed - democracy and capitalism - had prevailed. However, the end of the Cold War, like the 2 world wars that preceded it, were more likely to portend change than progress (defined by some as 'the end of history'). Not only has the spread of democracy been an unmet promise, its erosion worldwide and at home been an unfortunate reality. Fact is that democracy is fragile and it competes in the marketplace of ideas, some seemingly unworthy of that competition, but competitors nonetheless. The smugness of the 90's that reflected a sort of democratic determinism caused us to drop our guard. Liberal democracy and its accompanying institutions require the hard work of maintenance and support. In the present environment, there is no guarantee that they will be forthcoming.
2
This is all great, but no supporter of the forces undermining our democracy will read, much less understand, these important ideas. Our leaders are too steeped in their own realities of power and money to pay attention.
I was watching CNN from the treadmill this morning as yet another Republican congressman attack dog viciously attempted to discredit Mueller and his team, picking apart obscure emails, pulling at threads and describing them in the exact hyperbolic, mendacious language already proven to incite his base.
Who will point out to this mediocre fool and others like him that they are "subjugating action and thought and showing contempt that degrades and corrupts humanity"? How would they even begin to understand?
7
"on college campuses"
Familiar refrain many of us keep noticing. How is it possible they are on the front burner of "what's wrong" as opposed to the plenty of "mature adult groups" who stymie progress, and literally kill lots of people. Specifically, the NRA, Wall Street, the GOP, or what's left of that. Give it a rest. The Kids are Alright.
7
beautifully written perspective, David Brooks keeps the hope alive, the torch lit and helps us be reminded that we may still have the promise of a better political future and vision. however, we must work hard for it given the distructive chaos of today.
"In short, we Republicans used to have a certain framework of decency within which we held our debates, and somehow we Republicans lost our framework. We Republicans took our liberal democratic values for granted for so long, we Republicans forgotten how to defend them."
There... I fixed it for you, David! You're welcome.
4
Computers are already do the vast majority of stock trades. Artificial Intelligence is already replacing stock analysts. Robots and AI are already replacing humans at many levels of the economy.
Capital is machinery, including robots and AI, and the money used to buy them. Capitalism is focused on machinery and profits.
As AI and robots advance, they will be more efficient at almost everything. They could even replace CEOs. There is no reason that a corporation could not be run without humans. They already have all of the rights of people, with no responsibilities.
As government is hollowed out and all power moves to global corporations, with profits as the highest value of society, what is to prevent AI stock traders and AI HR departments from deciding that humans are too inefficient to bother with. They can grow the economy to far bigger GDPs and far higher market valuations without the emotional baggage of humans getting in the way. Machinery and profits do not require people.
If we do not create a political-system that puts humans as the reason for the economy, the very definition of the economy that we have created might make democracy moot, as the entire human race becomes surplus labor that robots can't be bothered to feed.
4
David, thank you so much for a wonderful column giving us the spiritual hope and strength needed to fight for our democracy. It is the Season of love and hope after all. It has been awhile since I connected with Thomas Mann and his words resonate with what is happening today in Washington as Trump and the GOP are tearing our democracy to shreds.
He could have been describing Trump when he said, "..They despise the masses...while they make themselves the mouthpiece of vulgar opinion. They offer bread and circuses, tweets and insults, but have nothing but a "rabbit horizon" --all they see is the grubby striving for money, and power, and attention."
I totally applaud your ideology for future columns, we all need a reminder of 'the infinite dignity of individual men and women'.
'This describes the Trump presidential campaign, 'bread and circuses', along with fake news and political propaganda. Now Trumpism is at work in America destroying our very Constitutional foundations because he is an enemy of democracy, our own demented demagogue.
Bravo David!! We need our minds and spirits elevated from the daily political monstrosities occurring in DC. I don't want my mind operating in the same sewer that serves as a think tank for Trump, and so many others in power right now.
3
It seems like democracy on college campuses is reserved for the liberal leftists and it is the conservatives who are shouted down. There are even universities that will not allow conservative thought or speakers on campus. This has occurred all over the country where the only voice permitted is the progressive one.
Conservative students remain silent in class for fear of retaliation in the way of poor grades. They cannot voice their opinion for fear of ridicule from other students. This is a travesty of justice which hopefully will be corrected soon. All opinions must be expressed and tolerated to have a truly democratic nation.
1
"Democrats like Mann hold up a lofty image of human flourishing. They inspire a great yearning to live up to it." While republicans like Brooks do not.
I remember the 8 years of Brooks pining for a man of principle and ideals to occupy the Presidency all while a great man of principle and ideals was occupying the White House.
Where has our democracy gone? When the republican party spends 16 years doing everything in its power to thwart the will of the people, the results of 4 elections and the Constitution itself (McConnell not allowing the vote on Garland) is it any wonder that our very Nation is in peril?
When the republican party has to rely on lies, propaganda, and voter suppression to get themselves in the majority it is past time to consider them part of our democracy. The republican party has become the fascist party and if so called moderates like Brooks can't see it they need to get out of the way so the rest of US can see.
3
The Constitution does not require the Senate to vote on a nominee. It does not forbid them withholding their consent by inaction. It does require the President to faithfully enforce the law and to spend money only as appropriated by Congress, violations of explicit Constitutional text and bedrock principle commited by Obama for which he should have been impeached and expelled for malfeasance.
1
malfeasance: a swanky synonym for uppity?
4
Not even swanky if you use it without knowing what it means.
2
I still wonder why Brooks does not write a column on he contributed to this calamity in democracy. Where were you when Reagan talked about welfare queens and shut down the air traffic controllers union in the 80's? Where did you think these lies were going to get the the country? What about the all the arrests of our African American citizens when Nancy Reagan said, just say no to drugs? It started than and you did not bat an eye. Thanks for nothing, David!
3
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1
The one great truth: "The infinite dignity of individual men and women".
Until America completely rejects the embrace of racism which is our foundation and which Trump and the GOP still cling to stubbornly, American democracy remains an ideal to be achieved. While imperfect, the Democrats have embraced this vision of Mann's and need to recommit all their efforts to promote equality and justice for all.
Trump and the current GOP clearly stand on the side of White Male Supremacy.
All citizens of 'color' and women are coming to the tipping point. No More. The lies and blatant hypocrisy and pure greed that we are now seeing from Trump and his fellow old white men are too much. They over reach at their peril. It's about time.
6
"Production in the service of humanity"
Capitalism is centered on machinery. We need to center society on humans.
2
Beautiful column, Mr. Brooks. Timely too, in that the spiritual core of democracy is under severe attack right now. In our country the deregulation (corruption) of capitalism is ruining things. As life gets harder for most in America - due to declining or stagnant income, increasing "groupthink" (thanks to cyberspace), we revert not to the thoughtfulness and reason at the heart of democracy, but to its opposite - a corrosive "feelings-driven" tribalism. The cheap and the superficial are now the "opiate of the masses." And most of our politicians are utterly devoid of the driver of democracy as identified by Mann and Brooks: "spiritual and moral possession." If ever democracy in America needed reform it is now. Money and power have to be brought back in line with "service to humanity."
1
Were Mann around today, I think he'd see quite clearly how incompatible market-based capitalism is with the health of our planet, individual rights, decency, and especially the promises of democracy.
3
The alternative view of democracy is 'a tool to control the masses so those of us with money can make more money'. I hope your view wins, David.
You almost don't have to read further than "democracy is thought." All anti-democratic leaders and governments rely on shutting down thought and replacing it with emotional manipulation, including fear and anger. Donald Trump is the surest sign to date that a large number of our country's citizens have stopped thinking.
6
If only DJT would read this one paragraph from Brooks' column:
"The authoritarians and the demagogues subjugate action through bullying and they subjugate thought by arousing mob psychology. “This is the contempt of pure reason, the denial and violation of truth in favor of power and the interests of the state, the appeal to the lower instincts, to so-called ‘feeling,’ the release of stupidity and evil from the discipline of reason and intelligence.”
Stupidity and reason were released from the discipline of reason and intelligence in November 2016 when we neglected to elect a person, though deeply flawed, who demonstrated said qualities.
2
Two points here.
First, perhaps we've become too individualistic and need to focus instead on collective and civic duty. Take gun violence; that's a clear example of when the public good is harmed b/c some people refuse to relinquish what they see as their sacred individual rights.
Second, you disparage college students for wanting some limits on "offensive" (read: Nazi/ KKK) speech, but then go on to talk about the violent democratic collapse during Nazi rule. You realize that Germany has banned Nazis and Nazi hate speech, right? Germans see that as a means to preserving the peace and democracy that you celebrate here. We arguably should have done the same with white supremacy here in the United States, and are still suffering the consequences for failing to see that. The fact that college students recognize the nuances of that question is a good sign. I wish folks from your generation could see that, rather than using young people as a straw man every chance you get.
4
Down with all, and I mean all, limits on civil speech. You talk halfway politely and don't threaten anybody, you get to say whatever you like, period, end of story, full stop.
Does it ever concern you, to be saying exactly what right-wing Bible-thumpers say?
Only thing different, far as I can see, is that you want different books burnt.
Thank you Mr. Brooks for a great essay. Now I think we need to address big money in politics, public funding for elections and gerrymandering. Let's give all people a fair chance to have a personal investment in democracy.
2
Power corrupts. Our representatives in the House and the Senate, ostensibly, represent the wishes of the people. In fact they represent their own agenda, philosophy, and ideology, and fictitiously sell these as the people's agenda. If you have watched Mitch McConnell, he always speaks of what people want or don't want. I am also one of the people and so are millions of others. There is a tremendous dissonance between what people and I want and what he wants.
That is where the corruption comes in. Corruption of Democracy.
We have a mere 435 Reps, 100 Senators, and one President. Each one of them claims to represent the people. In fact, each is representing largely himself or herself. Some of us may agree or disagree with what they represent but the match is fairly uneven and imperfect. Therein lies the big flaw in Democracy. Other systems of governance are even less perfect. What we need is a better system of representation uncolored by the personal desires and inclinations of the elected representatives.
Term limits can partially remedy the situation and is worth trying. A referendum on important issues is another. Mandatory voting by all citizens will improve the quality of representation. Teaching democratic principles and what is better for all rather than a few in schools and colleges is yet another.
Little attention has been paid to how Democracy could be improved. That is the important problem and question.
3
Fact is, for more than a decade now Democrats systematically do what 70% of the American people want them to do.
So no, it's clearly not the case that "each is representing largely himself or herself".
Obamacare covers 20 million more Americans. That's not representing yourself as a lawmaker, it's literally saving 40.000 American lives a year.
The GOP's tax reform bill would destroy the health insurance of 13 million Americans. THAT is not representing the American people, who voted for MORE people covered than under Obamacare, not less.
As to term limits: being a lawmaker is a complicated profession, so like all professions, the more experience you have, the more you can use it either to improve the job you're doing, or to fool your boss (in this case: the American people) and take advantage of it in order to benefit yourself to the detriment of all others.
So term limits can be a huge disadvantage, if it means taking away experimented lawmakers.
I do believe in mandatory voting though. Many people gave up believing that politicians can improve things, but still know HOW to improve things, so if you force them to vote, at least the solutions they prefer can be truly represented in Congress.
And of course, ending the SC Citizens' United ruling is absolutely crucial to take big money out of politics and prevent lawmakers from writing bills that only benefit their own wealthy donors all while terribly damaging the country, as the GOP is now constantly trying to do ...
1
Mandatory voting is a violation of my rights which include the right to refuse to participate in a rigged two party system in which no one who represents my political opinions is allowed to run.
People who claim to defend democracy always end up stepping on the individual, coercing his participation the collective will.
I disagree with you on term limits. Governance in California has become much better after term limits were introduced. New blood means new ideas, new technology, new standards, etc. An aging person may have more experience about how to do things but will inevitably lag behind in what the younger generation wants or needs. The experience of doing things by a politician can be easily replaced by a civil service. The politician needs only to reflect what the public wants or needs at a given moment in history. Let the civil service implement it.
This is a great column for many reasons. Among them: it reminds us the meaning and purpose of democracy and what we do to maintain a quality democracy that best serves all. Thank you, Mr. Brooks.
2
"all they see is the grubby striving for money and power and attention."
Sadly, for the current administration and most of the Republicans in Congress, that is not a bug, it's a feature.
Pure democracy may be stable only on a very small scale and only in a stable society. The bigger the scale, the more money and experts it takes to win the popularity contests called elections. The more unstable the society because of a diversifying electorate, economic or social strain, the easier it is to incite strife among the groups defined by their ethnicity, gender, and economic status.
this is a wonderful op-ed piece and should be a "must read" for everyone.
i hope repubs, inherently decent people, finally are persuaded to ask themselves what their grandchildren will ask them about their behavior and beliefs.
i intend to seek out and read thomas mann.
3
No mention of Mann's opinion of the corporations' role in a Democracy, or what happens to individuals when corporations buy government representatives to advance their wealth creating schemes which violate the sanctity of air,water worker's rights and the food supply.
1
Stunning in clarity and wisdom, it offers up what democracy is or can be. When a democracy goes off the rails, as it has in the US, what are needed are tools to bring democracy back on track. And soon.
I’m an institutionalist and believer in liberal democracy, so I always read David’s columns with interest. But his insistence on shoehorning Christianity into everything that is good is tiresome and weakly argued. There’s nothing remotely Democratic about Christianity. We are supposedly sheep. There is supposedly a kingdom. There is supposedly a single individual acting as judge, jury and executioner, and oh what monstrous executions are promised. Take a look at Matthew 13:40 for a taste of what Jesus had in mind.
Can’t we acknowledge that Christianity was always a poor fit with the enlightenment and find a way forward in the collective project that relies on the “moral dignity” that we can experience ourselves and observe in others with our senses? Leave religion to personal and cultural practice where it belongs.
5
Thank you David for bringing the thoughts of great thinkers of the past to the forefront. We need to remember that our present time is not the most thoughtful or insightful and we do not hold to exclusive knowledge.
I look forward to the next installments. May they stimulate a greater appreciation and discussions for what we should aspire to.
3
David, thank you for this timely and very thought provoking editorial on the thoughts of Mann on Democracy. Like many, I know him as a great novelist but I did not know that he wrote so thoughtfully about democracy, what it means, what's strengths are and what the enemies of democracy look like.
As you have eluded to in many of your editorials, a fundamental principle that sustains democracy is decency and the importance of not degrading the public square. We have seen way too much degradation of speech and thought in this difficult time, especially from our current President. Although I am a strong Democrat, I have been inspired by the likes of Shelby and Flake to insist on the primacy of decency and good character in our elected officials. They are holding the line as conservatives, as are you, and in this fight we are all on the same side.
Perhaps a benefit of the age of Trump will be a recognition that decent liberals and conservatives are on the same side, and that the real enemies of democracy are those like Bannon, Moore and Trump who attempt to use demagoguery and bullying in order to try and force the people to do their will.
6
Democracy has become the enemy of the individual, imposing conformity to the social values of the mass and treating people as an identity classification rather than a self-defining autonomous person with free will. Louisianians had more freedom as individuals under the Bourbon monarchs than they have had as citizens of the United States, including Indians and slaves.
The principles Brooks preaches here – “the infinite dignity of individual men and women…. made in God’s image,” the “individual’s daily struggle to be better…to resist the cheap and the superficial” – are just that: cheap and superficial. They are the Kool Aid that Trump supporters drink every day. They are ethereal ideals that Brooks claims underpins democracy. But ideals aren’t reality, and claiming them as inspiration is, like any religion, false hope, an opiate, and a distraction from dealing with reality. Brooks is a snake-oil salesman hawking illusion, smoke and mirrors, and impossible dreams.
Mussolini said “The crowd doesn’t have to know…It must believe…If only we give them faith that mountains can be moved, they will accept the illusion…and thus, an illusion may become reality.” One of the founding fathers (name escapes) warned that our founding documents expressed ideals rather than reality.
Brooks’ words drip with religious fervor, and that is precisely what he is selling us – civic religion, a Mickey Finn spiked with the energy and wild fantasy of any religion complete with faith, divine foundation, elaborate myth. It is an anachronistic paradigm that is counter-productive to today’s democratic challenges.
Republicans are in power precisely because they support Brooks’ claims about the nature of democracy – claims that are easily manipulated because they are nothing but rhetoric, just filigreed words that disguise reality. Smoke posing as flesh and blood.
2
There is not better productive system then free market capitalism. The problem is - and always has been - in the distribution of the product. From the point of view of the middle class there is no better system of distribution than that practised by the various form of social-democratic governments of Europe, but this is anathema for most of the americans who get hooked to Trump's "make America great again ",so here we are. Poor Bernie Sanders !?
1
Yes, I would have voted for him in the primary. He would have gotten some of Trump's voters, enough (especially) to win the Rust Belt.
I've though long and hard for decades.
White Christians must repent and be born again.
But with motes of prejudice filling their eyes, they can't see.
They need a blinding light from the enlightened
in the form of some very loud accusations.
We must take it to the Christians, especially Mormons and Catholics who only vote GOP at the 60% level. There is opportunity for change.
You know, it's hard to take you seriously, David, when you always have God sitting atop your shoulder when you write. I will give you this however, you don't seem to allow it to take you to the depths of stupidity that many do.
There is a fault in representative government, that we expect representatives to carry out the will of the people. They are only human after all, and will naturally put their own interests, and the interests of their benefactors first. What is missing in the checks and balances, is a check on our representatives in the form of a small sample of common citizens, chosen by lottery. All legislation passed by Congress, should have to be approved by the citizenry before becoming law. A small sample of common citizens, called together to deliberate on legislation, listen to speakers in large groups, and voicing their own opinions in small groups, before voting on legislation, would cure much of what ails our democracy. Though most common citizens lack the ability to author legislation, they know a bad law when the see it. The problem with our "government by the people", is that the people have been left out of government.
"There is a fault in representative government, that we expect representatives to carry out the will of the people."....There is fault in representative government, that we expect people to know what they want.
I'm not so sure that that would work.
After all, it's only 1 political party that systematically betrays its voters: the GOP. So it's NOT "only human after all" to "naturally put their own interests, and the interests of their benefactors first". Democrats continue to NOT do so, proving thereby that it's perfectly "human" and "natural" too to see your job as a lawmaker as a service to the American people, rather than merely to yourself.
On the other hand, if the citizens chosen by lottery happen to be completely brainwashed by Fox News' fake news, they won't be able to approve the right bills either.
So the problem is rather that:
1. Republicans have sold out, thanks to the SC Citizens' United ruling, to a handful of ultra-wealthy donors
2. ordinary citizens who consider themselves to be conservatives don't see what's happening as their media are constantly lying to them and hiding the real facts.
You can only "know a bad law when you see it" if those who "translate" the technical language into language you can understand, can be trusted to respect the truth and scientific reports about that law. Fox News and the GOP leadership have trained their audience to start doing the exact opposite: no longer trust objective reports, but blindly trust fake news.
So the people vote (Trump got a massive turnout, remember?), but based on totally false information. So they vote for those who have been bought by special interests.
Only better access to information can change this.
It's actually not my idea. James Fishkin is promoting deliberative democracy through his books and in practice around the world. His experience has been that people do change their minds after deliberation. The process overcomes the fact that we don't have time to be fully and accurately informed. A small sample, leaving their daily responsibilities behind for a few days, would be well informed before voting. Also, it is not unusual for Democratic voters to disagree on some issues with their candidates, the same is true for Republican voters. Voting on specific legislation would overcome our tribal tendency to be loyal to party.
I just finished reading the NYT Picks among the comments associated with this column. I am impressed by the perspicacity of the commentators. I am struck, though, by the failure of many writers to pay attention to Brooks's stated intention of devoting several columns to the subject of democracy, and the use of Mann's viewpoint as a point of departure. I am sure he is going to touch on many of the concerns these commentators presented. I'm looking forward to his future columns.
Dude, the only thing wrong with our "Democracy", is YOUR party.
"we used to have a certain framework of decency within which we held our debates, and somehow we’ve lost our framework."
Yes, that framework used to be an industrial society in which management and labor needed each other. Now there are too few good jobs for too many people, container ships, and robots. In addition, if all countries intend to grow into a modern economy by means of heavy industry there will be a catastrophic climate problem.
I cannot argue with anything Thomas Mann said about democracy. However, Mr. Brooks is steadfastly a non-materialist who rarely discusses the means of production. Democracy does not "teach citizens to put their art into action." An industrial economy inculcates the use of rational thought and not art when citizens are pushed into a market of consumer goods and transactions. The art produced by that society is a countervail to rational industry, and entirely different than art patronized by feudal monarchies.
As we begin a postindustrial society we are undergoing an ordeal of change. It is a democratic government's duty to set a framework of laws to give everyone a fair chance and a decent life in today's society. We need a framework with an eye to the means of production. The reason why liberal democratic values are in peril is that we ignore the reality of our economy and people are angry.
2
On target, as always. When I chaired the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights, I stated, "any democracy consist of 3 pillars: (1) a viable political opposition, (2) independent and free press, (3) rule of law. In the Trump era, these pillars are at risk. We briefly chatted at Trinity Forum.
1
I've got to hand it to you, Mr. Brooks, when it comes to grandiosity of vision, not to mention sloppy sentimentality, you Republicans are the cat's meow. It would be nice if the grunt work were something you understood. Democrats in Alabama just gave us all a lesson in that.
Mann's ruminations are important and vital. Alas, but happily for him, he never lived through Reality TV, Twitter, and the Internet, which have made our current Hitlers 100 times more dangerous. I remind you that, to "validate" invading Poland, Hitler had to dress up his soldiers in Polish uniforms to stage a fake aggression. No such diligence would be ordered by Trump and Bannon.
1
Nice column, but Brooks doesn't bother to talk about the decline in labor unions as a reason for the situation we find ourselves in.
2
Your long insistence on the Republicans way& our consistent criticism of Pres. Obama make whatever you write now hollow;You had to have seen that the insane Koch Networks that consist of the phony tea party, the rich evangelicals that are no christians but a political pac trying to end DEMOCRACY with the Kochs;the Evangelicals want a theocracy, the Handmaid's Tale is no longer a dystopian tale;the Koch's would love an authoritarian govt run by the wealthythey found their boy in the feckless&gnorant trump&his cabinet of billionaire thieves who mirror himself;the Koch's father was part of the group that started the John Birch Society,the group that plotted JFK's murder:why did they want JFK dead;because their father worked for the Stalin govt drilling oil wells;he hated communism, but he also hated democracy&so do his sons;the Koch boys were raised by a Nazi nanny so they were carefully taught to hate civil rights,&when the current Koch's saw that Kennedy wanted equal rights, voting rights,they labeled him a traitor& had those who specialized in frontier justice murder him;it's all there to be read for those not lazy;The Koch's&their networks bought elections for all GOP but it is the GOP Congress who was told to write this tax fraud;the insanely greedy Kochs think paying taxes is redistribution of their wealth;Evangelicals are Koch operatives with fabricated end times for Israel&got trump to do what he did;Evangelicals dupe the simple with their false bible tirade;
"Will hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and that among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that too secure these rights, governments are instituted among men..."
(Term of "men" pertains to all of mankind. i.e., men and women).
Democracy honors the individual with a respect that acknowledges the value of an individual's mind, heart and soul. It values his dignity and worth to the community.
Today, there are multiple reasons for our world-wide problems but chief among them is the worship of money, which conveys status and power. The lust for and abuse of power and wealth are killing democracy and humanity's innate goodness
is wearing down, it's eroding.
1
I can't add anything to the discussion here. I am moved by the level of discourse in the article and today's column is an early Christmas gift. Its been so long since we had a true forum for honest debate and discussion. Maybe we are not alone in our thinking and amen for that.
Stop comparing kids in college who have strong views about hate speech with our 71 year old authoritarian president and the old white men who make up the republican party who have sold out democratic principles for capitalist gain. College students are often more radical in their thinking (god knows I was) but then you enter your professional life and adjust. You're supposed to be a radical in college. It's the ideal time to explore different political philosophies and one is usually purist of about them. The other side, the old white men in it only for themselves, democracy be damned, have been in the real world for decades and their life lesson is to horde the world's wealth for people just like them. It's not college kids causing the world's problems (even if they can be irritating and shortsighted sometimes), it's the grown ups with all the power.
3
Today, Brooks has taken usual his hackery to a new level: "So over the next few months I’m going to use this column, from time to time, to go back to first principles, to go over the canon of liberal democracy."
Translation: "I have no new ideas, no new insights. So, going forward, when I am really desperate I'll write a facile college-level essay summarizing some pro-democracy philosophers."
Brooks is really lost. He can't even identify who the true enemies of democracy are. Here are his three examples of why our system is in crisis:
1) Congress barely functions
2) The president ignores facts and violates basic decency
3) On college campuses, according to some poll, half of students want to shout down offensive speech; 20% want it violently crushed.
One of these things is not like the other.
Dear God, Brooks! Update your rhetoric! It's 2017. These days no one is buying the "political correctness run amok" conservative talking point for why our country is in trouble. False equivalences like this aren't gonna fly anymore.
It is crystal clear to anyone playing attention that the billionaire class, fascists, Christian theocrats, and white supremacists have taken over your (former?) party. And they have bought/stolen the government. THAT is why our democracy is in crisis.
NYT - are you still really paying this guy?
1
"Renewal means reform."
We need to find and open a mega-size bottle of REFORM.
How are we going to do that?
Our system is by now so complicated, so screwed up that it only functions for the maggots and the parasites and the super rich.
And David Brooks is still a Republican, ...anybody else see cognitive dissonance sitting on Brook's shoulders?
I am not certain how Mann would reconcile his vision of democracy with today's "greed is good" capitalism. It seems (to me) that those with money and power (the Koch brothers) want to screw everyone underneath them out of whatever dollar they may have in their pocket. Somehow we must teach our people to think so they can see just what is taking place under the guise of "freedom" and "the market."
It is beyond me how someone who reveres the ideas and ideals of Thomas Mann as presented in this article can call themselves a Republican.
Starting at least with Nixon's cynical southern strategy and his secret undermining of Johnson's foreign policy on Vietnam, and passing through Reagan's deliberate misrepresentation of who was receiving welfare and his uninformed assertion that 'trees pollute more than cars,' to G. H. W. Bush's push against flag burning and racial dog whistling about Willie Horton, to G. W. Bush's dissembling about global warming and dishonest march to war against Iraq, to the long time catering to religious voters on issues like the Theory of Evolution and women's and gay rights, to the decades long denial of the science of global warming, to promoting anti-intellectualism, to the silence on the Citizens United decision, to blocking Obama's judicial appointments, to, heck, just about everything Trump says and does, the GOP has done its best to ignore all that Mann and Democracy stood and stand for.
The Republican Party promotes demagoguery, deliberate dishonesty, and destructive division. How could someone who espouses liberal democracy support them?
1
Truly stunning how perfectly Mann's depiction of the demagogues who threaten democracies fits our "President".
2
One-term elections might save democracies from themselves. They would get rid of the nauseating tendency of elected officials to act with an eye on the next election, which corrupts their policy-making while they are in office. It would de-professionalize politics and allow a constant rejuvenation of the pool of elected officials, instead of the maintenance of the geriatric preserve it has tuned into. It would strengthen the involvement of communities in politics, instead of their perpetual alienation and frustration in the sea of hypocrisy that has become a defining feature of our "democratic" life. Why is this one-term possibility hardly ever debated? I am eager to hear any arguments against it.
If humans are so morally responsible, how do we find ourselves in the difficulties we currently face? The stories we tell ourselves about the pre-eminence of man, that are repeated in this article, are not true. They are self absorbed interpretations that have allowed us to act badly as stewards, forgive ourselves and ignore our irresponsible behavior. Trump is the perfect President for the time as this is so flagrantly on display. We are not the magnanimous creatures described here, but are bit players who struggle to engage the humility required to acknowledge our collaborative role to maintain life on this planet. Sad, as we may not be able to stop our descent into self destruction.
1
It is tragic that the FCC has repealed the Net Neutrality regulations. In true right-wing form, ignoring the overwhelming will of Americans, the Republican administration has abridged the First Amendment without leaving their fingerprints on it.
By outsourcing the ability to muzzle speech to mega-corporations, who (yes, corporations are persons, according to the Supreme Court) can stifle speech and information flow with impunity, they have empowered private industry to do what government has always been constitutionally barred from doing.
Does anyone believe that the interests of the mega-corporations, and the million- and billionaires at their helms, align with those of average Americans? I hardly think so.
Is it possible that anyone will be able to establish that these industries are no more than government agents, carrying out the unconstitutional deeds as a proxy for a party in power that has run amok? The Right Wing has tried, fairly successfully, to pollute the information pool with Faux News, Breitbart, InfoWars, etc. in the past. I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse until there is a massive change in our representation in DC.
For that change to occur, our society needs to learn how to think, instead of what to think. But that requires honest education, Betsy….
1
Bravo - for this column and the larger project of which it is just the beginning!
Good day to print this - alongside Dr. Krugman's piece on the GOP's utter, naked contempt for the working class. You read it here, Trump-state voters: the people you've put in charge see you as drones and fodder, nothing more. They don't think you have a right to a comfortable, decent life of dignity and freedom. And yet you keep voting for them. It beggars belief.
"In short, we used to have a certain framework of decency within which we held our debates, and somehow we’ve lost our framework."
You aren't seriously going to move on from that and pretend you have no idea the republican party is responsible for 100% of it are you?
"We have become democrats by habit and no longer defend our system with a fervent faith."
Again same response.
"original sin" is actually the method by which monarchs and theocrats convince people they are intrinsically inferior the better to subjugate them while obtaining worship and loyalty from them.
"The authoritarians and the demagogues subjugate action through bullying and they subjugate thought by arousing mob psychology."
This is reagan and the republican party he created in a nutshell. Listen to any speech by any of them from the last 37 years, it will fit perfectly.
“This is the contempt of pure reason, the denial and violation of truth in favor of power and the interests of the state, the appeal to the lower instincts, to so-called ‘feeling,’ the release of stupidity and evil from the discipline of reason and intelligence.” The "state" in that quote is in their eyes the GOP itself. The destruction of the state we built is their intent.
"They possess the “kind of contempt which strives with all its might to degrade and corrupt humanity in order to force the people to do its will.”
A more perfect description of the GOP for the last 38 years I could not write myself.
1
Democracy can be understood by understanding its premises.
Man is a social animal.
Before society existed Man existed in an amoral “state of nature “ which Hobbes defined as “all against all”
The state is presumed to exist through a “social contract”. But, is it a compact “between men” to voluntarily impose an omnipotent sovereign , himself bound by contract with them, who will preserve peace,life liberty, and property (Locke and Rousseau)?
Alternatively, is the sovereign above the social contract? Is his will above the law he himself imposes upon the people? Do the peope, his subjects, exist to serve him?
In more modern terms these this Enlightenment questionsb are reduced to a single question. Do the people exist for the greater good of the stae, or is the state an institution empowered by the people to protect and preserve the greater good of its people? In a word, is the state or is the people sovereign? Since the Glorious English Revolution, the Scottish and French Enlightenments, and the American and French Revolutions, Western political theory has affirmed that the state exists to serve the greater good of its people. When “subjects” became “citizens”, autocracy of the state became the sovereignity of the peope. The state became the people’s instrument for advancing their welfare. “Everything else is commentary”.
What a strange, ignorant premise to build a defense of democracy on Thomas Mann. Without the arrogant, murderous jingoism of dominant German intellectuals like him advocating the horrors and idiocy of World War I, there likely would have been no Hitler, no World War II and no holocaust. Mann wholeheartedly supported World War I and even defended German atrocities as a laudable part of his culture. He argued over and over that patriotism, nationalism, and conservativism were constitutive for German society, and he vehemently attacked those advocating progressive or democratic values, as unpatriotic or anti-German. He celebrated War as a highly welcome departure from the lures of civilizational affluence, a return to mystical life values, and a preservation of national characteristics. This fascist type thinking was tremendously influential until D-Day and Stalingrad.
1
"Democracy, Mann continues, is the only system built on respect for the infinite dignity of each individual man and woman, on each person’s moral striving for freedom, justice and truth. "
I think Mann, and Brooks in quoting him, have shared an aspirational ideal that I fear is no longer even a consideration in what we now call Democracy.
For all our national conversation about human rights and basic decency, we are living in a society whose very structure is based on the consumption of goods and services. The goal of a week in a luxury resort seems more compelling than the eradication of poverty. One is possible through a cohesive desire of society, the other generally on individual ambition.
Perhaps if we keep examining our stray from the basic tenets of Democracy we have a chance of righting the course. Sadly, I find little reason for optimism at this point in time.
3
Linsey Graham and Chris Collins both explained, very succinctly, why they will vote for the tax bill. "My donors will no longer support me if I do not support the tax bill."
Citizens United destroys Democracy.
6
David, returning to the beauty of principle, honor, and purpose is laudable. now is not the time to hide behind history but to confront the present evil that inhabits our country and may I fest the world.
Looking backward during a time requiring present and forward thinking helps little. Reminding us of who we were and what evils exist as generalities is begging the question.
We are at a nadir in our recent time requiring active participation and fierce resistance to the aberration that is upon us.
Let’s not ruminate but rather take an active role in protecting ourselves from despotism, tribalism, and absent compassion for the other.
4
Perhaps college students are in favor of shouting down offensive speech because, in the wake of Citizens United, they lack the necessary resources to be heard over the din of paid-for propaganda. The billion dollar brainwashing that has more than one third of the electorate vexing "Obamacare," hating "liberals," denying man-made climate destabilization, and calling for ever greater access to guns capable of mass destruction at the same time they grieve the consequences of such things, is at the heart of the ongoing degradation of the public square and great thinking. Now that the Republican Party has teamed up the likes of the Koch Brothers, ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and Monsanto to turn most of the means of public discourse into a high volume echo chamber for right-wing propaganda and outright lies -- with little recourse due to increasingly stacked courts -- shouting down in the flesh speakers while raising a placard or a banner before being hauled off by enforcers of the GOP party line is about all those students can do to get a word in edgewise.
4
"Original sin “is the deep feeling of man as a spiritual being for his natural infirmities and limitations, above which he raises himself through spirit.”"
An alternative conception of democracy, one that doesn't need any original sin theory, is that of Spinoza. For him, democracy is the best political system (= what leads in the best possible way to a thriving society and thriving individuals) because it allows citizens to bundle their intellectual forces and as such become more intelligent, when it comes to decisions regarding society as a whole, than when a handful of men (oligarchy) or one single man (dictatorship) takes all decisions.
The underlying idea here is, of course, that before all citizens CAN take a decision together, they HAVE to engage in real debates. That allows for arguments to be evaluated rather than blindly believed, so that the best ones remain and become the basis of political decisions and new laws.
In today's society, however, organizing those debates among those who have the right to vote has become extremely complicated. Not only is the number of voters much larger than in the 17th century, there's also the gigantic problem of the unequal access to proven scientific information.
That means that today, we will have to invent a NEW form of democracy, where intense debate among citizens who think differently is again something we all regularly engage in.
It's not a single man's "spirit" that will end populism, it's all of us together ...
3
Dear David, To protect our democracy, can we please add an additional seven lines to Article II of the constitution?
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident ...
And no person shall be eligible to that office who does not pass a true/false questionnaire on the constitution; who will not release all tax records for the past 10 years; and who is guilty of incidents of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and foreign collusion detrimental to the democracy of the United States.
2
Well, well, Mr. Brooks, so you couldn't stand the heat and got out of the kitchen. Your association with the Republican Party for years has given it a kind of pious fiat that has been no less dangerous than the natural forces of greed and power that threaten all Democracies . Your retreat into a more romantic time, when paternalism of the altruistic rich and famous--as you remember it---may be the last cozy nest you'll occupy. There are two philosophers whose nefarious theories have us by the throat: Machiavelli, and Ayn Rand. Do what you can to revive the teachings of more palatable thinkers, at least you will be doing less harm than you have done for the nation by your loyalty to the Republican party.
1
Brooks is dead wrong. Thomas Mann is not just "the greatest novelist of his era." He is the greatest novelist of all time. He wrote the "Magic Mountain," "Buddenbrooks," "Joseph and His Brothers," "Dr. Faustus," "Death in Venice" ... each alone would justify a Nobel Prize. Together, they are an incomparable--well, there's Shakespeare, but he wasn't a novelist--output of a single mind. The power of Mann's genius, and common sense, is awe-inspiring. And as Brooks points out, his thoughts are as relevant today as they were in the 1930s.
2
"(A)ll they see is the grubby striving for money and power and attention."
While this statement provides an accurate summation of our current President and his henchmen, it points to the inherent incompatibility of capitalism and democracy. Is it just coincidence that socialist democracies consistently rank at the top of most every social and economic index available?
Our democracy fell off the cliff when Ronald Reagan declared government to be "the" problem. His simplistic solution was to get rid of it. Certainly, this dogma persists as the battle cry of republicans to this day. Their goal is to realize virtually unrestrained capitalism which is the anathema of democracy, just as communism betrays socialism.
In the end, corporate takeovers defined by the central goal of market control and/or dominance is no different than fascist ideals of taking over society. Everybody, it seems, wants to be king (or queen). Does Rupert Murdoch care if his ruthless ambition forces his competitors to live on the streets, swelling the ranks of the homeless? It's "just business" he would tell you.
1
Let's not forget that Brooks was on the anti-Clinton train before the Dem Convention, writing in early 2016 his infamous article that opined: "How can we like Hillary if we don't know what she likes to do for fun?" He didn't bother to ask that question about Bernie Sanders. The same article was instrumental in creating the Clinton policy wonk persona into a "workaholic" pejorative. Contrast that with Sanders, who had no stable work history in any job before becoming mayor of Burlington at age 40. It's ironic that Brooks should wax poetic about democracy and it's threats, when he actively participated in the alt-Left demagoguery against Clinton.
Mr. Brooks,
Thank you for this column. I will certainly now read Thomas Mann.
Even if Democracy 'self corrects' eventually, here, in USA, it will take decades, many, and in between, there is quite likely to be major violent disruption of some sort or another. We're probably fairly early in the downward spiral of our system. Long way to go to bottom.
Democracy works ONLY with an educated AND well instructed population. PERIOD.
I am presently in Latin America and it is possible to affirm with little error that the only resemblance of democracy here is that they conduct elections.
Almost all political institutions, parties and associations are rigged by "the powerful" usual. Corruption is invariably catastrophic and rampant.
And, the people! The people believe either what's convenient to believe or they have been bought.
Very few nations can say and demonstrate that their system is democracy at work.
1
Well done, David Brooks!
Trump gave me a call yesterday and told me exactly when he will pull the plug on Democracy. He will fire Mueller on December 22, 2017 and we will officially be living in a fascist country. Mark your calendar. The nuclear devastation of North Korea will soon follow.
LIBERAL Democracy. Using the L word will undoubtedly turn off your folks on the right, and that is a big part of the problem. They won't read past that word, and Thomas Mann is not on Fox and Friends or on Hannity. And Nazi sympathizers might be ok if they vote for a tax cut or a conservative Supreme Court judge. And judges can't just be judges, they have to be conservative. Forget about judges being the bulwark against the tyranny of the majority, we need "conservative" judges so they can be the enforcers of the tyranny of the minority.
My point, you have your work cut out if you wish to effect any change. Maybe publishing this op-ed on breibart or fox will do more good, because I suspect in the NYT, you may just be preaching to the choir. And perhaps stop cutting any slack to the wilfully ignorant.
1
Place David Brook in a new category:
Recovering Republican
4
A very "selective" understanding of Thomas Mann and "The Glory of Democracy".
Maybe it got lost in translation that Mann was an ardent supporter of WW1, the "Entscheidungskampf" between the metaphysical German nation and its inferior Western neighbors.
Ignoring Mann's ultraconservatism and his life-long support of war is a poor way of paying tribute to his genius.
But I guess one shouldn't be surprise that this American op-ed columnist lauds the guy who said "It is not good when people no longer believe in war" as a strong believer in democracy.
He was actually disgusted with the Western democracies which had done so little to aid the young Weimar Republic while there was still time to discourage Hitler.
Mann retained certain reservations about some facets of traditional democracy his whole life, even after he befriended and publicly endorsed Roosevelt and went so far as to campaign for his fourth term.
Yet, he was quoted in The New York Times (18 June 1950) "Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist." That's what his "calls for economic and political reform" were. He wouldn't want to have anything to do with conservatives like Mr.Brooks or the Republican Party, before or after Trump.
I guess that doesn't fit into Mr.Brooks' view of Thomas Mann either.
In fact, he was so disillusioned with America, Republicans and their McCarthyism, the by then US citizen Mann left and returned to Switzerland where he died.
Now the Ds are the neo-McCarthyites.
Disgusting.
2
If you're going the Mann route, how about a metaphorical production of "Death in Venice"? The GOP as the aged, moribund Ashenbach, creepily courting 14-yr-old Tadzio, played by the nascent, racist alt-Right movement.
4
Nice column, Mr. Brooks. Here's a quote. Addressed to British novelist, E. M. Forster by British poet, W. H. Auden. (Oh these Brits! So fond of a short snappy surname, preceded by two initials):
"When we rush down the slope of hate with gladness,
You trip us up like an unnoticed stone
And just when we are closeted with madness,
You interrupt us like the telephone."
Which, I guess, is what you propose to do right now, Mr. Brooks. Call us back--call us back--call us back from our worst impulses (and be honest! we all have them). From our inner beast. From the darkness ever lurking in our own hearts.
What the Germans used to call "das innere Schweinhund"--the shameful, disreputable part of us we try and conceal.
Except nowadays--we aren't trying that hard. The inner darkness is coming out--in huge horrific patches. Everywhere in this fair land.
Incredible! that Thomas Mann should have written such a book in 1938. How dark the world was back then! Over the next several years, that darkness deepened. Black night reigned over much of the world.
Two thousand seventeen isn't 1938.
But we have darkness of our own to deal with. To conquer. If we can.
Best to you, Mr. Brooks.
BE--like Auden's E. M. Forster.
"Trip us up" as it were. "Interrupt us."
We need it.
2
Whether it was a quote by Mussolini or Giovanni Gentile, it holds true - & it's one that Mr. Brooks ought to be more cognizant of: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state & corporate power."
Such is the fading "glory" that we call democracy. It no longer deserves a capital "D" since it has been co-opted, stolen, corrupted, perverted, & has become a system that serves only the very rich & powerful, to the exclusion of all others. This "glory" that Mr. Brooks wistfully refers to now subverts other countries & elections, assassinates leader of whom we do not approve, invades other sovereign nations, acts as the policeman of the world, presents faux candidates for it's own unwashed masses to vote for, & ignores & impoverishes native Americans, blacks, poor whites, & anyone who doesn't fit the profile of the 1%.
Sadly this condition did not manifest itself in this perverted administration, but has had roots that have grown for many decades, nourished by the past crop of elites whose names are now held up as icons of morality & justice, when in truth they are neither. Obama, Clinton, Bush, Hillary, Reagan…the list goes on & on.
Every one of them has tried to "export" democracy to others from the barrel of a gun. Everyone of them has enriched themselves at the trough of Wall Street & their corporate masters. Instead of quoting from Mann's "Coming Victory of Democracy" he should have referenced "Felix Krull - Confidence Man" instead.
1
Great comment. Kudos.
People need to get over the simplistic Dump Trump syndrome
Instead, dump capitalism with its bourgeoisie electoral politics.
Democrats and Republicans are both corporate driven entities that are also thoroughly entrenched within the military industrial complex. Mass failure to recognize this makes much of the US populace culpable in the threat “their” country poses to world peace.
Democrat politicians and liberal media pundits never said a thing about Barack Obama’s nefarious record of bombing the same predominately Muslim nations that Donald Trump banned.
Trump is a xenophobic, war mongering buffoon.
However, the potential end result of some of his policies are not far off of the beaten path that many Republican and Democrats, alike, have taken.
In the bizarro world of the US two-party dictatorship, it is pick your poison.
Before you continue with your promise to "go over the canon of liberal democracy" please use your position denouncing the threat to this liberal democracy the nation faces, starting with a large segment of the populace that voted for and continues to cheer a psychopath, regardless his insane remarks and behavior and a GOP congress that possibly? are revulsed (hopefully) but failed by capitulating to a demagog that threatens the very Constitution they took oath to support and defend.
After watching a minority hijack the system time and time again, I have a new definition for American democracy: we ELECT our dictators.
"put money in the service of production, production in the service of humanity, and humanity itself in the service of an ideal "
If Obama had said that, you would have called him a socialist radical ....
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Lamentable that both sides use what should be an uplifting article to bash the opposing side.
2
To borrow a phrase, " But we persist." Thank you Mr. Brooks.
America has lived by these principles before and can do so again. As a Malibu surfer dude once told me, "Don't block the sunlight of the spirit, man."
Thomas Mann had a lot on his conscience in 1938. During World War I, in "Reflections of an Unpolitical Man," he had celebrated the anti-democratic culture of Imperial Germany against decadent democratic western civilization. This was the exact rhetoric later picked up by the Nazis, so in this way Mann had contributed to the rise of Hitler.
Perhaps this is why Mann appeals so much to Brooks, whose earlier anti-Democratic rhetoric contributed to the rise of Trump in the same way.
"We have a president who ignores facts and violates basic decency"
Correction, we have a president who is a congenital liar and who violates every single manner of decency.
More concerning, is that we have an electorate and two houses of congress which marginally supports him and a press which is abiding by Marquis of Queensbury rules during a mortar attack.
How long will we continue to have our democracy blown to smithereens by this beast?
1
Accordingly to David Brooks, according to Thomas Mann, "man is made in God's image," unlike snakes and ants and monkeys, I guess. That's reassuring.
What does God look like exactly? A guy's guy? He's got a white beard, right?
Questions regarding man's relationship to God's image get a bit complicated if one focuses on Thomas Mann's long story, "Death in Venice," rather than on his political lectures. The story describes an older disappointed author vacationing by an Italian beach. The older man gradually falls in love with a heavenly young boy. Then he dies because he can't tear himself away from the beach resort, despite signs of an incoming plague.
Sorry, but I do dread reading David Brooks's promised future essays cherry-picking dead male authors for wisdom about democracy and God.
I will be curious to see if Brooks ever seriously quotes a woman. And will be curious to find out whether he ever has the courage to face the fact that his beloved Republican Party, now a shameful, plagued, anti-democratic, perhaps fascist power, was never as gentlemanly and genteel as he assumed. He has been ignoring the incoming, infectious winds for a long time.
Once again, David ignores perhaps the most critical political problem - at what point do you stop tolerating the intolerant? In Brooksworld those who say "no more" to the bigots seem always to be morally equivalent to the hatemongers they oppose. Please stop with the bromides, David. If we could all just get along, we wouldn't be wrestling with intolerance by definition.
A very rare occurrence, I agree with David Brooks. To be truthful I agree with Thomas Mann. Because of past obvious bias and poor judgement on his part, I will reserve judgement on Mr. Brooks. Should he show the maturity and equanimity suggested in this article I will be supportive. Should he revert to the slovenly and slavish support of socialist/democrat/"progressive" lies I will again vigorously point that out.
Welcome to the world of Thomas Mann, now it is your turn to live up to it's tenants.
"They despise the masses ... while they make themselves the mouthpiece of vulgar opinion." Sound like anyone familiar? Bannon in particular willfully strives to degrade and corrupt others, with contempt of reason and the denial of truth, to effectuate the release of stupidity and evil and to get his followers to listen to him. All we can do is seek justice, freedom and truth. Thanks David. I look forward to your future columns in this vein.
I have read Mann (pro tip: if you like Tolstoy, you’ll like Mann), and agree his very articulate perspective, given his background, has value, I can’t help but notice the irony that Brooks elevates an outsiders’ opinion on “American democratic principles.” Sheesh.
What I see over and over again, is GOP’s amazing flexibly of principle over honor and decency, and exploitation of people too ignorant to smell the long con. Maybe bubba will finally awake to harsh reality when his internet porn habit becomes too expensive?
Dems, while not perfect personally...Bill Clinton comes to mind...at least are fighting for the EVERYMAN, not just captains of industry and the 1%ers.
"On college campuses, according to a Brookings/UCLA survey, 50 percent of students believe that “offensive” speech should be shouted down and 20 percent believe it should be violently crushed."
i can't blame them. the propaganda is now pervasive through the media and has no filters. no "adults" to monitor the flow. this includes you david brooks. so why would they want it on their campuses? at least this is one place where they can have an impact on the lies and the lying liars that tell them.
The President and his party work to destroy the fabric on this country to reward its wealthy donors, ignoring facts and logic in their single-minded pursuit. Some college students say stupid stuff to a pollster. Equivalence!
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Mann was only partially correct when you claim "that democracy is not just about politics; it’s about the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial." What he and you ignore is what his contemporary, Cal Jung, called the "collective conscious." It is the beliefs of the group that matter most in society. Unfortunately, with Donald Trump and his white supremacist, neo-Nazi "America First" agenda we are faced with the same threats here that forced Mann to flee Germany in the 1930's. Democracy is a very fragile exercise in group behavior as Benjamin Franklin warned us. With an openly racist, misogynist President constantly trying to undermine basic democratic institutions like the "freedom of the press" and the "rule of law" the battle to save our democracy from an autocracy of oligarchs is being waged everyday across America. It's literally a new civil war to see if the Constitution is strong enough to withstand the daily attacks of an autocratic Executive and an over compliant Legislative branch. It is not surprising that an opposition, often equally virulent, has arisen. If students fighting for democracy "shout down" the voices of the very dark collective trying to undermine it, is it appropriate to imply that they are subverting it?
Mr. Brooks:
As always, you attempt to hide behind the past. Now you are going to give us a series of civic lessons. At the end of this noble enterprise where will you attempt to lead us? It will take more than bread crumbs to get us out of the ignorant wilderness of Trumplandia.
"It's the economy, stupid", remember that line? Well, first principle: "provide for the common welfare". Why are you not writing about how Citizens United
has gutted our democracy and paved the way for the current tax bill? Or are you blind to the rapacious nature of the new/old capitalism? Do you still think "corporations are people, my friend"? The problem is obvious, my friend.
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Don't blame democracy for Donald Trump and Roy Moore; blame the once Grand Old Party.
I would like so much if any writer who has some kind of literate culture will respect it in front of other readers instead of making a flag of democracy under which he says what he really thinks about current politics.
To make Thomas Mann as the best writer of his time is a overstatement, at least pair with Kant being the best of his since he wrote " For perpetual peace". They both could be your favorite writers- probably until the next article coupled with any new bold assessment at hand for the sake of your argument.
"Unlike other animals, humans are morally responsible", you has written.
Since when, by grace, this is a compelling argument in philosophy? What exactly are you implying with the words "Unlike other animals"?
Did it occur to you to observe families of animals in the country? Has it happen to you to notice -evidently not- how parents of animals instructs their spawns to live?? Is it morally irresponsible for them to do that? How and why exactly the animals should act as morally irresponsabile with each other and humans should not in the same hard and tough ambient where their life ( this, i suppose, would be your point in answering this ) are at stake. It comes down to have an articulate thought, by using your reason-THIS is what make human humans- to make your choice.
Napoleon was hailed as the savior and a brilliant man, and he was until he won, i.e until he veered toward Russia, condemning on his way to burning Moscow half of his army. How moral!
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Brooks and Mann are idealists. History is replete with examples of democracies spending themselves into oblivion via government largess. That is a major deficiency of our representative Republic and will be our downfall if not curtailed. Trump has called out the swamp monsters who fight unnecessary wars and took us 20 trillion in debt. He is a flawed messenger but he is right about DC.
The "glory" of democracy may well be our "infinite dignity" as moral individuals, but the dynamite of democracy is its commitment to a substantial equality among and between all of us. That has been the hardest pill for Americans to swallow ever since Jefferson--a slaveowner, remember--gave us the notion that we are indeed created equal. But "all" of us? Who are "we"? Clearly our current president gags on that pill, for he is one of many who still fear it will blow up in their mouths. But it's past time to swallow it down, admit everyone to the club, and get on with being (small d) democrats, living dangerously among our equals.
All social organisations are triangular, the steeper, the more dictatorial, the flatter, the more democratic. Each of them, secular or religious, are ruled by those on the top, some in the name of the respective God, other by the steel fist of the tyrants or by the "consent by the masses". Logically, a "true" democracy" can only exist in a society that is socially horizontal, the only system in which each and all of the citizens are, equally women and men, are equal; individualism in its purest form, one that cannot ever exist in the real world. Why so? Because such, perfect, equality presumes that each individual is endowed with the same value of assets - especially landed property and shares - and the same level of intelligence, education, income, as well as the same "drive for success". And, last but not least - in particular reference to the Jewish and Christian faiths, the same respect for and practice of INTEGRITY, which means, the same moral adherence to the "Will of God". However, faced with the image of God as the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent ruler over mankind, we're left with the question whether there can ever be a true democracy?
Respectfully submitted, Adalbert Lallier
All this is true, but not all "political parties and institutions" are equal sinners here. The rot is mainly with the Republicans, with the institutional GOP, with the small government philosophy and with our "undemocratic" political system. Making the US Constitution into a sacred cow just added to the decline of the dignity of democratic principles and institutions. It will take many years to correct, if ever.
Since last November’s election I’ve thought several times about Mann’s story/novella “Mario and the Magician” and how the strong evil figure of the cloaked magician is revealed to have no substance once even a young innocent overcomes his willingness to be victimized and intimidated by the specter of power. I’d recommend the story as worth a reread.
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Why is it that your column today evoked thoughts of my childhood and Dr. Morbius in " Forbidden Planet" whose id destroys the planet Altair. He didn't get it until the very moment of total destruction and neither will the GOP. All of your platitudes will not save that party or people like you who have been it handmaidens.
It sounds like a religious sermon. Dignity of man( Mann excluded women),
justice, truth are values taught by the founders of major religions.
It is impossible to practice these values in a political system. The
election campaign involves big money from the wealthy, lies about
the opponents( willie Horton against Dukakis, John McCain has a
black child, swift boaters against John Kerry) false promises( untruths)
like creating jobs for middle class while filling cabinets with billionaires
and giving tax cuts to the corporations and rich while raising my tax.
Democracy in practice is not the same as in the text book.
They say great civilizations last 200-300 years. If that's true, then America's sell-by date is fast approaching.
If more "conservatives" had a mind like Brooks', positions on issues would be fare less of an issue.
You're supposedly an intelligent person but you are unable to connect the dots of the demonize of democracy around the world. When did it start? Some could say in Iran in the 50's when we helped overthrow a democratic elected ruler and installed one of the religious guards. Then 1973 when we did the same in Chile and on it goes throughout the world.
Milton Friedman Disaster Capitalism, don't let a disaster be lost on the people, take advantage and buy up everything in site for pennies on the dollar.
Reagan and Thatcher put it more on the world stage and neo liberalism of DNC, and then Bush put corporation in charge. Obama continued the disastrous wars inequality run rampant. Now we have corruption so severe that it in our face but can it be seen by some.
John Adams believed that democracy always commits suicide (and a lot of worse things about it). I don't think it has to do so, but individual rights must remain protected and basic enlightenment values have to remain in people's hearts. But, we also need balance between different interests and between gov't and individuals - that means moderation. It doesn't seem like a majority of people want moderation - they want their side to win, period. That's self-interest, and it is natural, circling back - the reason we need democracy and individual rights. Some side has to win disputes, at least temporarily, but only to a point.
There is a lot of dissension right now and its growing. People are forming into groups by some self-appointed identity. It seems to me that what passes for "civil rights" now is a reversal of MLK. Jr.'s call for us to judge one another by our characters and to go back to judging one another by our skin color or some other superficial identification. It's not just neo-Nazis and the KKK (a tiny number of people) who believe this anymore - it is also people who have decided they are victims who believe it and there are a lot more of them. This spirit of victimization is destructive, but it is rampant in our society right now and has the approbation of the media and many in gov't. Worse, as Mr. B pointed out, young people in particular seem to feel violence and/or intimidation is the right path. That way leads fascism, and we have seen some recently.
Mr. Brooks Morality is a function of evolution. For some unknown reason right feels good and wrong feels bad. It is not a function of religion, it is a function of Darwins theory of survival of the fittest. Groups of people that cooperate live, groups of people that oppose cooperation and sharing die. As an atheist I consider myself one of the best kinds of humans. I do not do good out of fear I do it as a selfish function of feeling good. Religion for any other purpose than giving thanks becomes the product of power and control ultimately leading to subjugation and ultimate evil. We are witnessing this today in our society. The righteous care not for the collective good but to only impose their beliefs on others. Unfortunately it has gone one step further it is being used as a means not only for control but for wealth. Do us all a favor, Lay off the religious aspects when going forward, talk to the hypocrisy that is religion, the fascism that religion represents.
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In his own way I think mr Brooks wrote this hoping the upset in Alabama spawns a contagious reawakening of true democracy and hope for the future of our republic
Enjoyable and informative. At last, a column that didn't include the trope about "Democrats always want a big governemnt top down solution with lots of spending to solve problems, while Republicans trust people to do the right thing with limited government.....". About time, David.
You bask in fantasy, Mr. Brooks. Democracy demands an informed and educated populace. We don't have that. Ergo, we have Trump.
Now if only we lived in one...( see Electoral College, gerrymandering, two-party monopoly, etc)
My first exposure to Thomas Mann was a college course taught by a brilliant professor, "The Continental Novel." Mann's "Buddenbrooks," was one of his writings that led to his Nobel in Literature in 1929. "Death in Venice,"(1971, a Visconti work with music by Gustav Mahler that was also new to me with its divine use of his Symphony No. 5 and the sensual Adagietto movement) a lovely novella whose plot reveals Mann's homoerotic leanings, if chaste, and was filmed with Dirk Bogarde as the protagonist, Aschenbach. The young Tadzio, the object of Aschenbach obsession, was based on a real-life figure in Mann's life. And there is a lovely autobio of the person. Alas, it won an Oscar only for its costumes. And his short story that's generally published in a collection, "Death in Venice and Other Stories," "Tonio Kruger," is one of the most compelling treatments of the gifted child in society. He's also accused of being an anti-Semite. But his writings and speeches on democracy are worthy of Brooks' allusions. If asked to recommend a novel to Trump, "Buddenbrooks" would be so appropriate. Mann deals with a German family of burghers from early penury to great wealth to abject failure in three generations. While the size of the novel would likely suit non-reader Trump as a doorstop, the Trump family future, even with the obscene tax cut that favors him and his ilk, the arrogant ignorance will be its undoing.
All institutions grow weak as they grow old. The hierarchical structures of institutions eventually degrade the institution because the inept people within the organization collude to promote themselves, and they win eventually because they outnumber the capable. With all our weak institutions filled with inept people who have clawed their way to a level that is beyond their capabilities we will increasingly be incapable of defending the republic against these cyclic downturns in rationality and reason. Trump and the GOP would like to set up a dictatorship. Will they succeed this time? Maybe not, but if we don't develop institutions that advance the capable based on merit we will fail. If not this time, then in the future. It is not clear to me that Americans want a merit based approach. Most believe in corruption, or are confused by a cult. Either way, most are not seeking justice, freedom and truth. Democracy can renew itself, but only after major suffering, and while some of us (the minority) want democracy to survive, it is not certain that it will. It is not clear that most Americans want democracy to survive. Anyway, Jerusalem is now the capital of Israel, so Jesus is now coming to take the evangelicals to heaven and to torture and punish the rest of us, so the continued existence of the US is moot.
We are witnessing the destruction of our democracy from within our government. Witness the spectre of a political party disenfranchising the MAJORITY of voters (by number) by disallowing our elected representatives of opposing parties to participate in crafting legislation is daily. Congress now publicly states the rush for this bill is for their own gain: donor payback. This is the one truth uttered in defense of the shoddiness, haste, and inequities; calling it a middle class tax cut when the benefits flow to the 1% and large corporations is a betrayal of all of us. Mnuchin tells us his dept's analysis corroborates his statements -- but there is no analysis. Every nonpartisan agency both governmental and independent as checks on the political maneuverings of our nation's finances state that the basic assumptions underlying the GOP tax bill are false and harmful for years to come.
At the state level, political parties are controlling who votes and how these votes are counted -- by political party association.
The rot starts from the top: a corrupt, dishonest and incompetent President, who by his refusal to admit their interference this past election has stymied remedial work to protect our election integrity both nationwide and statewide going forward.
Finally, money DOES corrupt. Corporations are NOT people. And we now see no shame in our government telling us they are governing by donation size.
David
We do not have a democracy. That is the major problem. 20% of voters control a majority of the Senate. Electoral College and House of Representative rules also favor small population states. Gerrymandering and voter suppression also prevent truly fair and equal representation. Sadly, the GOP has been most efficient at exploiting these structural flaws. They are in the muck fighting dirty with 'rules' on their side. Your philosophy lessons are nice, but so much fluff.
A novelist may write beautifully about democracy, but artists
generally are naive about politics. As an engineer -- a software
engineer -- I'm looking for something more operational.
If democracy is so great, why hasn't it supplanted undemocratic
regimes everywhere by now? It might be that any kind of regime
can deliver enough personal freedom and goods to satisfy most of
the people most of the time. It might be that only as the average
degree of education rises will the demand for better politics
rise with it.
"If democracy is so great, why hasn't it supplanted undemocratic
regimes everywhere by now?"
Because you are looking for something "operational" when the answer is in your mirror.
Talking about serving humanity, when Mann came to America Buckminster Fuller had been summoned to Washington DC, appointed to the Board of Economic Warfare and he gave weekly briefing on global resources and human living requirements based on his concept of SYNERGY: The strength of the Whole always exceeds the strengths of the parts. His proposals for economic reform to put technology and production in the service of humanity would be unsatisfactory to those investors driven just by profits. Bucky is an example of a great human being who lived in service of an ideal which gives meaning to life. We should defend and include in our curriculum citizens like him instead of taking their values for granted.
As a zoologist, I have difficulty reconciling Rousseau’s (and Adam Smith’s, for that matter) assumptions about natural human tendencies with Darwin’s conclusions a century later. I enjoyed "Der Zauberberg", but never thought it realistic. Strictly democratic societies will tend toward tyranny of the majority. Tribalism is another natural tendency, and is faith-based even in the absence of religion. Polarization is inevitable where tribalism flourishes. I would love to have your power of thought so I could use it to construct a scenario that would start with recognizing humans as what they are, biologically, and progress to a society where tribalism is channeled constructively. Yes, it would be artificial. But that would be O.K. as long as we recognized that the artificiality required real commitment to maintain. And it would allow statesmen to flourish.
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Wonderful column and ambition to try and understand the first principles that made us a better country, not perfect, but better. I look forward to the coming columns.
I have never read Mann (but will now), but am struck with his use of the word "individual". I applaud denouncing fascism, propagandists and demagogues, but I wish the "vernacular" could begin infusing a more societal view. We all exist within an interdependent society (not just locally, but globally) and through a socially responsible collective can raise society to amazing heights. Maybe Mann believed this as well - not sure - I need to go to the library.
We are each elements of a scale-independent self-assembly process. Our political processes are much the same from the level of co-op boards to the United Nations.
Mann's view of democracy does not oppose your view of a specifically public interest. Mann simply realized that the thing that makes democracy superior is that it recognizes the innate dignity (and fragility) of human beings. In other words, Jim, you are addressing what we should use democracy to do, and I agree with you. Mann is speaking to why democracy is the best mechanism for pursuing those ideals; because it recognizes both the dignity and the fleeting nature of an individual life.
Mr. Brooks, I struggle so much with your articles, because you supported those who brought us Trump et al, the logical extension of conservative thought. Greed is good...it is a motivator...unbridled capitalism brings us the degradation of the individual. It is the opposite of the "infinite dignity of individual men and women." NOW you're upset. NOW you are calling for everyone to worry about democracy and its elemental principles. You have your NYC apartment with its view of the dancers, the great lifestyle, etc. It is only now when you see the total devastation of all we hold dear that you are suddenly concerned about the vulnerable individuals. You know what supports the dignity of individual men and women? Affordable and readily available HEALTHCARE. EDUCATION. WORKER RIGHTS. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS. You and your ilk were against all of these (for others, you already had yours) and now you are worried? HAHA. It would be funny if it wasn't so dangerously tragic.
2
The first amendment stipulates that there shall be no established religion. However, it seems that the worst of the worst politicians in office are highly religious and mostly evangelical Christian. There must be some psychological phenomenon that makes these men and women forget all the teachings of both new and old testaments. They despise the poor and bow down to the rich. We do not have a democracy anymore. We have crossed that invisible line into a plutocracy or a neofeudal System that will eventually tear our country apart just like it did over slavery in the 1860s. I have not missed an election forfor decades but I rarely see my wishes being enacted. And I am sure that I am not alone. Do we need another Civil War to address the class warfare being waged today?
4
And yet, down here in the real world. democracy, or our odd version of it, produced Donald Trump as president.
I wonder if our basic framework of decency is so absent because we've all gone soft. The 20th C saw millions upon millions of civilian deaths in the maw of war. The vast majority of people in the 19th C and beyond lived hard, hand-to-mouth lives that were haunted by disease and early death. Many lived in virutal or actual slavery and were treated worse than a favorite horse or dog. Before that, monarchy and empire ruled the day on back to the beginning of the great monotheistic religions.
Now everything is done for us. We carry powerful and wondrous devices that sow division, enlightenment, distraction, and convenience all at once. Few people know how to darn a sock, change a tire, or install a dinner light switch. we have serviced ourselves our of self-reliance and, in some cases, usefulness.
Life is fragile and, underneath our veneer of comfort, hard and unforgiving. this is probably the ultimate source of our dignity. We should try to remember that. Greater decency may follow.
3
I agree with Mr. Brooks, although I think the path back to civility begins with fixing the constitution to restore (1) competitive elections (2) one-person one-vote (3) representative democracy (4) national self-determination and (5) majority rule. A constitution should require citizens to participate at least minimally in government at the local level, since what happens, when people become aloof from government, is that all sorts of nasty forces insert themselves into the political sphere. https://youtu.be/7Cp-waw1UyI
1
Thank you David Brooks. I have read Mann, and I frequently re-read E.B.White, who also wrote championing democracy. I think that White is far better at making his case. He was(still is) the greatest essayist our country has produced.
I recommend Mann, specifically The Magic Mountain. Please allow 6 months to complete the novel! EBWhite's essay can be read in 30 minutes.
Please include White in your series. His crystalline prose and humane beliefs will never stale.
3
Outstanding article. It's a shame that we teach people about democracy via 1/2 semester of American Government in high school, taught by some mediocre coach more interested in promoting brain concussions than vigilance as the price of democracy. The mechanics of how a bill gets through congress is the least important part of democracy. A full year of American Government should be taught by qualified teachers and practiced via internships/pubic service/volunteerism as a graduation requirement.
6
It is interesting that all of the best themes of democracy are now most often demonstrated and promoted by progressives and the Democratic party: moral responsibility to the community, public service, encouraging everyone to fulfill their potential. And all of the warnings describe today's Republican party to a T: propagandists and demagogues, "striving for power and attention", bullying, "contempt of pure reason". Yeah. Looks like we know the enemy and he is half of us. How do we convince our Trumpian brethren and sisteren to "resist the cheap and superficial"?
1
For a democracy to work, the mass of voters have to do their job.
For whatever reasons, the U.S. suffers from a defective electorate.
I think for that to change - for the “scales to fall from their eyes” - we will need to experience much more mass suffering, at the hands of our elected “representatives”.
2
Democracy, the very word, as Brooks argues, using Mann, doesn’t refer to existing arrangements, but to a set of ideals. The United States has never been a democracy, nor has any other country, although some are better at it than others. There are only countries that aspire to democracy and, for a hopefully brief present interlude, The United States has a long history of such aspirations. Wringing our hands about the lack of democracy doesn’t cut it. Democratic aspiration as inspiration for our actions does. Those who claim Brooks (and Mann) are idealistic are right. Those who claim they are “too idealistic” are wrong.
2
I only take issue with Mann's persistent characterization of human dignity as "infinite."
Everything in his essay, as you quote it, argues that it is fragile, all too cheaply sold, and despised by those who manipulate for the sake of power.
Democracy cannot take human dignity for granted. It must aspire to honor and elevate the dignity of its people, recognizing and supporting human dignity through education and care.
This is precisely where we are failing and failing miserably, "led" by a man and a Party lacking in dignity and lacking in any respect whatsoever for the dignity of our people.
4
Why is it that rich people, including Mr Brooks, pretending to the wisdom of Thomas Mann, who was profoundly insightful about human nature, always fail to touch the 3rd rail - the one with the power - of societal truth? Power is wealth, and wealth is power, in this country. There is no democracy where there is rampant economic inequality, where the most powerful are those that Mann himself unmasks as fakers. Mr Brooks, the "liberal arts college" history lesson you would give to those who were not privileged to be so "educated", seems not to have influenced the graduates who poured out of the Ivy League schools, and created, and are today the backbone of the techno - corporate hegemony that governs, no, rules us. I suspect Thomas Mann would say to you, if he had the chance - you missed the point, David, the invisible hand of Adam Smith has murdered democracy by strangulation, and the dignity of mankind with it. It is time for thinking people to act, not repeat the glory of ideas.
2
It's really quite simple. Democracy flourished during a time when average people were doing quite well financially; not rich or getting rich, but with hard work were able to purchase a house, a car, and perhaps go on vacation with the kids. People were largely happy, and in that happiness with their own lives they had empathy for others who did not. They voted for the betterment of society, not solely the betterment of themselves.
Then things started to change. The richer segments of society got greedy and wanted a bigger chunk. Politicians restructured wealth and, in effect, handed it to them, to appease their donors. That left less money to go around. Then came administrative greed, whereby administration, once a support entity, became the driving force in every public institution in the land. It drove up education costs and our hopeful youth ended up in hock coming out of college - basically bankrupting their future and the nation's future. People then began to vote for themselves out of survival. And now here we are, with even more money being taken away from the poorer segments of society - the ones who actually do the hardest physical work, and suffer for it - and given to the rich, who seem to think life is a competition to how much money they can plunder.
At some point, those who spend to keep the economy going will not have money to spend. What then? But before we reach then, it will be anarchy. Unless leaders pit one part of society against the other. Oh wait...
2
In light of the quotes from Thomas Mann, I recommend a re-reading of Orwell's 1984. I am nearing the end of this re-read and find myself caught and entwined by the prospect of power's thrall in our world today. Which shall I follow - happiness or freedom?
2
Thank you so much for reminding of us the true values of Democracy, how to think and act accordingly, and what gets in the way of manifesting them. I will enjoy the rest of your series!!!
1
Nice to see Mr. Brooks pining for an America that looks and acts like a Quaker business meeting. Having spent many hours participating in and clerking Quaker business meetings, I can attest to the beauty of people making decisions together while recognizing "that of god" in everyone.
I'm skeptical, though, that the principles enunciated in the Quaker meeting handbook, Beyond Majority Rule, can be implemented in the larger polis.
Anyone familiar with how Quakers operate understands the exaggerated effort to cultivate and maintain normative pressure to infuse interaction with the values Mr. Brooks so admires in his essay. This is a way of life and it runs through all aspects of how Quakers interact with each other and with the larger society. This atmosphere is not something that just happens. It takes continuous and hard work, and it takes leadership. It is a calling.
The larger American society has no structure or apparatus to maintain the kind of persistent normative pressure that Quakers are able to sustain within their small community.
Indeed, the larger American society has a much more powerful vigilante authoritarian thread bred by the contradiction between a Declaration of Independence that spoke of all people being created equal and a Constitution that guaranteed return of escaped slaves.
This thread was especially strong in the South. Nixon's Southern Strategy that put this Southern "value" at the heart of the modern Republican Party. And here we are.
2
If you’re going to rest democracy on a singular God, you have already failed in an inclusion of those who don’t follow those traditions.
Mann is a religious person’s Catagorical Imperative without the philosophical discussion to go along with it.
Humbleness requires us to understand that democracy is the creation of humans to deal with human problems trying for fairness and equality under representation. It is imperfect, but it is a constant struggle against tyrannies.
It is not delivered by god. It is an institution of people.
4
Tear down the system without changing the ideology it was built on is pure folly, for the new system will inevitably be just another reincarnation of the old. Unless we deeply evaluate and change the world view. Upon which we built our current system, nothing will change and tyranny, as Plato stated, will take over. If free market capitalism, philosophic dualism, and the Biblical religions are so great, why are we where we are?
1
If democracy indeed begins with the truth that "the infinite dignity of individual men and women," then we must amend the U. S. Constitution to abolish the electoral college and provide for the direct election of the President. One person, one vote.
2
The “daily struggle to be better” as described here by Brooks is indeed the mindset shift that will be needed to put our society back on a path of growth and evolution.
Shifting from a “fixed” mindset of identifying as a Democrat or a Republican to this “growth” mindset (to use the semantics of Dr. Carol Dweck) of evolving and growing and learning ... getting better - and flourishing in the struggle - is indeed the way forward.
But how do we help each other consciously make this shift when being fed a steady diet of liberal vs conservative and seemingly being encouraged to choose a side and identify as one or the other, instead of being encouraged to grow and evolve?
Is there an app for that?
Perhaps if we rid ourselves of the Electoral College, we will then have a true democracy. It is very difficult to convince other countries that we remain the last best hope on Earth when the current president of the United States received three million fewer votes than his opponent. It becomes doubly difficult when one attempts to explain the reason for the Electoral College is because, of all things, a compromise on how count slaves as citizens.
2
Brooks does us a disservice by glorifying myth and obfuscating reality behind a shimmering mirage of elegant ideals which have nothing to do with how a democracy actually works.
American democracy is based on a fiction, a folk theory of governance: popular sovereignty – “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It celebrates the wisdom of popular judgements by informed and engaged citizens. The reality, however, is in stark contrast to this ideal because citizens, even the few who do vote, are not informed or engaged in the political process. Casting a vote (based on god-knows-what) is not engagement. People are simply too busy, and/or too uneducated to study policy, laws, and how government works.
Furthermore, the electorate has no control over the officials it elects once they are in office, leaving them free to pursue their own notions of the public good or to respond to party or special interest pressure. This then triggers the rear-view-mirror strategy of voting in which voters assess (based on god-knows-what) the performance of officials and express approval or disapproval through their votes. But this retrospective action is just lumbering damage control.
Research indicates that peoples’ votes aren’t based on rational concerns like policy or ideology, but on emotional factors like group and partisan loyalties. By not talking about democracy in terms that reflect reality, we continue to fool ourselves in the opiate haze of democracy as “civic religion.”
3
Democracy drowns in an Orwellian oligarchy where black is white and money takes the place of democratic ideals. The GOP spouts the dignity of the common man claiming they have our backs on such things as taxes, wages and social security, then gives huge tax breaks to the oligarchs and uses their blarney to slash our safety net to ribbons. Their words are those of democratic ideals but their actions are those of capitalist sharks who see the masses as victims to be plundered.
To them Thomas Mann is only a foreigner to be kept out of the country.
2
The very existence of the Constitution is due to compromise -- and much more than the abhorrent 3/5's clause. The Republican Party has debased the Constitution, governing by disenfranchising half of the American People and making compromise itself abhorrent within the Republican Party.
2
One of the problems with this piece is that "authoritarians and demagogues" can be anointed through democratic processes. Brooks reveals here that he is not a lower-case republican, one who insists on the moral integrity of its leadership. Viva Alabama. Nix on Brooks.
Such a noble essay and yet Mr. Brooks still supports the party whose actions are the direct antithesis of the subject of his essay. Through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and dark money they actively subvert the democratic electoral process. Through the ignoring of convention and failure to recognize bi-partisanship they subvert the legislative process. Through the ramming through of unqualified highly ideological candidates they subvert the judicial process; all resulting in the degradation of the very society and constitution they took an oath to support. Democracy in the US is in peril and a failure of the system will, unfortunately have global implications.
I fear for the future of mankind, due in no small part to the machinations of an amoral party led by sociopaths and supported by greedy oligarchs, glassy-eyed cultists, self-centered apparatchiks and slack-jawed yokels.
1
I would have to assume that democracy requires an acceptance of facts. Brooks looses all credibility with his consistent moral equivalence.
" We have a president who ignores facts and violates basic decency." Brooks' GOP has been ignoring facts and violating basic decency for at least a decade.. Does he even remember GOP behavior under the Obama presidency?
2
David, would you agree that the right to free speech does NOT include the right to be heard?
"Mann’s great contribution is to remind us that democracy is not just about politics; it’s about the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial. Democrats like Mann hold up a lofty image of human flourishing. They inspire a great yearning to live up to it." You may want to remind your soulless fellow Republicans in Congress of these noble principles since they don't practice them at all. And you're welcome to join the party with some soul left - the Democrats.
1
The capitalist class serves an essential purpose: they take the investment risks (less and less) and they act, as a group, like an intricate machinery capable of effectively allocating resources for production and consumption at the micro-economic level. Without them, we would have to rely on inefficient central planning, and some sort of corrupt centralized dictatorship.
Giving the responsibility of managing our micro-economy to the capitalist class is therefore not a bad option, especially since they tend to be uniquely predisposed to making mechanistic economic decisions, by their psychopathic tendencies. Also, these people are simply unfit to live and work among the rest of us, because of their self-centeredness, blinding sense of entitlement, and unbounded greed.
The problems arise when we, the people, ALLOW this capitalist class to enjoy the benefits of a culture of entitlement that makes them the see the rest of us as expandable objects to be disdained and killed for profit. We must never forget that the only merit and role of the capitalist class is that they serve a social and economic purpose, and no more: they only manage our society’s mega-corporations. In other words, they work for us.
Democracy is the control mechanism that serves to insure that we maintain oversight over them and limit their murderous impulses. ... And now the most dangerous psychopaths are in charge of the hospital.
1
The GOP has little to no interest in the good of the nation, they simply serve themselves.
They do whatever possible to help insure their election and continued re-election: Gerrymandering, Fox News 24 Hour propaganda, illogical and often immoral opposition to any and every Democratic initiatives, SCOTUS expansion of equal rights, etc, and appeals, to and monetization of, every base instinct they can.
The GOP, Trump, and the Conservative Media propaganda machine may be the greatest threat America has ever faced, and it is fitting: Only we can defeat ourselves.
1
What went wrong Mr. Brooks occurred in the 70s when Nixon had to resign and the GOP began its chronic hissy fit. They started looking to impeach or block every action a Democratic president took/proposed. They blindly supported every action a Republican president took or proposed. They ramped up their divisive tactics to disguise the fact that their ultimate agenda was and is to destroy America for all but the very richest. And you supported this.
The GOP supports the financial elite at the expense of the rest of us. They have refused for years to do the job they were elected to do. Their ambition to starve the government at every level, of funds it needs to function, has led to the crises we are experiencing today. And again, you and others like you supported them. Rather than asking the questions about how to spend money more wisely you pushed for less money. Instead of asking how to improve our lives the GOP decided to wreck them by refusing to fund programs that could retrain unemployed citizens for decent jobs, create a real health care system, clean up polluted areas, keep basic scientific research going, and worst of all the GOP opted to support narrow minded bigoted vengeful people who were perfectly willing to lie, cheat, and steal from their constituents.
The GOP is the party of sore winners. They win and they punish us for the win. They are anti democracy and should be put on a swift boat to Russia, North Korea, or China.
5
Looking forward to future columns like this one. It seems regrettably clear that our democracy fell off a cliff in November 2016, and we are still in free-fall. We need inspiration for the daunting task of rebuilding our spirit, our ideals and our hopes for the future. I found inspiration here. Thank you Mr Brooks, and keep it coming.
2
It fell off a cliff in 2000 when the Supreme Court appointed W as the president.
2
Great column. Democracy is not solely a set of rules but also a moral framework predicated on the most sublime understanding of human nature and respect for its dignity. In a political climate in which it somehow became O.K. to publicly adore and seek favor with foreign dictators it is worth reminding ourselves and others of democracy’s moral superiority over all forms of authoritarianism, even the most ostensibly successful.
2
The problem is that justice, freedom and truth are not absolute. What constitutes justice to one party may well be an injustice to another. Freedom for one may impinge on the freedom of another. So goes with truth - even messier. All require a trade off. The problem with democracy is that there is no ideal state. Just a jostling around a stated ideal which is shifting at all times.
1
In the absence of reliable reality checks, everything is fake.
In practice American democracy has always been deeply flawed. Citizens are willing to look past the flaws of democracy as long as they feel that they have the ability to improve their economic situation. With so many Americans feeling their economic situation worsen, especially relative to the wealthiest Americans, why would they support what was already a deeply flawed democratic system?
Indeed, the American people may have taken their democracy for granted, but the flawed American democratic government has likewise taken the majority of its citizens for granted, while governing largely on behalf its wealthiest citizens.
When given the "democratic" choice of bread or water, while those offering the choice feast on steak and wine, what would you expect to happen? Economic reality is a more powerful than political ideals.
2
(The 7th.)
Trump lost twice in Alabama, with Big Luther and Judge Moore.
Paul Ryan's litany and text, the politics of the balance sheet, should not destroy the life process. There is no greatness, winning, or problem solving in sacrificing our children, as scattered statistics in a dying wasteland.
In the bottoms, they are using the “n-word” against Trump. In conversations where it has the deepest of affections, a tribal royal use—they are defiant. These folk like the mainstream image of the poseur cleaning the toilets of their Presidential royalty. Toilets. Of all places! (Love endures beyond belief.)
"the release of stupidity and evil from the discipline of reason and intelligence.”
The present-day Republican Party in a nutshell.
4
Trump descended well beneath acceptable conduct of responsible public officials throughout the campaign.
Should one believe in "the infinite dignity of individual men and women?"
Of course, YES!
But, let us remind ourselves that, even as we held this belief, we did not let women vote, we did not let people of color drink water at the same fountain, and we did not let anyone sit in an open seat in the public bus.
Do you know why? Of the myriad reasons, one is proposed in the very next sentence: "Man is made in God's image."
The idea that man made, nay invented, God is far more true than the notion that God made man, leave alone in his, or any other one's image. Man invented God primarily so that he can forget about "the infinite dignity of individual men and women."
Believers in religion, especially fundamentalists and others who have found God later in life, will fundamentally use that as a cudgel to advance policies that are harmful and hurtful to "individual men and women," especially if they are a bit different from the prototype.
You are a woman? Men can own you, abuse you, and grab anything that is yours.
You are a person of color? Oh well, God must have made a mistake in His production process; you cannot drink from the same fountain.
You are gay? What an abomination. You and your soul is destined to rot in hell forever.
Do you see the pattern, David?
6
We have only the dignities we accord each other. To nature, we are just another species to adapt or go to extinction.
I think the rise of the racist Tea Party as a response to an African American President is the source of the current belligerency. Expecting everyone to calm down and play nicely is never going to happen while these people continue to act up, especially with one of the more belligerent racists as the current President.
This is like going back in time to say, 1933, and telling everyone in Europe to calm down and be nice as Hitler was gaining power.
I look forward to the project and the discussion that follows. Unfortunately, the kind of democracy you have in mind requires the wealthy and powerful to be equitable. They need to realize that we're all better off when we're all better off.
Right now, I don't have much hope for that, especially as this putrid tax bill is raced through Congress. The wealthy and powerful are just robbing the treasury (and our future) and calling it a tax cut.
Unfortunately, the only choice the masses may have is the choice they always have when an oligarchy forms. Revolution. They may need to put their lives on the line, because that's the only power they have in the face of the wealthy and powerful.
Even though I hate what they did, I think Trump voters are correct that the elites are screwing them over. This time, they were fooled by the "propogandists and demagogues" who used racism and sexism to send them charging down the wrong path.
But, they're starting to figure out that they've been fooled, and they're getting angry. Let's hope the revolution happens at the ballot box and not in the streets.
4
Today, Brooks is on about democracy. Like heaven, maybe, and like heaven, it's an ideal, like. Ah, but in our country, he says, somebody screwed up and democracy is in trouble. Hmm. Wonder how that happened.
Could it be the GOP robotic Norquist tax pledge? GOP's selling itself to the NRA, big corporations, the Kochs? Or is it just the simple lust for power and money that the GOP would do anything to get it and keep it, like cheat, gerrymander, lie and steal.
The GOP has no shame, no longer hides behind its finely-honed hypocrisy and fairy stories. It just blatantly cuts off the middle class and poor, children, consumers, everybody, and borrows tanker ships of money from China to give to the rich and big corporations and lets us pick up the interest. Forevermore.
But to get our democracy back, we must "... put money in the service of production, production in the service of humanity, and humanity itself in the service of an ideal which gives meaning to life.” How pretty.
So democracy doesn't equal capitalism. But the rampant, cruel capitalism destroying our society is the very life blood or the Kool Aid the GOP thrives on.
We must work hard to be better and nobler and resist the "cheap and superficial," but cheap and superficial is what the GOP does best. Just look at their president.
6
I wouldn't call out other people as "robotic" if I kept repeating the slogan - and yes, it's a slogan - "GOP' over and over and over and over.
Eschew the cheap and superficial. Call them by their name.
1
Freedom is just another word for the right to bully everyone lower down on the pecking order.
Brooks: “Mann [was] possibly the greatest novelist of his era…. In his day [1938], as in ours, democracy had enemies and the prospects could look grim. Mann argued that the enemies of democracy aren’t just fascists with guns. They are anybody who willfully degrades the public square — the propagandists and demagogues.”
I look forward to Brooks’s next essay on William James who, a generation earlier, declared –
“War has been much praised … as a school of manly virtue; but it is easy to exaggerate … this point…. What we really need the poet's and orator's help to keep alive in us is [t]hat lonely kind of valor[:] civic courage…. [O]f five hundred of us who could storm a battery side by side with others, perhaps not one would be found ready to risk his worldly fortunes all alone in resisting an enthroned abuse.
* * *
The deadliest enemies of nations are not their foreign foes; they always dwell within their borders. And from these internal enemies civilization is always in need of being saved. The nation blest above all nations is she in whom the civic genius of the people does the saving day by day, by acts without external picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans or empty quacks.
* * *
Democracy is still upon its trial. The civic genius of our people is its only bulwark….”
2
Our problem today can be seen in comments from the Right that describes fellow Americans as LIBTARDS and far worse. A Liberal Democracy cannot remain healthy in the foul atmosphere of perverted speech.
Our Federalist Society has nothing to do with the founding Federalists including Washington who facing rebellion twice urged the Constitution upon us with a strong central government.
States rights as the GOP argues for today is an abomination, a denial of the result of the Civil War which killed the concept until the GOP allowed its revival a small part of its grasping the Racist South as part of its strategy for a permanent Republican Majority.
We face a revival of no nothingism, sectional differences. No where is our Democracy more endangered than in the GOP national redistribution of wealth upward scheme. That lunch pail worker is told that his taxes must be higher than the stock traders, inheritors of wealth.
The GOP has pulled us further and further from the America that emerged with the FDR era. We began to see the advantages for all in the sort of Nation that gives with the social issues confronted by Bismark from the right.
The GOP surged into the South with its Southern stategy and has consistently undercut black voting rights except for the few they allow to bevelevated.
Mr. Brooks, I wonder if the tweeter-in-chief would read must less comprehend what you are suggesting.
1
In '1984' the state mottoes were 'ignorance is strength' and 'war is peace.'
We now have a leader (wannabe fuehrer) whose words mean about as much. Sadly a sizable number of people would prefer to live under autocracy - but would not say so aloud or even to themselves.
Yes the glory of democracy Mr. Brooks. The democracy that YOUR president and YOUR party, the REPUBLICAN Party, have absolutely no respect for, the democracy they undermine and have long undermined with voter suppression, gerrymandering, starving the government, refusal to accept the results of elections and of late colluding with a hostile foreign power to tip a presidential election - an act of treason, which Obama informed Mitch McConnell of before the election and about which McConnell did NOTHING, making him and the entire GOP colluders in treason. And finally the party YOU have long been a cheerleader, a propagandist and a shameless apologist for.
There is a reckoning coming for the Republican Party, a party of liars, thieves and traitors, first at the ballot box in 2018 and 2020, then hopefully in a court of law, where the colluders and traitors who "adhere to our enemies" will hopefully receive the full measure of the law:
18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason:
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
2
Popular democracies only work with an informed electorate and that starts with a knowledge of history and how government works. Varied opinions about the meaning of events are fine, but truth in exposition is necessary.
Democracy also requires that each person has one equal vote and that the majority rules but not without minority participation.
American democracy has evolved and in some ways been improved, but money and geography is allowed to distort and ignore the informed will of the people.
Our founders may have been right for the 18th Century in which they lived, but they could not have imagined life in 21st Century America much less devise a system for the democratic election of a President and Legislature.
We will hobble along with the Electoral College, the influence of money in election campaigns, the astounding ignorance of the electorate and the ease with which some media can manipulate them with repeated lies, until there is genuine reform.
1
What a wonderful article. Given all negativity in the press right now, it is wonderful to have something to aspire to / reflect on that is uplifting/positive.
2
These are not degraded times. These are clarifying times. The ground is opening up under our feet, and it feels awful. That's spiritual, to use your word. It took the election of a man who is the open expression of degradation to start the process of rooting out the very same in all sectors of our culture. Or at least to expose it. If democracy is based on "the infinite dignity of individual men and women," then when have we been a true democracy? When has our culture acknowledged the full humanity of every human being and operated from that vision? Never- not so long as millions are excluded from basic democratic life and don't have a voice. We we've done is aspire to progress, and this is our enduring strength. Let's not now cling to the foundational stories of elementary school so we can get a good night's sleep. Americans haven't actually forgotten how to defend their democratic values. They're finally becoming conscious of what those values really are, and what the Founders meant.
8
In this era of Richard Spencer and neo-Nazi marches on college campuses, it’s little wonder that 50% of college students feel “offensive speech” should be shut down. Many of the rest of us feel the same way. This kind of offensive speech gets people killed.
17
Trump promised to never lie to the American people.
He promised to release his taxes.
He promised no one respected women more than he did.
He promised to sue the women who accused him of sexual harassment.
He promised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.
He promised not to play as much golf as Barack Obama did.
He promised to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.
He promised to eliminate Obamacare.
He promised to work hard in the White House instead of taking vacations like Obama did.
He promised to fix the roads and bridges.
He promised we would get sick and tired of winning.
He promised minorities that they had nothing to lose.
He promised to make America great again.
All of these were solemn promises made to the American people who voted for him.
Not a single one of them has been kept.
Impeach him!
35
"The time has come the walrus said"!
Worse, he hasn't Locked! Her! Up! yet. That was the promise his potency-anxious base cared most about. If he can't deliver on that, impeachment is the least of his worries.
America's successes after WWII held the seeds of our destruction: the improving standard of living enjoyed by an ever-larger portion of the society from 1950 to 1980 gradually became the worship of wealth itself and an ever-larger portion of the society succumbed to it, losing the civic and moral grounding that had predominated. Now that idolatry of greed and selfishness (and by extension "tribalism") has overcome so many of us as to be the defining feature of the American culture. We will all suffer greatly for it, says this sorrowful prophet.
It's the greed, stupid.
11
This is the triumph of capitalism, the goal for years by the those moneyed classes who feel they never have enough of anything: they want everything.
1
Democracy is limited by the number of ignorant, ill-intentioned bigoted people on the voter rolls. In America, the entire GOP seems determined to effect bad intentions and hurtfulness on workers and the poor. Democracy is by intent a tolerant philosophy except when practiced by evangelism and authoritative mindsets. This particular democracy is busted, bruised and broke up by intolerant idiots that cannot see the light of day or distinguish fact from fanciful. Democracy in this condition is dysfunctional and dangerous.
7
And yet it still has plenty of people who refer to Republicans by their preferred branding statement, "Grand Old Party."
The way you did just now.
Why so eager to be so #complicit?
"Democrats like Mann hold up a lofty image of human flourishing. They inspire a great yearning to live up to it."
...and left unsaid, "republicans don't".
I love the editorial, it sings to my heart, fills me with nostalgia for my university days (including political science classes under the tutelage of Dr. Elisabeth Mann Borgese, Mann's youngest daughter).
But what it doesn't do, and you've about run out of time to do, is expose the past 40 years of dedicated republican efforts to destroy democracy, philosophically and politically. PBS doesn't need you, Mr. Brooks, but Fox does. Get yourself booked and do what Dan Rathers did: tell Fox it is "bad for America"...and why, in simple sentences. And tell your republican friends and all the think tanks they fund.
I just can't accept this op-ed without context, without direction, without...oh, Mr. Brooks, on Monday, a man named Ady Barkan will be on Capitol Hill, fighting to stop the tax scam bill....listen to him, he's dying and he needs your help...so go to Washington and stand with him and raise your voice with him. Get out of the ivory tower and do something.
Please, everybody, if you can, find time to listen to Ady Barkan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAje53WZ1B4
10
So, what happens when propaganda and incitement of mob psychology, bullying and demagoguery sell as media strategies?
3
David,
get over it ... you are a Democrat already ...
(a) most importantly, there are only two parties and only one of them thinks facts and logical argument matter like all conservatives - you are a Democrat
(b) ... no other logical position is being advanced -- you are a Democra
(c) ... we sure need a viable conservative opinion, but the "conservatives" have all thrown in their souls with those who deny arithmetic! (e.g. budget) and health care to children, justified by racism/sexism/...ism .. the worst of 19th C America
(d) ... we sure need a conservative movement ... taxes, balancing budgets, figuring out what is public vs private responsibility ... we desperately need a reasonable debate -- maybe my California (Brown vs. Democratic Legislature) is the only place in the country with this debate!
(e) ... the greatest threat to our sovereignty -- overfunded corporations, unchecked'running under the radar, about to destroy our public information while giving us more SEC football games
(f) immigration -- curtailed while employers escape blame for the problem they've created
I sure hope that in perhaps 8 years the USA evolves to where you can be a conservative Republican again, but for the time being you are a Democrat.
Start contributing so that the Republicans are totally destroyed and a new Republican Party is born.
3
“Yes, humans do beastly things — Mann had just escaped the Nazis — but humans are the only creatures who can understand and seek justice, freedom and truth.”
This is an arrogant assumption. Our unconscionable treatment of our fellow living creatures based on this and similar arrogant assumptions may turn out to be our greatest sin of all.
4
"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken, writing for the Baltimore Evening Sun on July 26, 1920.
Mencken, of course, was writing this long before television and the internet came along to make it far easier for someone like our current moron to achieve
the White House.
6
Read Mencken on Harding, a boob of the first order, and get back to us.
Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for the link to Mann’s text. You can lead a horse to water...
Democracy is all about justice. Justice is about equality; not just under the law but in our daily interactions with each other.
Our society has fallen mightily over the last 50 years and has prioritized power over justice, for the exercise of power is a more powerful aphrodisiac than sex.
This was recognized by George Orwell in his prophetic "1984":
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.” "
5
Using your own definitions we now have a Congress and a WH and a SC as well as state governments filled with people who degrade the public square and despise ordinary people. You really think that your opinion is going to “reach” these guys (and they are overwhelmingly guys)? This is what you get when money is the measure of all things and rigid religion is presented as a cure all.
3
Thank you for a very interesting article. It is true that democracy is much more than simply voting -- in fact, that is just one small part of it, where freedom to speak and write, and individual responsibility for society, play a very large part.
Thinking about democracy in such a grand fashion also shows how much it is being degraded by the current administration and the leaders of the Congress. If only Paul Ryan's favorite author was Thomas Mann instead of the soulless Ayn Rand.
5
A pious column, like other conservatives, complaining of the decline of decency and civility ruining politics. They avoid what really ruins democracy---corporate megadonors to elections, directing laws for their gain and our loss.
This efficiently reduces the influence of we the people. It interferes with the ‘infinite dignity of individual men and women”. Polls show majority citizen opinions on most issues have little impact on congress.
Our voter suppression and gerrymandering make a mockery of democracy.
Al Gore said on CNN “ Our democracy has been hacked by big money long before Putin hacked our democracy.”
Richard Painter, Bush ethics lawyer said in a NYT op ed “Our politics is a protection racket run by big money who threaten candidates who don’t play ball that they'll run somebody against them who will.”
Our national wealth & power is transferred upward to corporate elites, and citizens have to compete for what’s left over. We’re ‘2nd class citizens’. Our middle class security, upward mobility and health care access are way behind many other democracies.
It’s easy to just compare the current US with despotic regimes, and then pretend we have an operating democracy today. But it’s a façade if our majority has little input.
Both parties will vie for megadonors for 2020. We'll line up, (civilly, no fighting) to pick from the nominees offered, approved by megadonors.
Question for Brooks---Is campaign finance a topic forbidden to NYT columnists?
351
...only the right wing ones.
At one point in my life, amid my 45 years serving our Country, I believed that democracy, rule of law and capitalism were the touchstones securing our liberties. I no longer see (or understand) the extent to which our economic system secures anything other than the permanent upper class. Money has corrupted our political system to such an extent that there appears no turning back. I’m afraid we have crossed a bridge over the totalitarian divide which has disappeared behind us.
4
We have a Constitutional Republic in the United States. We do not have a Democracy. There is a big difference.
1
I enjoyed this column and look forward to the promised future ones. I appreciate David's efforts to bring us ideas from great writers that I somehow never had the time or opportunity to read. And the comments, with further quotes and citations are helpful as well!
3
It is pretty amazing that long before the invention of the internet and twitter, Thomas Mann foresaw “tweets” as the tool of vulgar and crude “propagandists” and “demagogues.” Imagine that?
4
“They despise the masses … while they make themselves the mouthpiece of vulgar opinion.” Oddly appropriate that this observation of Thomas Mann so accurately repeats almost exactly the same observation in Paul Krugman's latest column: the GOP loathes Americans who work for wages, and seeks to serve only those who live by investment and ownership.
4
It is also worthwhile to read Thomas Mann’s subsequent and related essays “This Peace” (1938), “This War” (1940), and “War and Democracy” (1940). They are instructive and brief, but regrettably out of print.
3
As usual you go very deep. Keep it up. I am listening.
1
Whether it was a quote by Mussolini or Giovanni Gentile, it holds true - & it's one that Mr. Brooks ought to be more cognizant of: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state & corporate power."
Such is the fading "glory" that we call democracy. It no longer deserves a capital "D" since it has been co-opted, stolen, corrupted, perverted, & has become a system that serves only the very rich & powerful, to the exclusion of all others. This "glory" that Mr. Brooks wistfully refers to now subverts other countries & elections, assassinates leader of whom we do not approve, invades other sovereign nations, acts as the policeman of the world, presents faux candidates for it's own unwashed masses to vote for, & ignores & impoverishes native Americans, blacks, poor whites, & anyone who doesn't fit the profile of the 1%.
Sadly this condition did not manifest itself in this perverted administration, but has had roots that have grown for many decades, nourished by the past crop of elites whose names are now held up as icons of morality & justice, when in truth they are neither. Obama, Clinton, Bush, Hillary, Reagan…the list goes on & on.
Every one of them has tried to "export" democracy to others from the barrel of a gun. Everyone of them has enriched themselves at the trough of Wall Street & their corporate masters. Instead of quoting from Mann's "Coming Victory of Democracy" he should have referenced "Felix Krull - Confidence Man" instead.
David Brooks is my favorite columnist. This editorial is and numerous others by Brooks are examples why he's my favorite. Thanks again NYTs.
1
If I'm not mistaken, Brooks is basically calling Donald Trump a Nazi. I know this opinion is actually a strange sort of book review and a optimistically aspirational one at that. However, the subtext is pretty clear. Brooks is drawing parallels between Mann's experiences in Nazi Germany with our current political leadership. Ergo, Trump is a Nazi. Perhaps I should say Trump is an authoritarian and a demagogue but the logical leap is not a hard one to make.
Here's the thing though. We have a deliberative body capable of reigning in our debasing trend. However, they refuse to act. I'm not even talking about procedural action here either. Our Congress won't even shout down the heinous impropriety coming from the White House. That's not a good sign for democracy when the very representatives of our democratic elections are complicit in the violence against our institution.
Individual morality will not take your very far when faced with an amoral political organization in power. Brooks is preaching to the choir here. He should be talking to the Party in power.
2
Mr. Brooks is talking to the party in power. He is also talking to the party out of power. He is going back to democratic and American basics to find the common ground that we need so desperately to bring this country back to health.
According the the standard of Thomas Mann, the United States of America was never a democracy. And that is exactly right to anyone knowledgeable about American history. So what's the fuss? Isn't the gang-rape by Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, precisely business as usual? Hasn't it always been that the business of America is business? AKA capitalist oligarchy since 1876. The rest is history. Ask the New York Times, specifically founded in the interest of that oligarchy.
1
Thank you, Mr. Brooks. This is the series of articles that needed to be written at this point.
2
This is a great column, for the religious. Though I think there must be another way. From Mann to Christ, Man has not been soft spoken about his belief in God; yet, here we are; therefore, perhaps there's another possibility: having faith in science, cooperation, and reasoning.
One thing is clear: Man is kudzu to the earth; and worshipping God has only matters worse by giving Man a biblical permission slip to do whatever he wants to the planet: Man is not a part of the whole; he is the master of all (it is a spiritual sickness of biblical proportions; when you include the women, it's a Jurassic turd).
Further worship of democracy, the Founding Fathers, or Western civilization in general, is not what's needed. I mean, Democracy is always being licked like a popsicle. Who fails to sing Democracy's praises? No one lacks an awareness of democracy; therefore, I don't think democracy is the answer. Or religion. Or any party. The answer is: science, cooperation, and reasoning.
It wasn't Democracy Lite that gave us Trump. What I don't understand is why what we're experiencing is not considered the RESULT of democracy at work? Why is Trump considered aberrant instead of a logical result of democracy expressing our practiced values? How have we failed ourselves that we are not responsible for the reality of our democracy?
We have tried Christ. We have tried Democracy. We have tried every -ism imaginable. We have tried war. Why not try: science, cooperation, and reasoning?
1
Because ultimately the requirement is the acceptance on the part of humans that their wills need in some way to be limited, or directed -- or else they will only be self seeking. Which >is< what gave us Trump. There is nothing --- at least nothing yet -- in "science, cooperation, and reasoning" that has been any more able to be convincing in shaping human conscience than the human experience of faith; which is why "scientifically guided" organizations and governments ultimately end up resorting to force in order to assure the supposed superiority of their ideas.
How 'bout:
Adam Smith's "A theory of Moral Sentiments."
C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity."
Peter Kreeft's "Back to Virtue."
Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America."
Tim Keller's work on the connection of faith and work.
even... Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables."
or... Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life."
Tocqueville is supposed to have said, and has often been quoted as having said, "America will be great as long as America is good; if America ever ceases to be good, she will no longer be great." (Clinton's paraphrase in 1994) Whoever coined it, it's probably true.
2
Mann was discussing the implementation of democratic institutions in his own country--Germany during the Fascist Era. So let's hooray for the middlebrow lecture on 'personal responsibility' by the quintessential middlebrow author.
Otherwise, on cuddly, snowy days, go read Robert Musil.
1
White Southern men and women who support Roy Moore and Steve Bannon shoud read this essay. Southern legislators are sttempting to limit voter franchise for black Americans.
2
David Brooks, the last moral Republican. Maybe because he doesn't have to rely on campaign donors for a living.
3
Trump and Republicans have fully embraced fascism. I seldom agree with Brooks but this time I must.
3
I think Brooks is arguing against Rush, Hannity, Savage, FoxNews and other purveyors of Hate.
He makes a nice intellectual argument. Unfortunately, it is unintelligible to those who most need to read his opinion.
5
Mr. Brooks, it is wonderful to have your incredible insight, and thoughtfulness engaging in the matters a public intellectual should be engaged in: who are we, what more could we be, and so on. But this reads like a cri de coeur for the wind. A piece of pasta tossed against a wall.
Who is your audience? I worry that these recent projects of yours are too similar to what the Germans in the 1930's might have tried to stop Hitler.Thomas Mann, and decent Germans everywhere, had no effect on the rise of the Nazis, and so he (and those who could) came here and gave us their warnings and their dreams.
That is to say, that our ideals about civic engagement and mutual respect must be practiced, and those that currently have forsworn those ideals, in pursuit of personal/group-based advantage must now be pushed back. And, really, be shamed for believing that through violent acts and speech they can destroy our society for their gain.
Yes, offensive speech should be shouted down at this moment, because too often it isn't speech used as part of the national dialogue. We have never had room for people who denigrate others, or seek to harm others, or who try to force their way of life on the rest of us. Unfortunately, some of our citizens need to be reminded of this in new and very strong ways, or we will lose our nation.
Maybe your words will help France not fall into the trap we have, but here and now there is a different and desperate project to engage in.
1
Please continue with your special pieces. This one on Mann today is just what I needed to think about this morning. Thank you.....
The best defense of democracy? VOTE!
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"In short, we used to have a certain framework of decency within which we held our debates, and somehow we’ve lost our framework. We took our liberal democratic values for granted for so long, we’ve forgotten how to defend them. We have become democrats by habit and no longer defend our system with a fervent faith."
I lay much of the blame with liberal democracy (LD) itself. It got way too far ahead of the rest of the world, attempting to hijack 5,000 years of civilization. For example:
LD wide-eyed support for mass unbridled European immigration
LD unconditional support for all things LGBTQ
LD unconditional unquestioning support for BLM
College campus political correctness
LD deafness to the opinions of any other side
LD's inability to admit these things are real issues, that got DT elected
By focusing on the fringe, LD left a gaping hole that was quickly filled by the autocrats. The NYT/PBS crowd have been knowing accomplices in this. I have been growing more liberal as I age, but I find much of what I- and obviously much of the rest of the population- see as an unnecessary radical shift to the left fringes as disturbing and only serving to destroy the liberal cause.
1
Not sure why Brooks leans to religious philosophic thought for enlightenment. But he does so often. Maybe at some point in his life the seminary called. Wish he'd argue in more secular terms: I'd squirm less while reading his opeds.
1
Wonderful essay, Mr. Brooks. Thank you. I look forward to more thoughts on the role and responsibilities of citizenship.
3
I'm so disappointed. I thought, Mr. Brooks, that with your recent columns ("Republican Party is Rotting") you were on the brink of admitting publicly what a debacle the Republican Party has been for our society at large. But with this article it appears that you have chosen to hide in your considerable intellect instead of exposing and examining your party's and your own part (as a public
Conservative intellectual) in the decline of our country.
You cannot say something like, "The Congress barely functions..." with a straight face. It is not the Democrats and Independents who refuse to agree on basic facts as they attempt to pass legislation that will harm most of their constituents, it's the Republicans.
There is no Democratic State Media, there is Fox News.
There is no organized Democratic Party effort to protect an admitted sexual predator, a pedophile, and tacitly support racist militias. There are the Republican's Trump, Moore, and the Nazis in Charlottesville.
In twenty or thirty years, when we have some historical perspective, I think it's safe to say that Trump will be judged harshly. But what will future historians say about any one of the hundreds of loyal Republican Senators, Congressmen, and public intellectuals who either tacitly or overtly supported him and His Party even as the facts were repeatedly made clear?
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Bob Connors, Thank You ! SPOT-ON !!! You are exactly right. Only ONE Party (R) is responsible for the great demise of our once great country.
Bob...."There is no Dem State Media, there is Fox News" ... thank you, I just wrote a comment using your line. And that Gop state media tv/radio is very well funded, well organized, on message. An example of centralized organization!
The opposition diffused and confused, less well finance, disorganized and competing with the Gop for the same big money sources to beat Trump and gain seats. Who is protecting we the people--the whole purpose of voting?
What will future historians say about our media pundits on the NYT who for years excused the Gop turn to the right. with clever rationalizations. Now many of them are hypocritically appalled at what they helped enable.
They can't criticize too much, so, with moral judgmentalism, they deplore our polarization, lack of decency and civility. They stay safely away from grappling with the real underlying poison---campaign funding and it's control of policy.
This situation would make a good Ken Burns TV documentary to update the historical stories he's told.
Their judgment won't be pretty. Reading Brooks' columns like this one always makes me think of the scene in the movie "The Titanic". With the ship fractured, slowly sinking into the sea, with desperate passengers fleeing in frightful panic for their lives, while exposing their true nature as they trample over, or give assistance to, strangers, off in the distance the camera swoops in to focus on string quartet, bravely and stoically playing some piece of classical music to an audience of absolutely no one. The earnest high-mindedness with which they plied their precious talents in that moment of dire human catastrophe always struck me as an apt metaphor for the columns of our David Brooks!
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Bravo to David Brooks for reviving the extraordinary example of Thomas Mann, who could fairly be called not just the greatest novelist of "his era," but of the 20th century. One of Mann's notable strengths was his capacity for self-criticism, for re-examination of once strongly held positions whose validity he later questioned. Hearing his voice in this column, reminds me of something else we have lost: the public intellectual who is unafraid to speak out on the urgent political and social issues of our time. They were central during the Civil Rights and Vietnam War era. If they exist today, they are -
to our great loss - largely marginal.
4
Without addressing the thorny issue of whether to judge art by its creator's behavior, suffice it to say that Thomas Mann was no paragon of democracy and humanism either in his sentiments or actions. His diaries reveal a strong streak of anti-Semitism, support for war, Teutonic elitism, and lust for his own prepubescent son that would make Judge Moore blush. He continued in his silence long after his family members' books were burned and they were stripped of their German citizenship. He became an opponent of the Reich only after it finally turned against him in 1936. (See the London Review of Books Vol. 30 No. 21 • 6 November 2008 pages 3-10 I Could Sleep with All of Them Colm Tóibín).
Sorry to get all partisan here, but isn't it obvious that Republicans see democracy as nothing more than a vehicle by which they get to hold and exert power for the benefit of certain favored groups and individuals, not least those who give them the money they need to stay in office? There is scant evidence any of them would even understand, let alone subscribe to, Mann's aspirational vision.
5
Republicans have set themselves against not only Democrats, but against democracy itself. The rule of law, individual rights, the sanctity of the ballot box,
human equality, and all the other principles of our democratic culture are imperiled by Trump and his mob, both in Congress and the trumpenproleteriat.
Twelve years ago, President Carter wrote, "With the most diverse and innovative population on earth, we (Americans) have learned the value of providing our citizens accurate information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, and accommodating free and open debate on controversial issues. Most of our political leaders have extolled state and local autonomy, attempted to control deficit spending, avoided foreign adventurism, minimized long-term peacekeeping commitments, preserved the separation of church and state, and protected civil liberties and personal privacy." The next sentence in a paragraph all of its own, President Carter noted in 2005, "All of these historic commitments are now being challenged." His warning has gone unheeded and the challenges more intense and the moral crisis has gotten worse.
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Jimmy Carter is considered by many to have been a terrible president. While he may have micro-managed to excess, his character and moral leadership are beyond question, and this reminder of his commitment to democracy brings a sharp focus to how far we have strayed.
Mr. Brooks,
Look at the scurrilous attacks by President Trump on our media, our FBI, our Special Counsel Mueller, our EPA, our Consumer Protection Agency, leaders of the Democratic Party, our intelligence community.
President Trump is on the air right this very minute talking to the press, smearing the reputations of Americans and praising Vladimir Putin.
President Trump lies every time he opens his mouth.
How do the Republicans respond to these lies, these attacks?
The cowardly Republicans do not check Trump's power, they attack our media and our Special Counsel Mueller, our institutions.
This is how our democracy dies, Mr. Brooks.
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This is a valuable column, using one of literature's truly gifted Noel Prize winners in Thomas Mann, and I look forward to future columns. I can't help but remember that, when the Berlin Wall fell and then subsequently with it Communism, what we heard from George H.W. Bush was the presentiment of a "New World Order," with the USA in charge, lording it over the rest of the world, and the goal of Bush and his policy cohorts, both military and corporate, was "total spectrum domination." That, to me, was the beginning of our now-failing democracy. We've gone from a predominance of the authoritarian personality in the White House to the advent of the psychotic personality there, with all the concomitant catastrophes therein. Mr. Brooks reminds us that we do have better angels, and we had better summon them soon, before it is too late.
9
Your column is my favorite but I always think you are unrealistic about Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens evolved from apes in Africa. The greatest truth is human history is a collection of crimes against "humanity" and other species. Triblism is in our DNA. We all have racial biases and we are all predisposed to develop the full "symptom". If liberals lost their jobs due to foreign competitions, I have no doubt they will behave exactly the same as the white working class. The fundamental problem with your argument is religion. Man is not made in God's image. What has happened was merely an outcome of random events following the rule of mother nature/universe. I really hope you will at least consider the possibility that God does not exist. Then what? It is so ironic that you think humans are the only species who can understand and seek justice, freedom and truth. These are merely the rules of nature and every species is faithful following them. The simple truth is survival of the fittest. Strong eats weak is just. Freedom was a given before the arrival of Homo sapiens.
Finally, democracy is merely a tool now in most countries. Through this process, political hierarchy is built. The ruling elites are using the tool to prolong and secure their status. They create divisions, hatred and raw emotions. This is not even unique. It is everywhere. Therefore, it can only be part of human nature! Now, can you tell us your plan B? Clearly to me, your plan A will not work!
4
I love our free press!! Keep it up, Mr. Brooks. The pen is always mightier than the sword and ignorant minds. Let's all go back to school and remind ourselves why a democracy is worth fighting for, especially this devastating year!
4
I'm sure trump never read Thomas Mann, or anything really.
We have a Supreme Court with a right wing majority who thinks "citizens united" is a great thing. Astounding, despicable and as we have seen, is killing our democracy. We have to start by reversing this stupid ruling.
PS: today's republicans are completely morally bankrupt and they simply don't care. Must vote them ALL out in 2018.
5
Brooks again fails to address his bad faith. How long has he been justifying the GOP agenda? Decades. He created Trump, whose agenda is virtually the same as Reagan and the Bush family.
5
Dear Mr. Brooks
Thank you for committing to devote occasional columns (today, and as you commit, others going forward) to reminding us of our shared liberal values. Am reminded of the wonderful volume James Kloppenberg has written, 'Toward Democracy,' in which he suggests the essence of our Enlightenment inspired democratic culture may be summed up with the three R's: Restraint, Respect, and Reciprocity. You do well to give us our words ...our talking points... those simple sound bytes necessary to remind ourselves that understanding the majesty of a government of laws, but also responsible women and men (citizens) needs to be constantly reengaged and refreshed; not ridiculed and demeaned. Amen and the winds to your sails. jp
2
Mann offers high political philosophy, such as:
"Democracy begins with one great truth, he argued: the infinite dignity of individual men and women."
If his point is true, then America has never been a democracy. From the outset of destroying the Native American culture, bringing Africans in chains to North America, killing and marginalizing immigrants throughout our history, and creating a society that may be Christian in name, but is surely anti-Jesus.
Our history is the story of a minority of "self-made" predators, who saw fellow humans as tools to self-aggrandizement and wealth creation,cloaked in the mantel of righteous Americanism, supported by politicians who do the work needed for a plutocracy.
No, we have no democracy, we have a country where most people are free to follow a life choice, while others are condemned to hellish cycles of poverty.
Am I wrong? Then why do we have a Chump for President and a Congress doing the bidding of the top 10%, giving only lip-service of protecting the lives of the middle and lower classes.
4
That baseline of human activity is founded on morality. Perhaps a future reference to Schopenhauer’s, On the Basis of Morality
“Are the source and foundation of morals to be looked for in an idea of morality lying immediately in consciousness (or conscience) and in the analysis of the other fundamental moral concepts springing from that idea, or are they to be looked for in a different ground of knowledge?”
Is compassion “the great mystery of ethics” and if so, how can it be nutured, developed and sown?
Interesting ideas that I approve of, Mr. Brooks. But I think racial supremacy is at the core of our current downfall, and I don't see much attention from you on that topic in your columns.
America was founded on ideas that were absurdly fictional at the time: all men are created equal, defining "men" as white, property-owning, and of course male. Still, the unimplemented idea of equality is what's endured as a core American principle to keep the country together, through centuries. It was easy touting that equality myth when 90% of the country was white. Even after the Civil War, the nation's black population was concentrated in a few Southern states where they posed no demographic threat to the order of white rule. So, conveniently, Americans in this era continued touting equality and "liberty and justice for all!" as their unifying mottos.
Now, with black communities dispersed throughout America and an influx of Latino and Asian immigration, we are a country in which white Christians are less than 50% of the population for the first time. For the first time, the flawed promises of 1776 are being forced onto the table for discussion and debate. And things are not going so well. 70% of white Alabamans voted for a racist pedophile, over a fellow white politician who merely promised not to be racist. And about 60% of white Americans voted for Donald Trump a year ago.
We can't have this conversation until we address what is at the bottom of these inconvenient facts.
2
"The release of stupidity and evil from the discipline of reason and intelligence." That about sums up our current state of affairs. But what can we do about it? Those who are stupid don't generally realize that they are so. The evil ones manipulate the stupid ones, and convince them that reason and intelligence are their enemy. One can only hope that the manipulation becomes so heavy-handed and obvious that even the stupids will wake up to it.
4
I must confess, I, too, despise the masses in general and American masses in particular. They comprise a majority of humanity who are mostly racist, biased and smug in their self righteous ignorance. Masses who are prone to blindly follow religious charlatans, whether they be dressed in flowing robes or are thumping a bible. A provincial group who use religious and social mores as a weapon to inflict their agenda in others. A morality that is quickly discarded when inconvenient. They are insular people who have a broad disdain and intolerance for facts incompatible with their rutted, comfort area.
Yes, Mr Mann, humans are the the noblest of God's creatures. To bad that segment of humanity is such a minority.
5
Democracy can't compete with Fox News and CNN and MSNBC. These networks learned long time ago that they can make a lot of money promoting hate and division. They are drugs every bit as strong as nicotine or heroin and they need to be reformed. They have caused great damage to our society.
Mr. Brooks is a smart guy but for some reason he doesn't see the problem. Column after column he writes about philosophy and great thinkers. The people who are addicted to these networks do not know that they are being manipulated and they do not know who David Brooks is.
2
This you can bet on: Democrats like Mann and Trump voters will both see themselves as guardians of our democracy and as glorious warriors fighting "the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial." And both sides will see the other as lying hypocrites.
1
Reaching out great idea Many writers like you who speak to dignity share your points. It would be nice and probably effective were more to follow your lead. Alabama is one data point, but It takes only one data point to start a trend.. I hope your initiative takes hold. The market is there. Half the voters in 2016 voted for Trump. Half of those are " his base". The other half may be persons of reason open to dialogue. Try to reach them. Try to reach the potential reasoned half that voted for Clinton. Try to get your peers on the same page as you.
1
David, again many thanks for a reasoned and thoughtful piece. I look forward to your next installment. It is time for you to contact the novelist and professor Liam Callanan who writes and speaks on the place of good fiction writing in our lives as human beings. Citing Mann as you did in this piece, I think you and Callanan would be a good pair to host a series on "Democracy as a haven for decency." Keep up the good writing.
(Clapping)
The value of each individual is being squelched by money--- selfish greed & unfettered lobbying spending.
1
"The authoritarians and the demagogues subjugate action through bullying and they subjugate thought by arousing mob psychology."
While authoritarians and demagogues target people's "lower instincts," not all people respond to those appeals. Lots of people are much smarter than that.
The GOP and Mr. Trump have been successful because too many Americans, both white and black, had already turned themselves into animals, whose only thoughts are for food, pleasure, and procreation. Hence we have a nation tilting toward obese TV watchers, who scorn education, science, and anything extra-animal, and who have given the elections to those who steadily erode the institutions and intellectual possibilities already held in such low esteem.
That's why we have hundreds of millions of guns and our libraries are closing; that's why we have few jobs programs but lots of sports stadiums. Mega-churches thrive, historic buildings crumble. Who needs history?
And now the liberals are eating one another alive, with one issue de jour after another. Yes, fire brutal police officers, but let's not pretend that all young black men are victims of prejudice. Get sexual predators out of their well-paying jobs, but not on anonymous, unspecific letters. Let college kids feel comfortable but not at the expense of history and free speech.
And let's stop focusing on statues that don't mean what ill-informed partisans say they mean. We could use a Theodore Roosevelt today.
1
"Man is nature's fall from grace, only it is not a fall...." If this is the crux of Mann-speak, I would suggest a more intelligible line. Not sure what would fall from my pen's grace, but it aint that kinda squeak. (Speaking of which, con science is what we got enough of so time to turn up the volume on pro-science.) Like democracy is a vote per person. Individual dignity, I get that.
But we put horse trading and power brokering in the hands of spiritual and moral dilemmas on two feet. Is it any wonder that it takes a herd mentality to run things? I do enjoy Brooks' attempts to bring some order to the herd, headdresses of morality and spirit feathers do enjoy their moments.
But where the heck did folks get the big idea that a vote per person was too much? Not "those" people. Not "them". That's what we're dealing with. That's the evil in this system. That fight is what got us an Alabama win. Mortal striving more like it. It's not the contemplation that is the savior, it's the verbs. That always was the meaning of "is". You vote. Every last one of us. And if your neighbor cancels your vote, so be it. Just vote.
one of Thomas Mann's great characters is Cippolla -- a grotesque performer who hyponotizes his audience to do outrageous things. His path to control the audience is putting himself onstage -- displaying his ugliness with pride --
and using raw emotion to tap into the audience -- crying, laughing, etc. See the early Newt Gingrich's use of Cspan and talk radio, Rush Limbaugh on radio, Glen Beck's meaty-faced teary performances, and of course Trump's absurd performances at campaign podiums. They all use the same tools to first tap emotion then lead the audience to their own end.
Lovely. But the fundemental truth of democracy is that it is fatally toxic to privately controlled concentrated wealth.
And privately controlled concentrated wealth is always democracy’s most implacable and deadly enemy.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTW1Oe2lCS_Kc52b4M6oQ988...
I greatly appreciate your using the Mann lectures as a basis for contemporary analysis and appreciation of democracy vs. fascism in its various forms. I used to know the arguments that Mann made then but have not looked at them for quite a few years. I hope this column will give the lectures a new readership and a new life. You certainly have reawakened my interest.
Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for a thoughtful reminder. When I was a teenager I read Erik Sevareid's NOT SO WILD A DREAM and was so proud to be an American. Then I grew up. Our country will survive this current debacle and move back towards center, but we'll never make it completely back and will be defending our democracy from within for many years. Sadly, it's always easier to defend the quick fix rather than the laborious restoration. We can only hope those who come after read our histories and realize what's at stake.
Strip the religion out. No need to wrap it up in the ethereal. Make it accessible. People want to be treated fairly, but they also want advantage. Democracy enhances the former and restrains the latter. President Theodore Roosevelt sensed this when he said, “There can be no real political democracy unless there is something approaching an economic democracy.”
1
The thing that jumps out is that we live in an era driven by feelings instead of wisdom and discernment. Trump was elected by a populace operating like a ball of raw ganglia. People are so angry at the elites that they were willing to elect a fool, not believing he would do great things, but that he'd stick it to the man and thus, somehow, offer relief to their grievances.
Evidence suggests that this dangerous bargain didn't work.
This is an excellent article. One of our problems is that our education system has faltered. Our children no longer learn civics, and are not taught government properly. An ignorant population is an endangered population.
I would urge people to read "On Tyranny," by Timothy Snyder. A small book with big warnings.
1
For democracy to flourish, it must at its heart be egalitarian--recognizing that each member of society is of equal worth. The founding fathers knew that America was not ready to embrace "all men are created equal," so they put in place safeguards against mob rule. The irony is that the *true* majority--represented by the diversity of today's Democratic Party--is ready for Mann's vision, but we were ultimately stymied by the cheat of the electoral college and the abuses of gerrymandering and voter suppression. As Charles Blow so eloquently reminded us the other day: "...Trump was a fringe candidate who tapped into an American ugliness and rode it to a fluke victory with the help of a foreign adversary." Alabama has shown us that a return to equilibrium will not be easy, but it is attainable with vigilance and hard work--that's the real social lesson of the current political debacle.
1
I am sorry, but the notion of democracy in a nation of 328,000,000 human beings is ipso facto nonsensical in any historical context. Madison and Jefferson had a very specific, narrow vision of democracy. No slaves or women. Propertied, educated white men were to lead. All others to follow. This is not advocacy of authoritarianism or oligarchy. Just recognition that a vast, complex society like the United States is not amenable to governance in the Jeffersonian ideal. The principles espoused by Mann and cited by Brooks are worthy goals which we should continue to pursue. Freedom from oppression by government a priori was the central motivation of the Revolution and the unifying principle of the Constitution. We of the 328,000,000 need to accommodate ourselves to our circumstances. Unfortunately, I fear that the baser nature of human beings combined with the sheer number of them will overwhelm worthy goals espoused by Mann and trumpeted by Brooks.
Thank you for this timely piece. The clarity of Mann's language cuts through the current fog. He, and you, present a 'better angels' view that is an inspiring re-minder of the possibilities still within our sight.
Trump and his minions hate protests of the national anthem at sporting events because the gladiators are supposed to take the citizens' minds off the real issues at hand, which is the destruction of democracy. I am glad Mr. Brooks has gone this direction. Liberal democracy is fragile.
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Thank you for this aspirational and inspirational piece. I am fully aware of many of the issues, pointed out by many, and the valid points made. However, for me personally, after such a tumultuous year, this piece felt like a perfect ode of what we, as spiritual beings,religious or secular, having human existence, can aspire to.
7
I hope other conservatives read your column and see themselves in the mirror. As to the offensive speech problem, where is the line between offensive and non offensive speech? Paraphrasing a supreme court justice, I know it when I hear it. At various times, the courts have ruled what speech is allowed and what is not (yelling fire in a theater). Lately, the groups on both left and right are arguing over where the line in public speech should be drawn or redrawn.
2
Thomas Mann writings on Democracy should be required reading by all Republicans. The chances are that no Republican Congressman has ever read them or is even aware of them. Democrats in Congress would be performing a great public service if they would from time to time read them aloud at Congressional meetings and enter them in the proceedings.
10
America was and is not nor was it ever intended to be a democracy. America was not and is not a European country. Ancient Athens was a "democracy". The British Empire was a "democracy". Not every person in either entity was a person nor a citizen.
The 13 British colonies of King George III and the British Parliament were not democracies. America's Founding Father's so feared democracy that the only people who could vote in America were white men who owned property. And the only official whom they could directly elect was their member of the lowest house of a divided tripartite democratic republic with the shortest term of any official. The Founding Fathers denied any democratic rights to their enslaved African property and to women.
Instead of being a national democracy, America is voluntary union of 50 sovereign states plus the District of Columbia each of whom determines who can vote by it's own rules within the limits of the 13th, 14th, 15th and XIX Amendments focused on the rights of enslaved and separate and unequal Africans in America along with women.
Mr. Brooks and Mr. Mann's focus on European fascism and communism has little if any relevance to America. Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and James Baldwin's writings including "The Fire Next Time" deal with the callous colored corrupt cynical lingering legacy that denied the humanity as persons of enslaved Africans in America and defined them as separate and unequal. Hypocrisy is the shame of "democracy".
4
The whole concept of US states derives from the need for unequally protective laws where slavery is a political option.
1
So, because the founders were flawed men of their time 240 years ago, we are doomed forevermore. We've made zero progress as a society since that time. The efforts and struggle and death of thousands of people working to improve this country were a waste of time. The belief that 'America' started out a great idea and can be made into a great reality is foolishness. Got it. Thanks for your "wisdom"....
Thanks for reminding us of these very important life principles that were developed and brought into action during the period that followed the Second World War. I do agree that it seems essential to go back today to what emerged then from chaos. As you write, "humans do beastly things — Mann had just escaped the Nazis —". I agree with Mann that "humans are the only creatures who can understand and seek justice, freedom and truth". But aren't humans also the only creatures capable of such cruel, destructive, barbaric terror. Beast are capable of violence and cruelty, but humans are capable of going so much further in horror and destruction. And often, even relating to consciousness, and to "good" (or even God) when doing so! By qualifying these terrible ways of behaving "beastly", are we not refusing to acknowledge a deep rooted human tendency, that we must recognize as such and accept to look at IT into our own eyes. "Go, go, go said the bird: human kind cannot bear very much reality", wrote T.S.Eliot...
2
When the US gets around to updating its own constitution, it could begin with the constitution negotiated for West Germany by the victorious western Allies after WW II.
Before I read this column I read the article on the other side of the NYT front page today by Vogel and Tankersley about the role of tax lobbyists in the current tax reform bill being rushed through Congress. If there was any greater testament to the death of our democracy — in the sense Thomas Mann meant it: the primacy of respect for the individual — then it’s hard to imagine. The interests of the individual democrat were subsumed long ago by vast fortunes and their owners. I’m an optimist by nature but I can’t for the life of me see our way out of our current travesty of the democratic spirit.
7
A real truth here. Brooks comments today, well articulated and aspirational, does not remotely describe our “democracy’ today. Gerald’s point is right on.
I appreciate David Brooks's effort to find basic principles to help counter the toxic rhetoric of our times (just be careful to watch the college-bashing; academia and its purported intolerance of conservative ideas has become the too-easy target of the right as a convenient culprit for society's ills).
But if you're looking for an even more basic principle to underpin a move toward a more humane and civilized society, there's been one out there for the better part of a century, and it doesn't even require invoking God. It's Alfred Adler's concept of "gemeinschaftsgefuehl," roughly translated as "social interest" or "community feeling." Adler maintained that the ability to fit in and belong, to make a contribution, and to participate in society (including its economic life) is what will allow us to survive and prosper. Rudolf Dreikurs added the idea that social interest must transcend "tribalism" and include all of humanity.
Adler also posited that deficits in social interest - on the part of individuals, groups, tribes, corporations, and nations - leads to war, oppression, exploitation, prejudice, greed, and the lust for power. In other words, ignoring the Golden Rule, and acting like bad guys.
Invoking "isms" to explain social problems - whether the "isms" are purported to be the sins of the right, the left, the patriarchy, or the political correct - gets us nowhere, because no one wants to be called names. Instead, we must examine our degree of cooperation.
3
It seems that the root cause of genocidal warfare has been tribal competition by population growth to gain control of limited resources, however resources are perceived to be limited, since the nucleation of tribes.
Unfortunately, so much of modern American culture challenges the dignity of individual men and women that Mann emphasized: emotional isolation and the hardening of empathy that results comes most to mind! It starts young, and democracy is not simply a learned response. Authoritarianism becomes valued as a strength. It’s shortcomings go unexplored as life becomes more complex and stressful. We are collectively less stable, less emotionally mature and far less connected as Americans. Mann was right, but where is Thomas Mann now, and would he, If here, even get editorial space in The NY Times?
3
Greed, self-interest and ideology are the persuasive forces in a society that denigrates education and critical thought. But apathy may be the great enabler of anti-social forces. Most of the people I know are unengaged or ambivalent about government and their prospects for making a difference. Meanwhile, the party that teaches us that government is the problem, proves it every day. What is most troubling is the blatant disregard for the quality of life we will leave to our children and theirs.
4
"It would be a great error to think of and teach democracy as a procedural or political system, or as the principle of majority rule." This is precisely the creed brought forth by ostensible Evangelicals in this country, aggressively contemptuous of each individual's private search for worth.
"They despise the masses...all they see is the grubby striving for money and power and attention."
Not much has changed in our"Democracy". The last 20 years have been nothing much more than this. The Clinton Administration and to now the trump(small 't' intentional) Administration.
Where do the millennials want to go with a misdirection of democracy when they are the holders of monies, power and attention?
It's not the people who are policy rule makers/creators of democracy... it's those we elect and the ones they do bidding for...today it is money,power and attention for the corporations...yesterday it was Wall St. and Banking...
Upcoming is bilking more of the Masses...Democracy's Struggles continue...
(democracy is not perfect; it's how it's worked- is what makes it not democracy)
Happy to see you've finally thrown off your chains of tribalism too for the good of the Country! We've got a society that needs to be rebuild on truth.
2
"Between the thought and the action fall the shadow" TS Elliot. In theory democracy is as you and Mann describe it, in practice it is an exercise in advertising reminiscent of soap or cigarette ads. Democracy is simple in concept but difficult in practice as our founding fathers imagined. They instituted the stupid electoral college to protect us from ours stupid selves, but it didn't work! On the ground level, most people who are of good will, will be like the good Samaritan and help even the most downtrodden, thus raising the standard of humanity that you describe. Yet those same people will chant to "lock her up" in a fevered pitch. So we are wandering in the desert seeking truth to some degree or another.
1
Your column captures closely exactly my musings over the last several months. I have never read Mann’s “Coming Victory...”, but I will now! Thank you for an excellent column and the exciting prospect of the series.
1
Yes, but what has any of this to do with us? America is a democracy, or a democratic republic, in name only. Empty formalism. What we in fact have is a plutocracy that since the financial crisis of 2008 has nakedly and unashamedly revealed itself to be a kleptocracy. Mr. Brooks knows this, which makes one wonder: What is his motivation for referencing the idealism contained in his excerpts from Mann? We are WAY past that mile marker; and one could say that it never actually was on the road the framers laid out for us to travel down (not really).
When the truth is unbearably bleak, people tell themselves fairy tales to make it through the daily slog of being a working stiff. We anaesthetize ourselves with alcohol, opioids, pot, and sports, and hope the whole thing's over soon.
What I wouldn't give to share Mr. Brooks's idealism, even for a day!
1
David Brooks ignores reality: US is no longer a democracy. We're an oligarchy.
(The government is controlled by the rich, beholden to the rich, and dedicated to helping the rich instead of 90% of Americans.)
Until we overturn Citizens United and establish taxpayer funded election campaigns (short ones as in the UK) Dark Money will rule.
Proof: Republicans are in lock step to pass the tax bill to benefit their richest donors, not most Americans
4
.
DB reminds us that if you want to build a better nation or culture, then build a better individual.
The Founding Fathers did a fine job of constituting a government that balances and concedes power – their tripartite model works.
But where is the model for the individual? Where is the framework that recognizes and distinguishes reason from emotion? That explains the difference between thinking and believing? That takes psychology and sociology into account?
Consider that if we had such a model, we could improve ourselves, our communities and perhaps, our culture. Thanks to the internet, you may have an answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knspyPJBNiA
2
On college campuses, according to a Brookings/UCLA survey, 50 percent of students believe that “offensive” speech should be shouted down and 20 percent believe it should be violently crushed.
Do you suggest allowing offensive speech go unchallenged? I realize that what is offensive to one might not be to another, there is always speech I disagree with but still does not rise to the level of "offensive." But what about truly offensive speech, say the White Supremacy rhetoric that has come up out of the gutters of indecency this past year or so. Am I supposed to allow Richard Spencer to speak on a college campus without loud vociferous challenge, so that others might know and understand how utterly wrong his ideas are?
1
Brooks, the irony is that Thomas Mann was driven from Germany to Switzerland by the Nazis and then driven from the United States to Switzerland by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Your quote, "As an American citizen of German birth I finally testify that I am painfully familiar with certain political trends. Spiritual intolerance, political inquisitions, and declining legal security, and all this in the name of an alleged ‘state of emergency.’ . . . That is how it started in Germany.” is an excerpt from his testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee. His testimony began with, “I have the honor to expose myself as a hostile witness. I testify that I am very much interested in the moving-picture industry and since my arrival in the United States nine years ago, I have seen a great many Hollywood films. If communist propaganda had been smuggled into them it must have been most thoroughly buried. I, for one, never noticed anything of the sort."
Yet he never lost faith in democracy. He was brilliant and courageous.
4
Thoughts about the fragility of democracy in the face of extremism are particularly apt today in America.
The choice by David Brooks of Thomas Mann to look at democracy is good, since Mann was present when Germany underwent a dramatic shift to a fascism which soon descended into incredible cruelty and depravation.
Everyone probably has a favorite Mann work, and mine is The Magic Mountain, a novel which explores many themes. What is interesting about Thomas Mann’s escape to America, however, is best seen in his novella, Death in Venice.
Some people assume that Thomas Mann was Jewish and needed to escape Hitler because of religion. In fact, Mann was a Christian, but he knew that he would be a target of the Nazi regime because of his politically dangerous espousal of democracy. Mann was married, but he probably also realized that his suppressed homosexuality or, more correctly, a fantasized pederasty described in Death in Venice, made remaining in Germany dangerous.
The point is not who Thomas Mann was, but how perceptive Mann’s understanding of democracy was. David Brooks made a good choice to highlight the danger facing America under Donald Trump and under the right-wing politicians who support Trump.
1
Democracy is about meeting the basic needs of the human animal for sustenance and joy. It is about justice and equality of opportunity. It is about how we organise ourselves to establish and to maintain universal human rights.
Our government is now run by liars and thieves who will do all in their power to subvert the democratic process through voter suppression and gerrymandering. A minority president shames and demeans the office. A Congress that is not representative of the majority of Americans pass laws to benefit the rich. Law enforcement that ought to protect and serve routinely shoots and kills the citizens it is sworn to protect, and a disproportionate number of the victims are black people.
How about a return to basics, guaranteeing the right to vote and the end of gerrymandered districts? The philosophy is fine, but it is only fairy dust without action.
.
2
Now just a minute. I agree that speech should be protected, but it strikes me that there is a difference between protection and promotion. A fascist may,
I believe, rant on the street corner or blog, or publish. Sure. That person should not be arrested, beaten, nor imprisoned by the state. But nowhere in the first Amendment does it say that a university, whose values are humanistic must give a platform to the fascist, authoritarian, bully who will insist that white people should oppress everyone else, or that people of color are inferior. No. Too many people have died, as Bob Dylan said. We should know better. Let the neo-nazi and white-supremacist find his own platform. Let him even, God-forbid, run for office. But, for the sake of the millions of dead and oppressed, lynched or imprisoned falsely, don't make it easy. Don't promote a false equivalence between humanism and racism and fascism. Don't pretend that democracy and authoritarianism are just two kinds of equal truth. This is not about reasonable competing philosophies. This is truth versus 1984. This is life and death. Don't force people to listen to the poison. We have that freedom too.
2
When the Supreme Court put our us up for sale under Citizens United the highest bidders bought us, now own us and are bleeding us dry.
3
Beautifully spoken, thank you.
2
In spite of the strident reactions of some of your readers- still whipping away at Trump's poor dumb mule of ignorance and falsehoods- what you are trying to do here is laudable, and a good idea.
Keep stressing the positive, admirable ways that Democracy has functioned and can still function, regardless of the brainless opposition.
But print it in some other venues too, in the Red states, in the Republican news programs.
Just yesterday, down here, I was subject to the prayerful ranting of some right wing, white preacher who claimed Trump was the fountain of political truth, and Obama had been incapable of telling it.
While in today's issue here, we can find a devastating comparison between Trump and Obama in the quantity of lies told in office- so far.
Of course, most like him refuse to place any credence whatsoever in an internationally recognized and awarded newspaper from New York, with a strong history of journalistic tradition and respect for truth.
Whence the despair.
Hey, one hundred and sixty some odd years ago, the southern Christian churches were coming apart and their followers killing each other over whether or not Jesus was in favor of human chattel slavery.
1
Come on, David, become a Democrat! Then you can worship Roosevelt and Truman and Kennedy. We'll even throw in Reagan who was once a Democrat. Put down the bag of bricks and embrace the lightness of love and peace and joy which you are drawn to instead of hatred and divisiveness.
Get with it David.
In America kleptocratic millionaires and billionaires manipulate markets. In America politicians, some too very rich are manipulated by the kleptocrats. There is nothing new about this. We saw it in Rome. We saw it in Feudal Europe. We see it all over the Middle East today. We see it in Russia. We see it in China and India. Democracy is today what it has been since our founding; no more than a code word for the rich and powerful.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
David, it would have been far better if you had skipped the first three paragraphs and just started with the fourth. From that point on, this is indeed an excellent analysis of one prominent writer's view of what democracy should be. And I hope that you will continue to study this subject, and continue to present your findings as to the value of liberal democracy.
It is just too bad that you felt you had to start off by decrying the rise of tribalism and authoritarianism, and the subsequent degradation of democracy, without acknowledging the fact that this has come about as a direct result of the actions of the political party that you have spent your entire public life supporting.
Nice to hear a shoutout to Thomas Mann. "Buddenbrooks" was a revelation for me, the first long, absorbing family saga I ever read, and I was captivated. I slogged through "The Magic Mountain," which had it's moments but was too advanced for me at the time--I'll get back to it someday. The novella "Transposed Heads," was a joy to read--based on an Indian folk tale, but more complex and penetrating than most folk tales. Mann's greatest tour de force in my opinion is "Joseph and His Brothers," a retelling of the Bible story of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, who inspired envy in his older brothers. What a novel! You must read it. It opens the ancient world of the Middle East and the wisdom of the Bible like no other retelling. One time, at a Seder, we got to the part where the leader asks a question about how the Jews came to be slaves in Egypt, and I astonished the group with my knowledge. They must have thought I was a scholar of the Bible. But no, I'd read "Joseph and His Brothers" by Thomas Mann.
Just to set the historical record correct all of the values stated in this piece, which I do agree with, are as described in the book Sabiens, elaborate myth systems made up by humans. In the author's words: "We know people are not equal biologically speaking—but the belief in equality allows us as a nation to cooperate. Life, liberty, are principles which have no objective validity...That all men are created equal is also a myth. People are not created, they evolve. Evolution is based on difference, not on equality." Now these democratic myths systems have worked for us, both culturally, politically, and economically, But as the author cautions: "An imagined order to our society is always in danger of collapse, because it is a myth. Police, armies, courts, work at forcing people into an imagined order. " Presently, we have an administration is attempting to use the police, armies, and courts to collapse our imagined liberal order.
One of the most difficult human collective activities is organize violence.
Western Democracies were constructed on high minded promises and egregious behavior. The wealth and power of nations was built on slavery and expropriation of native lands and the creation of class systems which despised one another. Modern consumer capitalism clammers for more and more at the cost of our souls and even the life of the planet that sustains us. American evangelical Christianity teaches its adherents to exclude and scapegoat those who aren't "born again." They are just the most visible expression of what we are all doing to one another. We are watching our impending destruction in microcosm right now in Myanmar. The core problem is not the other we spend so much of our time and energy despising. It is our own self-abasement. Once we succumb to the belief that someone else is less human, less deserving, not like us, not a part of us, less in any way than we are, we unknowingly consign ourselves to the same status and then behave accordingly.
This is a good discussion on the degradation of democracy and the uniqueness of the human species. Our intellect and culture give us the unique ability to choose unselfishness and pass that behavior to future generations. Whether democracy is sustainable long term is, however, an open question. At the genetic level our powerful tribal drives may be too strong to overcome. They operate via evolution on much longer timescales than culture. In addition, the selfishness of economic capitalism is not the optimal system for long term survival. Just consider how quickly our chosen economic system has resulted in an obscenely skewed distribution of wealth in less than a century.
As our population grows beyond the carrying capacity of the planet, selfishness will overwhelm any attempt to sustain democracy. How can a species that casually considers other life forms as expendable be considered "noble" or even desirable? There is no reason we should expect immunity from extinction as a species. Hundreds of millions of species have gone extinct in the 4.5 billion years Earth has existed. Extinction renders any discussion of democracy profoundly meaningless. Earth would likely be better off if humans do go extinct.
1
Well, as my Republican friends tell me with an air of finality - we're not a democracy, we're a republic. So there.
When a president and congress so devalue the most valuable things we have in a democracy--truth, equality, shared sacrifice, education--it is difficult not to speak and act out against those who support those things.
I abhor violence, but it far easier to debate demagogues when they spew their invective that we thought was abandoned to the ash-heap of history when we have a president and congress that agree with us that these ideas are reprehensible. When they do nothing, or worse yet, openly oppose institutions or spur their base to attack monuments to truth that we hold dear, like the press, the FBI, and education, that debate seems futile.
By scrolling up and down, I saw the first two sentences of Enri in MA were forming a concise summary. As for the opinion piece itself, my heart palpiter-ed a bit when my eye hit the name, Bergson. Thank you to the writer, for not unfolding further. Here is my humble and modest request. Please do not go on Hannah Arendt vs. Strauss.
Mr. Brooks,
I hope the Speaker of the House reads your article to remind him what he has seemed to have forgotten.
Thank you for your thoughtful articles and for educating me.
Sean
1
Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for reminding us of what we can be and what the decent communal life demands what we must be. You write that "democracy is thought." If so, the manufactured mindlessness advanced by our own government hardly offers hope for a return to public decency.
On the other hand, the sheer vulgarity of the nation's top executive has triggered a staunch resistance, so profoundly repulsed so many citizens have become. Perhaps the vile venality infecting the Oval Office is so extremely negative that the despised masses are responding to abused power with even more disgust.
We should expect more of ourselves.
1
Perhaps I am naive but I refuse to despair of democracy. What it takes is the guts to stand up and be counted, and commitment that gets out there. Democracy is a way of life, and a way of thought.
Keep it up Mr. Brooks.
David,
A number of Commenters have articulated this in different ways.
I'll take my stab at it.
If you believed any of what you just wrote/advocated, you would have left the Republican Party decades ago.
It does not much matter at this point.
Democracy isn't 'threatened' in America. It's definitely dead.
The thousands of us who read this excellent article are unfortunately overwhelmed by the millions who, if they ever even heard of Thomas Mann, will dismiss him with two words - cuck and snowflake - before returning to the comfort of social media and state-run television.
These lofty ideals from Thomas Mann are one side of Democracy. The other side is more ominous. That democracy depends on an educated populace, able to distinguish truth from fiction and lies. It depends on a populace who are willing to be coherent and not nihilistic or partisan. A populace who are indignant when they are played for fools. Our democracy could have been disrupted at its inception were it not for powerful leaders, Such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, each with a different vision but intent on making it work, Instead we have Donald Trump who is intent on dismantling the system. If he succeeds democracy fails.
1
David, yo should reread and comment on Robert Penn Warren's "Democracy and Poetry." Valuable words for our fraught times.
A great idea for a series; something we could all use right now.
If democracy begins with one great truth, as Thomas Mann put it, then we must get rid of those who deny truth at every turn. Lets start with Trump, Sarah Huckabee Saunders, Fox News and Republicans trying to sell us this phony tax bill.
1
Outstanding column! Please continue these insights.
Thank you.
Wow! Sounds like this column is a denunciation of the Tax Bill and the entire Republican Party. What a shock.
Congratulations Mr. Brooks. Given you indirect way of “telling a story” we should have anticipated this “back door” strategy.
We should tweet this column to Ryan, McConnell and Gowdy and Jordan and Grassley, and Pence too. Democracy is anti-Republican!
1
"It would be a great error to think of and teach democracy as a procedural or political system, or as the principle of majority rule."
How do you expect to defend Democracy when you can't even get the most basic facts right about it?
Without any argument or evidence you attribute to Democracy all sort of high falutin gobbledygook. Yet when you get to the one thing Democracy really is, you say that's not Democracy.
You apparently need basic education on the topic, so let's start at the beginning:
DEMOCRACY IS PRECISELY AND ESSENTIALLY A PROCEDURAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEM OF MAJORITY RULE.
I have written before about how many people even today do not understand this basic fact about Democracy.
Republicans in particular are prone to criticize Democracy precisely because it is majority rule. They continually talk about the "tyranny of the majority" and recite the story of two wolves a lamb as though that were the deepest wisdom on the issue.
So, to repeat, either you have rule by the majority, or you have rule by the minority. Tertium non datur.
Which do you want?
I think Trump is the contemptible bully that we need to push is to demand more from our public figures. While Moore may have lost by 1.5%, he lost. He’s one less demagogue we have to deal with.
Trump, Moore, McConnell, Pence are zealots who see no value in straying from their self-define true path. We’re a country of 300 million people. We don’t need zealots; we need compromise.
"Civilization" began in Mesopotamia when. written language was developed. No written records, no government. Respect for the individual emerged with greater force when the Hebrews declared their God forbade child sacrifice, a common practice in the Middle East. Focus not on your political science lessons but the God who commanded respect and love for the individual seems the appropriate response to the difficulties you address.
1
The idea of democracy has never been a singular concept: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democracy/ . There is reason to be skeptical of Mr. Brooks' "great truth" of democracy. The idea is arguably much more general: a method of group decision that is binding on all members of the group.
Mr. Brooks emphasizes a narrower view of democracy. There are others: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-07-21/liberal... . From that July 2017 essay by James Poulos.
From the essay:
"...But liberals should not lose sight of the fact that their nationalist opponents on the right broadly seek more, not less, democratic governance, and oppose the global liberal order because of the ways in which it has disappointed American aspirations characteristic of democratic life. Political democracy is not quite the creature of liberalism liberals are now so apt to believe it is. In convincing themselves otherwise, defenders of liberal globalization have given in too readily to the fear of a systemic democratic collapse. ...
Alas, the liberal dream of “global democracy” in that misleading sense is much less broadly shared today than in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, when it seemed so destined to be. If liberals really want a fight on that disadvantageous ground, rest assured: they will get one."
I do not know what will happen in the USA over the next few decades. I hope a kinder sort of democratic republic manages to remain in place.
Trump is fundamentally unfit to even deal with the premise of democracy. Trump cares only about "me," and can't be bothered to think of "we."
1
Nice speech, too bad Mr. Brooks prez is doing everything he can to end our democracy. Aided and abetted by his party of course, of which Mr. Brooks is a member as much as he seems to want to forget it.
There's only one over-riding question: are there enough decent Americans left who will turn on the kitchen light and send Trump and his courtiers scurrying back under the fridge from whence they came? (Now whether they'll be able to squeeze themselves into cracks carrying those satchels stuffed with the public purse is another matter.)
1
"Then it all went bad"?
No, David, you made it bad.
You should avoid hiding your actions behind passive language.
You're right, though. For a heartrendingly brief moment we seemed to have it all. Our closest approach to income and educational equity. Politics that courted and responded to the opinions of people somewhere below gajillionaire. A decent and respected position in the world.
But you, you and your conservative buds, couldn't stand it. In fact you still can't, except in gauzy retrospect.
Those bozo snowflakes on campus want to shout people down and ruin democracy for everybody?
Back up a step, Mr. Brooks, and you'll realize the people being shouted down are not on campus to discuss or share ideas, they are there to provoke and harangue, and to organize real world attempts to deprive people of their right to live as they choose.
To do it in the name of free speech. And to do it with the blessing of the ugliest caricatures of a political party and President in history backing them up every step of the way.
Yes, its bad form to shout somebody down. But its worse to use your supposed "right to be heard" to control and dominate and demean.
Students are yelling because they're confused and afraid. They see the corrupt hash you've made of their politics. They see the mindless partisanship of the courts, bottom to top.
Things did not 'go bad', David. You made them bad. This is where you brought us. Sorry if you're not happy.
Another dose of Brooks' papp philosophy. While I don't disapprove of what he is saying, it verges into SO WHAT territory when you look at the state we are in.
Mr. Brooks,
That is all very nice and so ambitious of you to strike up the band and play patriotic songs while in the foreground you 'splain to us lumpen over the next few months the origins of democratic ideals. You can be our own Yankee Doodle Dandy. I expect to come away from reading those opinion pieces with a strong sense of barnyard smells in my nostrils yet so inspired.
Why don't you write about something more relevant like the historical decline of democracy into a system known as 'inverted totalitarianism' where corporations have seized control of the state even though we generally refuse to acknowledge that fact? We will need something more something more than a patriotic conservative riff on the ideals of democracy if we can expect any light to be cast on a way forward to a truly representative system.
I have not read Thomas Mann but all the "spiritual' terminology in this essay seems a bit bothersome. For example;
1. "Glory of ....
2. "herald peace...
3. "infinite dignity of man....
4. "made in God's image....
5. "elementary dynamic force...
6. "natures fall from grace...
7. "original sin is...
8. "man as a spiritual being....
I don’t know if Thomas Mann or David Brooks are “religious” in the sense of believing in gods but the essay seems to indicate this possibility. The statement “made in God’s image” is the most worrisome. We are not “made in God’s image” because there are no gods in the universe, period. Any essay, regardless of the reputation of the writer, must be viewed as suspect if it contains this completely irrational statement.
Our species must pass three critical tests required for long term survival. We must first develop an “environmental morality” that values other life. We must develop an “economic morality” that results in greater human equality. We must develop a “spiritual morality” that does not rely on any supernatural gods for guidance. We only have about 2 billion years to get this right before the sun runs out of fuel and possibly vaporizes the entire planet. God help us!
Imagine a world filled with people who had no God-given right to anything, who had to cooperate with each other to survive. Imagine they weren't made "in God's image," but were imperfect beings that had among them greedy sociopaths. How should they'd deal with those people?
This is another article from Brooks that heavily cites God and religious principles. Remember when Obama derided people for "clinging to guns and religion"? Can't wait for Brooks to endorse the NRA.
Mr. Brooks, you sound like Nancy Reagan---"just say no." Just say no to the "cheap and superficial." Just say no to racism. Just say no to institutionalized tyranny. Just say no to writing tax laws that benefit yourself. Just say no to violence. But like Nancy Reagan, you fail, utterly, to acknowledge that while individual "choices" matter, we have SYSTEMS in place that prefigure those "choices." Police do not get up in the morning and "choose" to shoot African Americans---those shooters are embedded in hundreds of years of racists culture. Lawmakers do not "choose" to be greedy---they are embedded in a corrupt system where they have to curry favor to stay in office. And the violence of our streets is not a function of folks "choosing" to harm others, but rather arises from grinding poverty, social isolation, and a no-child-left-behind education. We cannot solve these large-scale system problems with individual-based solutions. "Just say no" solutions would be laughable, if they were not also so tragic---they are the solutions of the privileged and function as "stand-ins" for much needed systems change for those that are not.
2
Any article that starts with Communism's defeat, the falling of the Berlin wall, and the triumph of liberal democracy should stop the reader in his tracks and question the need to keep reading.
Communism fell because they were paranoid about the West and spent themselves into bankrupsy trying to keep up with our defense spending. Reagan wasn't the great hero defeating Communism. He just laid the last few dollars on the poker table that the Communists couldn't match. Both sides were destructively paranoid (still are). We just had more money because we started earlier and weren't descimated by 2 wars like they were. Now, thanks partly to people like Mr. Brooks we have a dangerous narcissistic despotic crack pot in the oval office and he's complaining?
2
Oh brother, we're back to standard Brooks moral equivalency baloney, only this time with a bunch of high-falutin' philosophizing. Tribalism is at fault and everybody does it. Everybody is to blame. Brooks has the wrong Thomas Mann. We need the guy who writes with Ornstein and who will tell you what absolute malarkey THAT is. Second, who can write an entire column about authoritarianism, the corruption of our republic, and the power of democracy to lead us to nobility — nobility, indeed — without ONCE mentioning the word Trump? Brooks is doing "nice people on both sides." Spare us, please. As the other Thomas Mann points out, it ain't so, and all the pretty language in the world can't dress it up as something else. It's the Republicans, not everybody, who are creating the one-party fascist state. So this semester let's just skip Brooks' aggressively dishonest course, Moral Equivalency 204, and watch CNN as "Republicans" dismantle one of the greatest republics in human history. During commercials let's read Thomas Mann's essays on democracy for righteous uplift.
'money in the service of production" ...there's a novel concept
Preach it, Bro.
1
I remember a saying of an Indian Saint in late nineteenth century - Mugal coin is not a valid tender in British Raj. World is a changing place - Kant's Critique of Reason, if read by a modern student will find different truth as truth is the creation of individual conscious mind. We need new definition of democracy that is related to citizens empowered by social media. Old definition of democracy was controlled by few elites, the liberal minded intellectuals grounded on freedom, justice and fraternity. In spite of those founding principles slavery, exploitation and imperialism coexisted. In today's democracy those type of elite's policy will not be accepted - democracy is moving forward not declining. 750 M people were uplifted from hunger and injustices during last decade, an achievement never seen in history. The ruling elites of older democracy are trying to take advantage of this chaos in changing society - Gini coefficient of US at 0.83. Today values of Capitalism are redefined - materialism and sexism is questioned. New social rules are forming like climate awareness, respect for womanhood and manhood, life style rooted on vegetarian and yoga, unending thrust for knowledge and creativity. These are the light houses of modern democracy not the acts of old institutes like Congress. New generation of legislatures will come to these institutions and those institutions will become the centers of Enlightenment in future. There is bright future of new democracy.
2
Agreed that democracy and all the societal traits associated with it is that system that best exalts the individual and his potential. But in order for it to have that effect requires a population that is both informed and engaged. And it seems that as methods of communication have increased, people's tendency to be informed and engaged has actually decreased. Why is that?
II think it is a function of the size of our polity. We are so big and becoming so centralized that people feel helpless, and so check out. It was long felt that the closer to people's level government resides, the better. But it can be argued that people today are far less informed of local and even state governance than they are about national levels. Reporting tends to favor that and modern attitudes reducing every issue to some moral eschatology encourages that. But the national level is too large for any of us to really affect. So most of us respond with cynicism and apathy.
Meanwhile, attention to local and state matters languish. Since so much of what each lower level of government is now mandated by a higher level, those looking at the lower levels find there is little they can affect, so why bother.
I suspect a rejuvenation of democracy will depend upon devolving more power to lower levels of governance and an abandonment of much of our moralizing about government in the abstract, replacing it with concrete action at levels of governance closer to people.
1
This is a lovely column. Thank you. I appreciate coming to know Thomas Mann's words and convictions and I commend your undertaking that begins with this column. Like you I have had a very heavy heart for what has happened and is happening to our country and the world... Thanks for taking the time in the months ahead to coming back to trying to re-inspire our commitment to democracy and each other. The noble angels of our nature cannot be killed but we can surely lose sight of them and fall asleep and forget that they are there.
3
Thank you, David Brooks, for expressing ideas that many of us former Republicans think and have neither the words not the platform to use. For your information on the subject of "Democracy," I would like to call your attention to the Baccalaureate address at Princeton University in 1936 by Dr. Harold Dodds.
Entitled " The Liberal Faith in the Modern World." Dr. Dodds says, "World history has been the story of great civilizations which failed to perpetuate themselves. One reason for their failure is not far to seek. It is because the number of civilized persons was confined to the few. Because the civilized few were not concerned with the civilization of the many, the many were ready to destroy civilization. Our civilization today may be precarious but it contains one new and hopeful element, the spirit of democracy with its sense of social responsibility. Here is a base on which our civilization may build. It is the duty of the civilized man to stand out from the mass, but also so to fuse himself with the needs of the mass that all may benefit from his culture. No ancient civilization undertook this responsibility and the result was disaster."
4
This is a nice read to start a cold snowy Friday. I think our need to return to civility is the essential building block to reestablish democracy. That means turning off Fox News and MSNBC, and maybe to start DVR'ing the PBS NewsHour. That means attending town halls not every four years, but rather 4 times a year, to discuss, local, state, national, and international issues. I'd like to see a Kasich v Biden US tour to various college campuses to sit and discuss differences in front of students who haven't seen such order, because their parents were focused on Keeping up with Joneses in the artificial hectic-ness of suburban America.
And I'd like to see David Brooks take this concept and work with Paul Krugman to interconnect this country's dying democracy with our country's dying equality goals. One concept comes to mind first and foremost: giving all full time employees stock options. This is a small but meaningful way to give people a chance for wealth creation.
13
Do you honesty think that the people addicted to Fox News and MSNBC are going to start DVD'ing PBS? ...PBS is the enemy to these people.. The New Times and David Brooks are the enemy to these people.
It's like telling a crack addict they should stop smoking crack and start doing yoga instead... It an't gonna happen.
People say we need a new fairness doctrine. What we need is some kind of civility doctrine and a fact checking system for the media. This cable news stuff is spiraling out of control and the people are oblivious to what is happening.
You have a world before Fox News and a world after Fox News. Why is it so hard for people to see what the problem is?
The ideals of our national are fully expressed in the preamble of the constitution. How often have we heard a politician, especially a Republican, mention phrase "provide for the general welfare?" Note that the policies of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the Great Society all were reflections of that phrase. Eisenhower did not roll back the New Deal, which is why he is hardly acknowledged by contemporary conservatives. We now have in academia a conservative movement that is quite active in rolling back the ACA, thus depriving millions of basic health care. No Republican believes that health care should be part of the "general welfare." The current tax bill is a perfect expression of the social darwinism that is the foundation of modern conservatism, the anthesis of the constitution's preamble.
5
The problem isn't democracy, Mr. Brooks, it's capitalism and money.
The Republicans seem to exist for one thing and one thing alone:
to serve their 1% overlords.
Thus we have Republicans and conservatives tell us things that we know are simply not true:
Money equals speech.
"Corporations are people, my friend."
As far as our democracy is concerned, we now officially have a plutocracy, thanks to our electoral college, gerrymandering, the feckless Republicans and the Russians.
The electoral college was set up specifically to entice slave-states to sign up for our union. Virginia, for example, had more people than Pennsylvania, but less free people. From this "problem" sprung the idea of the electoral college.
So, now 2 of our last 5 presidential elections were determined by the electoral college, not by the people. And this last election was abominable because 3 million more people voted for H. Clinton instead of Trump.
And how have the Republicans governed?
The Republicans are governing like criminals.
Only 20% of the people approve of the tax bill. It should be 5% because that who it benefits, but there are always uninformed citizens.
A majority want gun control.
A majority wanted Congress to hold hearings for Merrick Garland (2/3).
A majority want women to choose on abortion.
A majority want the EPA to be preserved.
A majority want net neutrality.
Your Republican Party is an abomination to democracy, Mr. Brooks, and manages to cheat and lie to stay in power.
44
"The problem isn't democracy, Mr. Brooks, it's capitalism and money."
True, but the problem is also democracy. When too many people are more interested in TV and sports than in reading even Scientific American or seeing to it that their kids apply themselves in school, and they vote, or don't vote, focusing on Big Money is just hitting at the most obvious target.
As for capitalism, it's not bad when administered by those who have the best interests of the middle class in mind. After all, we're capitalists too.
This is fine. But what is it that degrades the public square? Culture and education probably define that, and it differs place to place. So there can be different forms of democratic polities. What is common to them is a respect for due process and equal protection. Why? Because those principles allow for dissent and change.
6
Mann has a theoretical, high-minded concept of democracy. But much like the concept of Rational Economic man, is not realistic enough. The belief in the Rational Economic man is that humans act rationally to maximize their utility (or well-being). The rational economic man theory is predicated on man having perfect information. Therein lies the problem - many people have much less than perfect information.
Coming back to democracy, in the real world many people are fed lies, and don't know they are lies as they do no seek out to validate information, but instead gullibly accept information that in particular conforms to their biases. I don't see democracy faring well if a significant portion of the public believes the lies. Until we find a way to inform and convince all or almost all people that the lies are lies then democracy fails. This is not to say alternatives, such as aristocracy, are better, but just that democracy fails.
130
More than just lies; marketers are bending mens minds, psychology can be more than perception, thoughts can inhabit minds ,
And Justice For All, you've captured the issue well and fairly. The rise of propaganda masquerading as news especially since the advent of the internet is historically damaging to the cause of liberal democracy.
I don't think you're being fair to Thomas Mann. He knew the score. The "Magic Mountain" was all about the clash between bloodless rationalism (Settembrini) and bloodthirsty fascism (Naphta)--with the ordinary guy (Castorp) being torn apart by their battles (Castorp's dream). This was the state of Germany in the 1920's and it is the state of America today.
You elevate justice, freedom and truth, which is good and right. But, we've fallen so far, so far in terms of another requisite: equality. Our inequality strangles our democracy, and this is the real revolution we must have. You can wail against 'taking from those that have worked so hard' but you cannot say that this system has ever been fair. Never. From slavery and indentured servitude to sharecropping and slave wages, ours is a history of luxury and suffering. This is the 'glory' we so sorely lack.
189
Does it not depend on the way you are using the word “freedom?” It seems to me that equality, at least equality of opportunity and access, have been inherent in the way the word is used in American political discourse over the last half century.
This is different from the way “freedom” tended to be used in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it meant something akin to what we would today call “anarchy,” or at best “libertarian.” The preferred phase then was “liberty,” which described a situation where freedom was managed for optimization and sustainability through things like the rule of law, inalienable human rights, civil liberties, etc.-and was understood to include multiple dimensions of equality. But usage changes.
Personally, I prefer the 20th Century rendering of “truth, justice, and the American way” to Brook’s “freedom justice, and truth” or “truth, justice, and freedom.” The American way may seem parochial and amorphous, but I think it is actually less subject to confusion than “freedom.” (If nothing else, it implicitly calls for further explanation and parsing, whereas “freedom” can just hide in the ambiguity of its multiple meanings and usages.)
It would be fair to imply that the meaning of life depends largely on which end of the scale one exists. At one end preservation of having more than the other 99% is paramount. At the other end preservation or maybe even attaining simple comfort is the goal. Two distinctly different goals by creatures who share no distinctly dfferent human traits.
4
Democracy must be defended. It must be defended against corruption from within. The greatest source of corruption in American democracy is private financing of campaigns. The more the wealthy can "buy" representation the less democracy we have. There may come a tipping point when our democracy becomes so corrupted by the wealthy that we can not save it. That is when we become a corporate kleptocracy like Russia.
If we want to save American democracy we must remove private ownership of our political representatives and we must never let income become so concentrated that it corrupts our government.
369
Amen Ronny.
1
Are we really that far from the kleptocracy of Russia? At present we are as inequitable a society -- and that's before the trickle-up of tax monies to the 1% from the future GOP tax bill.
1
Your fears, Ronny, are not future dangers but have already come to pass. Baring actual revolution of some kind, the game is over. Studies show that the congress is completely blind and deaf to the needs of the people, passing 95+% of what the wealthy tell them to pass and almost nothing that the non-wealthy 90% of us want.
We idolize "democracy", but that's a pathetic fantasy here and now. Our government is terminally corrupt, with little hope for even minor tinkering to mitigate the bloodless coup now consolidated and secured by the wealthy.
1
I agree that democracy is in a dark period, however this period isn't due to democracy but a lack of it. Franklin noted that we have a Republic if we can keep it. The democracy in that republic is a function of caring, learning and love of freedom all of which require concerted educational effort. Unless or until we teach people about democracy, it will not exist in sufficient strength in our hearts and habits to be sufficiently vital to overcome the authoritarian impulses the rich and powerful will apply to overcome it.
5
Ben Franklin was proud that America was a nation of shopkeepers. We can't keep our republic if the smart use their brains to hoodwink the stupid, and when the stupid are too lazy and pleasure-oriented to try to become smart.
It is worth considering that not only authoritarians, propagandists, and demagogues are the enemies of democracy, but religion is as well. Religion, the original form of government, is in constant competition with every other form of government. It has survived through fiefdoms, kingdoms, empires, dictatorships, totalitarian regimes, and chaos. Our founders were wise enough to understand the power, and threat, of religion. They deliberately built a wall in order to preserve our government against religious influence. But religion, relying on ignorance, rituals, fear, and tribalism, will never be satisfied remaining outside the realm of the governed. This is not to say that religion must be destroyed. It is to say that the democracy than Mann envisions, with "respect for the infinite dignity of each individual man and woman, on each person’s moral striving for freedom, justice and truth", can never be achieved while people embrace religion.
11
I'm an atheist, but what you say doesn't ring true to me. Religion has many problems, but there are many religions. Are Buddhism and extreme Evangelicalism the same in your mind? Lastly, my understanding is that our founders erected a "wall" to separate religion from government, thus protecting both.
There are certain kinds of offensive speech, Mr. Brooks, that need to be shouted down or even crushed. I am not talking about the offense sometimes given by artistic expression (e.g., Mapplethorpe) nor about the provocations of Steve Bannon or Roy Moore (Jake Tapper did fine with supporters of the latter). I am talking about is what is commonly referred to as hate speech, speech that as a natural consequence leads directly to violence against racial, ethnic and religious groups. The rhetoric of racism led directly to lynchings. The anti-semitism of Nazi Germany led directly to the Holocaust. The First Amendment is a wonderful thing, but I wonder whether our tolerance for all kinds of expression takes free speech itself to an extreme. It is worth noting that there are other paradigms. In Germany and other European countries, Naziism and its symbols are banned. This has not prevented a resurgence of neo-naziiism, but it has helped relegate it to the outskirts of the public square. If the conquering Union armies had banned the symbols of the Confederacy with the same vigor that the Allies banned the symbols of Naziiism, I wonder whether this country might have been spared the worst of the racism that has been such a stain on our national character for the last century-and-a-half.
3
What an idealized view of democracy! It has nothing to do with democracy in the real world. The original democracy in Greece, Athens, had the democracy of pirates: equal shares and equal say for everyone, because essentially all citizens were part of the navy, who looted the neighboring cities that were not allies. The early democracies of modern Europe, like the Hanseatic League, had the democracy of the propertied classes, as did the American colonies. Here, the franchise was extended to non-propertied classes only after long struggles, and their ability to vote is constantly threatened.
Worst of all is our fixation with majority rule. One thing I agree with Mann on is that majority rule is always subject to manipulation. If we want a just society, we need to provide guarantees of the rights of minorities, regardless of electoral results. This may require creative ways of conducting elections, but the last major figure to propose new ideas like that, Lani Guinier, was attacked mercilessly. I have no hope that Mann's ideals will ever be achieved.
3
Evidently Mr. Brooks is unaware that the American democracy no longer exists, thanks to the corruption of the Republican Party, which he has long supported.
6
Don't forget to include the corruption of the Democratic Party, as well. Neither party goes untainted. Neither party deserves to hold itself higher than the other. A quick history lesson: We never had a democracy - we were handed a Republic, and we have lost it to the corruption from within.
Good governance and a good, strong government is at the heart of a successful democracy. As long as the GOP and its miserable leaders continue to subvert good government by trashing the largely positive role of govt in people's lives, continue to misuse and abuse power and authority (forthcoming tax bill, healthcare fiasco, ACA sabotage, Judge Garland episode, ad nauseam), continue to whip up passion and fury against govt among an ill-educated citizenry - good democracy cannot thrive.
And respect for all fellow citizens, fellow humans, in the abstract, looks good only on paper. In practice, it requires recognition of the fundamental oneness, human-ness of all; it requires that we attach our own health, happiness and security to those of all others; it requires that we move away from our own selfish, sadistic individuality and recognize that a good democracy needs to help those that cannot help themselves. More tax cuts for the wealthy and more cuts in social safety net for the disadvantaged - this GOP ideology will not usher in good democracy. We need the very opposite of this morally bankrupt ideology.
6
If democracy is struggling, it is under two different sets of problems pulling it apart.
The first is the downward trajectory of wealth and opportunity for the average person. Many of us are facing lives of lesser opportunity than our parents, and we see our children's path the same. The hurdles we need to leap, like education, are expensive, and the demand for humans, not machines is lower than ever. We could face it by banding together as a community to solve it, or weather it. Or we could join camps, teams, sides and argue that someone else is getting my share of the pie. Guess which one the human race almost always chooses?
The second force is a combination of libertarian rejection of authority, and religious need for authority, that makes people reject the right of the government to allocate resources as a violation of personal liberty, while insisting the government monitor sexual morals and reject personal liberty on that front. Don't try to find logic at the core.
Congress is useless because if they understand reality, they cannot fix it and get re-elected; and most likely they don't understand it. Congress may not be for the people and by the people, but they are definitely of the people.
We got out of the Great Depression whole because we had a great leader in the White House, really smart people in the Administration, and a common enemy of unsurpassed evil to vanquish that brought us together.
Mann argued for people to be all that without the enemy.
1
Not once this article mentions the guilty party. So, Mr. Brooks, allow me to do it for you: the Republicans are the party trying to destroy our democracy.
The government is our democratically elected representation. The government was declared by Reagan to be the enemy, and for the decades since then the Republican party has made it its mission to hollow out and eventually destroy our government and with it our democracy.
7
The voters vote as the voters voted. Did they vote in their own interest or others?
Great article David. I do hope you’ll continue to do these. It shows us worthy Goals in life and that the prevailing Good far outways the Negative Black Patch of Evil that appears so prevalent in our society today.
When I grew up in the late 30’s and 40’s, our basic strength seemed to originate in the Church’s & Synagogues of our community. Today, especially in the so-called Evangelical Christian Era, we find those followers supporting really bad actors like Roy Moore and Donald Trump. I’m still trying hard to figure that one out. The dead give-a-way to most so-called Christian’s should have been when Donald Trump before the election attempted to align himself with Christian’s by saying Corinthian’s 2. Think on that one.
3
To be a communitarian and individual in the service of justice, freedom and truth requires courage to hold the tension of uncertainty. It requires the willingness of intimacy with ideas different from the familiar and comfortable. It requires risk. Americans have endured decades of war born of lies told by leaders more invested in a darkening capitalism than in democracy. We've become a fearful people more ripe for the promises, "circuses, tweets and insults" of an authoritarian clown than in any realization of the dignity of our own truth.
"Mann’s great contribution is to remind us that democracy is not just about politics; it’s about the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial. Democrats like Mann hold up a lofty image of human flourishing. They inspire a great yearning to live up to it."
OK, so stand up for what is right, and (if I can suggest it to David Brooks) translate this virtue into action that returns the Republican party to respect for democracy.
Next review: How about E. M. Forster's "Two Cheers for Democracy" -- with emphasis on the concept of "decency" as a foundation of democracy?"
May I opine? Democracy is the discernment of necessities. Religion and politics are not. We must overcome religion and politics and shift wholeheartedly towards social management (which evidently include economics), take care of human needs.
1
Some readers have observed that democracy imposes more responsibility on the individual than any other political system. Jonathan Baker correctly notes that the difficulty with the system stems from its reliance on the ideal of human equality. Few people will share political power with individuals or groups whom they do not respect.
Racism and homophobia undermine belief in that ideal. Equally important, however, a culture which encourages competitive individualism does not foster the growth of egalitarian thinking. Americans tend to measure their own success in life by their ability to outshine their fellow citizens. Their achievements erect barriers in their own minds between themselves and others.
Thus, extreme economic inequality poses a threat to our way of life. Wealthy business owners who funnel large sums of money into the electoral process demonstrate an unwillingness to share political power on an equal basis with middle and working-class Americans. Intellectuals not uncommonly express thinly-veiled contempt for their less accomplished fellow citizens, especially when the latter reject their leadership.
These human weaknesses do not preclude the creation of a flawed democracy, as our history proves. But "respect for the infinite dignity of each individual," the foundation of a free society, remains an elusive goal. It requires, at the very least, that we not extend our justified contempt for the behavior of Trump to the voters who elected him.
2
"Mann’s great contribution is to remind us that democracy is not just about politics; it’s about the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial. Democrats like Mann hold up a lofty image of human flourishing. They inspire a great yearning to live up to it."
Quite lofty and inspirational. However, Thomas Mann's greatest contributions are to literature. Excuse my cynicism, but I would guess that the number of people who can live up to his lofty sentiments are about the same number who managed to read the Magic Mountain from beginning to end.
2
It’s no coincidence that Mr Brooks has to reach back to the 1940s for an example of democracy. That was when fascism had just been defeated and communist totalitarianism had to be countered in the West with displays of individual freedom. Paradoxically, democracy’s enemies were also its guarantors. Today we live in a post democratic age when an induced fear of “terror” is all the justification needed for the restriction of constitutional rights, the abridgement of independent liberties and the pursuit of endless war which makes a mockery of both.
1
Your essay has brought to mind the Novel, " It can't happen here" by Sinclair Lewis. Written in 1935, and long forgotten by most Americans it is a rather poignant prognostication of what could happen right here under the influence of a self-aggrandizing, rightwing, dictatorial fraud that turns our democracy into a dictatorship.
Though it is out of date in many ways, the general idea or theme is relevant today with what we are going through in our more and more divided country.
By the way, Mr. Brooks, I think our democracy was on a slippery slope from the time of the Vietnam war, which was our first real National divider.
2
Mr. Brooks is all too correct that we have forgotten -- or rather, the generations now alive never learned -- how to defend the system in which we live. Unfortunately, history suggests that those who best appreciate and understand its value have previously endured oppressive regimes elsewhere. In other words, philosophy and rhetoric don't teach anywhere near as effectively as cold, hard experience with the awful alternatives to our admittedly messy democratic experiment.
Our homegrown Dear Leader, Mr. Trump, may have enthralled enough of the country to have set us on a path to our own oppressive regime, if not under his command, then at the hands of a successor who shares his authoritarian instincts and contempt for justice (and truth, and decency, and a host of other virtues). We may yet reinvigorate our ardor for democracy the hard way.
1
Ow. My head hurts.
Support for Democracy from the supposed intellectual voice of the Party of Voter Suppression. Do as I say, not as I do. Just believe my wonderful tax plan.
Does Mr. Brooks have any familiarity with Mr. Orwell?
2
Some things can be learned with certainty from historical examination. For example, all empires that rise to great heights thereby have a great height from which to fall. The fall is usually congruent with great deprivation and violence for a vast number of people, residents of the empire or not. In this local case of the US of A empire, count the number of guns and rounds of ammunition available, and the violence could reach new extremes of record levels of madness.
Is this image of God that Man is made of, the vengeful deity, or the benevolent deity ?
1
TIME TO DUST OFF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS So many moral scolds can quote them but so few can live according to what they say. There is a commandment that prohibits bearing false witness against your neighbor. In traditional Jewish observance, there is an active avoidance of speaking ill of others. Yes, it's an ideal that is unattainable. But the notion that righteous action is required to achieve a just society has ancient roots. There is another Biblical injunction that says emphatically, Justice! Justice you shall pursue!. It is possible in this day and age of unprecedented banalization and degradation of the human spirit to seek to use our precious freedom of speech frequently to address others with the sort of dignity and respect we should like to receive ourselves. Love your Neighbor as Yourself. As I approach old age, I think more about using the time I've got left on Earth wisely. Addressing others with respect and appreciation for our shared humanity. I'm not claiming that I've consistently followed the ideals I've described. But as my time grows shorter, I with to deal with others with kindness and consideration. I hope I've got a fair amount of time left. But as my 2 youngest siblings died prematurely, I'm just glad to be here!
visibly remove the popular vote from the voting public twice in less than 20 years. one of those times by court edict spin that old canard of an electoral college and why it exists at all. yeah and then wonder why civil discourse has lessened. geez louise. i stop here do to my conscience..
2
Mr. Brooks often turns to liberal intellectuals for spiritual sustenance, as here in his praise of Thomas Mann. Mann fought and ultimately escaped from Nazism. When he came to the United States, the McCarthyites accused him of communism even though his speeches and writings never advocated communism. A large segment of the Republican Party in this country has consistently belittled the rights of the non-rich, never more than today. For Mann, a nation's economy was not simply a method for the rich to get richer but was an opportunity for all citizens to participate in the pursuit of higher meaning.
Mr. Brooks promises future reviews on the nature of democracy. I highly recommend John Dewey, his idea of democratic pragmatism, and his advocacy of public education as essential for true democracy.
Good stuff and I look forward to the series. I may misunderstand it, but to me you have to go back to first principles of the Enlightenment to get this right. Mann is a good place to go for modern interpretation but I think we need a smattering of Locke and Hobbes, Rousseau and Hume too. Hopefully they come soon?
1
A wonderful undertaking to revisit, and perhaps re-establish, a "canon of liberal democracy"; or if not that, at least reacquaint us with the ideas contained therein.
This project might also be useful as part of the effort to reach out to those have been culturally and economically abandoned by our political process to the point where they are capable of voting for a Trump, but I am not sure how to take that effort from the NYT to the street; perhaps these lessons belong in high school civics classes. If "It would be a great error to think of and teach democracy as a procedural or political system...," sustaining a liberal democracy nonetheless requires educating a population capable of voting intelligently and capable of recognizing demagogues for what they are.
Yet when the "propagandists and demagogues" in service to corporate masters have taken over the commons, education seems secondary to the need to remove them. My "confidence in democracy's ability to renew itself" awaits their removal.
Democracy is the best of the worst. It is a civilizing veneer over an animalistic spirit. Moreover, to function correctly it must be actively taught. In contrast to the South Pacific song "They Have to be Carefully Taught" (to hate), we need to be carefully taught from a young age to engage together for the better good. When education is seen only as the required tool set for a job, we have already lost that generation. Some few may excavate the ruins of our civilization and find amongst the jetsam this odd precept called Democracy, and wonder at its use. But most who come from our present process of education will spend their lives like hungry baby birds being fed by an id-like capitalist system interested only in more workers and more customers. Sad.
The state of democracy in America/worldwide today?
Humanity today seems both a refutation of religion and Darwin's view of evolution, natural selection. Humans have on one hand the brains to be skeptical of religion, but apparently lack the capacity to redeem themselves, to think not to mention act in a way much beyond animal striving. And they conflict with Darwin's theory of natural selection because it seems life in general, not just human, is a self organizing wave against entropy overriding the mechanism of natural selection (which Darwin was correct in positing) to point that now obviously in human society we have a vast spread of traits, a number of humans, and it is difficult to tell whether those apparently most fit and with power and wealth are indeed the fittest, the best for humanity, or if this or that struggling genius is not actually the better fit for the human race, or if even people we call most unfit, with this or that genetic disease or even with criminal tendencies, are best suited for the challenges humans face in a strange and always changing world. We just have a vast spread of millions of humans of various types overriding the natural environment and arguing about the better and the worse in themselves, and applying morality from all quarters not to mention rhetoric which is often just a thinly disguised power play for advantage in this confused environment. So much like crabs, seashells, seabirds tossed on beach and who knows what makes it to land.
Three relevant John Adams quotes:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
America’s democracy has decayed into plutocracy: government by the wealthy and for the wealthy. “One man, one vote” has been replaced by “one dollar, one vote.” Tribal populism is employed by the plutocrats to divide and control the electorate. In order to restore a functioning democracy, we need campaign finance reform and lobbying reform to counter the corrupting influence of money in politics. We need to outlaw Gerrymandering and voter suppression. Unless a future court reverses “Citizens United,” we will need a constitutional amendment to accomplish this. So let’s get to work on that. So that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish.
So much high-mindedness and spiritual striving that I feel in need of oxygen. Mann, a reformed authoritarian himself, wrote approvingly of fascism during the first world war--but had a full and genuine conversion while seeing the National Socialist surge. Despite his own ironic, and at times profoundly despondent, nature, Mann was a true German Romantic of the Goethe / Schelling / Hegel / Heidegger sort, with liberal doses of the chthonic Pagan, the Christian, and the undifferentiated mystic--so it's not surprising to read his sermonesque take on democracy. Little did he realize that our promulgators, The Founders, were for the most part pretty hard-headed pragmatists--looking to assure a 'sorta-democratic' government that wouldn't REALLY go too all-out in that regard, and would have built-in protections against over-commitment to the Common Man.
Our problem is that we love the elevated concept of Democracy, but do almost nothing to require civic education--AND we're victimized by the lsubversion of those checks and balances by "the Right" (your crowd, David) and "the Wealthy"--AKA "the one percent" or, in quaint Mao-speak, the running dogs of capitalist oppression. "Their project" has enshrined Democracy in syrupy rhetoric, while taking real and practical control of its processes with clever 'anti-social' engineering. In consequence, we can applaud Mann, yet fear for little old Democratic Man.
Policy government has passed for decades has a dismally low approval rating. Even the public that buys into party rhetoric doesn't like the actual changes in their own lives politics wrought. Who in their right minds votes away their pension, medical insurance, science, or wants taxation w/out representation. People did. Clearly we no longer live in a democracy (add "functioning" if it makes you feel better).
What I find astonishing is how simple it is. David Brooks should be telling us he spent decades selling the very politics that historically turned bad, and lead to Mann fleeing from Europe. Finding safety in FDR's New Deal America.
The marriage of private for-profit ventures w/government is to blame. Second let monopolies run amuck in politics for decades, and break up all the important not-for-profit public sector institutions that kept society in check since the 1930s. Both parties pursued this, the Dem's incrementally, the GOP on steroids.
Funny when beltway insiders talk about "tribalism" as a public phenomenon. It really refers to the corrupt party driven echo chamber that swallowed our news industry whole, after unpopular deregulation(Ornstein & Mann). Popularity of rhetoric drives all news content. Get people mad at the each other, while both parties and the press aren't working in the public's interests any more.
So corrupted is Washington that party politics is trotting out the bigots and thugs for cover. That's the next step, then things get worse.
Let's be very clear. Trump is president precisely because our system is not a democracy.
Trump lost the popular vote. More Americans voted for Hillary than for Trump.
If we had a Democracy, Trump would not be our president now.
The problem is not Democracy; it is the lack of democracy in our political system.
The ONLY way out that I can see is to vote the Republicans out! Then dismantle gerrymandering, put pressure on the court to repeal citizens united, repeal laws the GOP has passed that very little has popular support (Obama care, net neutrality, tax law), and put back in place regulations that protect our planet and its citizens. This has been a coup d'état in slow motion by the Republicans. Unless that happens I don't see a way out.
Jerry W N E Kingdom VT
Thank you for the thought provoking essay. I don't think however, that the framework for decency was lost because democratic values were taken for granted. Rather materialism, unbridled capitalism, and individualism have crept into the fabric of our culture and overwhelmed other virtues to the point that as a society we cannot reflect on substantive matters in any meaningful and enduring manner except as how they impact our economy. We will have brief moments or moral outrage such has the current climate regarding sexual misconduct. However it will ebb in time. The moral conversation will cease and we will go back to the materialistic individualistic agenda which is at the center of our culture. You do us all a service by columns such as this one.
Well, by almost all Mann's criteria, the US is no longer a real democracy. The legal system and democracy have both been reduced to processes with no real understanding of real justice or democratic values. As Newt Gingrich famously said - in advancing the GOP strategy - "Democracy is about a majority." Just for the record, Justice cannot be reduced to or explained through process - and democratic processes can work perfectly while democratic values are completely ignored. When the US invaded Iraq and tried to introduce "democracy" it was a laughable effort by people who didn't understand it to impose a process without any consideration for the values or mindsets required. It failed because the US tried to export its own failings without understanding where it was going wrong.
I can guarantee that Mann would not be fleeing to America today.
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Where is that leader of Democracy to remind the rest of us to be the best we can be; that we are our brothers keeper; that he/she does not aspire to greed, power and an authoritarian government, but wants all of its citizens to share in spiritual growth, acceptance of those who are different, help all prosper not just the few?
It is not the Republicans in Congress or the Senate, surely not the Trump administration and it is definitely not our Religious leaders, with perhaps the exception of Pope Francis. But he does not reside in the United States so is not a daily reminder that we should reach higher, to appeal to our better angels. When the leaders of our country refuse to pay for CHIP, continue to try to privatize our Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so that their donors can benefit on our dime, continue to take away the ACA what chance do we have to right the wrongs that have been forced down our throats in the last eleven months?
We do not need a savior as much as we need someone with a positive outlook, who has the courage of their beliefs that all in this country are entitled to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
How can you pursue any of this. The distractions of Trump's tweets, the constant eradication of voting rights by the gerrymandering, the degradation of those who are Muslims, poor or homeless do not give people hope, only despair. At the very least, our leaders should be working on kindness, generosity and acceptance during this season.
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Brooks claims that "Congress barely functions." This is not at all true. Congress functions very well, serving big donors who control the terms of legislation; this is obvious today in the cynical rush to pass a kleptocratic bill that is completely disingenuously being called tax "reform." Congress cares nothing about the needs and concerns of working American men and women, nor building our long term viability and strength as a nation----they care exclusively about being re-electred and serving the short term profit needs of the donor class. The problem is not whether Congress functions, but for whose benefit Congress functions.
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Liberal democracy is no match for crony capitalism and the plutocratic turn of 2017’s Trump/GOP economic royalists and robber barons.
While Thomas Mann wrote eloquently about democracy, one need only glance at your colleague Paul Krugman’s piece on the GOP’s abhorrence of mere employees to confirm capitalism’s triumph over democracy.
With Citizens United the law of the land, it takes more than Coleridge’s willing suspension of disbelief to describe the US as a democratic nation as envisioned by the nation’s founders and architects.
Some Americans may have once been able to scan the globe and perceive that they lived in a democratic republic with a viable middle class. That is simply no longer the case; and the reality as described in the documentary “Inequality for All” holds true: “If you want the American Dream, move to Denmark.”
Thank you Mr Brooks for undertaking this thoughtful series on democracy. American democracy is also built on the two party system, for better or worse, and its health relies on both parties proceeding with a commitment to democracy. The Republican leadership and party apparatus no longer advances democracy, but actively subverts it. And is there a single Republican leader today who could read and speak intelligently about the ideas in your column? Sadly, the answer is no. How can democracy proceed in America when one party is committed to its demise?
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Thank you David Brooks for focusing my mind on core values and energizing my spirit to working toward their fulfillment. I look forward to your future articles.
Is it moral and honest to balance the theoretical views of college students against the actual and consequential behavior of the most powerful people in government and their minders?
A study released today shows that less than 1% of the population has 39% of American wealth, before the tax Republican cuts, putting us on par with Russia. A massive and frightening media merger today. Net neutrality ended today: Comcast and AT&T aren't sufficiently wealthy. Looks like NRA billions might prevail with national concealed weapon legislation tucked into the tax entitlement package. All this, on the shoulders of powerful Republicans. But let's compare this to the immaturity of (what a shock!) undergraduates.
Such raw and unprecedented power in the hands of very few, that's the threat to democracy. The founders limited the inheritance of power and wealth, not because it was expedient to fund the government that way, but because they wanted America to be a democracy. They didn't want Ivanka, Don Jr., and their descendants to be in power over centuries, as if royalty.
Who will care about how we hold our debates, or who will even hear them, when information is utterly controlled by the rich? Republicans are not governing a democracy. It isn't in their reckless and greedy values, or among their perceived responsibilities. Let's be truthful when we talk morality.
A dead wise man of my acquaintance suggests that every situation in life can be meaningfully addressed with the judicious use of a single question: “Who am I?” That question, along with its many cousins, including “Who will I be or die trying?”, are valuable guides in developing a foundation of self-understanding useful to the health of any person or institution, it seems to me.
Such a beautiful opportunity was missed in the aftermath of 9/11: to engage in a rich national conversation around the question “What does it mean to be an American?”
I celebrate that someone with such a visible soap box as Mr. Brooks is taking a step in this direction.
Is there any doubt how Mann would have felt about the current tax bill that is about to come to a vote? It values certain people (very wealthy) over all others, thus promoting a hierarchy that undermines the dignity of many individuals to the benefit of a few. The bill's process shows a level of authoritarianism and bullying that I never thought I would see in this country.
The United States is a Republic not a Democracy. As a Republic, we are founded and maintained by the rule of principles and laws, which are immutable save by extraordinary means (like constitutional amendments). A democracy is subject to the whims of the moment, the rule of the street. To our founding fathers, democracy was anathema because they understood the ramifications of allowing the system to be ruled by the emotions of the moment. The problems we face today are not systemic, but rather stem from the assaults on the system from the left and the right. Our Republic is under pressure from people who claim to have agendas based on a higher authority (God) or a higher set of principles (diversity) that trump (no pun intended) the Republic's principles and laws. We no longer respect the constitutional core.
My teachers pointed out that we each have two ears and one mouth, and instructed us to use them accordingly. If only that were taught today.
The last 30 years has turned out increasingly ill-read and badly-educated graduates with whom it is impossible to have a conversation because they have so little knowledge of history, science, philosophy, literature or film. But they are full of half-baked political and social ideas which are nearly as illiberal as any ISIS adherent—both left and right. It is difficult to have a conversation with someone with whom you have nothing in common except you both technically speak the same language. And manners—well, there are none now. Basically, except for our immediate neighbors and co-workers, we don’t feel any sense that we owe each other anything as citizens of the same country. When I was young I felt special to be an American, and believed that I belonged to something with other Americans, and generally thought our government was part of us. At 61, I can’t remember when I lost those feelings—but I know it was decades ago.
A functioning democracy of any duration is probably not truly possible except under the perception of dire threat. Economic comfort, absence of an external existential threat, an absence of any demand to make any personal sacrifice and the resulting relativistic morality formed by rampant narcissism is kryptonite to democracy—or more precisely, to a representative republic.
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To have a vibrant democracy requires a rule of law to educate and direct the vast energy of the populace. The rule of law for us is the constitution and bill of rights which we can be amended to acknowledge that nothing is written in stone forever. We made a huge mistake with Citizens United which added so much fire to an already simmering democracy. Democracy ideally empowers the individuals of a country to educate and inform themselves and then act to shape the best government as possible. Democracy in America has been difficult to manage, requiring time, debate, education, trust, and truthfulness. It has been damaged severely with the insensitive, power mongering, conniving,self-serving and ethics-free capitalism. We might like to think we are democracy but as one commenter said already when we allow such actions as gerrymandering, voter suppression, electoral college supremacy, and dark money we will never have an ideal democracy.
And within that democracy comes a movement that has stunned the powerful and the celebrity. And it is led by women, women who have found their voice and understand that they now have "crossed the Rubicon" the point of no return. No longer will they be silent. No longer will they be treated as though they have only a body and not a mind. No longer will they allow powerful men to force them into becoming something they are not. I have often thought that if the world is to be truly changed, in the end it will be because women in parts of the world are rising to claim the equality and understanding they have so long deserved. If this country is to become truly great, two problems need to be overcome - the racial question and the question relating to all women. We have seen great strides in both in the last few weeks. And Alabama gave us illustrations of both. 98% of black women voted democratic in Alabama's election.
And women of every race and ethnicity have shown the courage to talk about sexual harassment like never before. We will remember these recent days in noting that the "Rubicon has been crossed" on these two major moral issues.
Brooks' conservatism, which is essentially Burkean Conservatism for the 21st century has much to recommend it. Reminding his readers of their better angels is certainly part and parcel. I wish he was better able to see the big picture. Granted, we are at a moment, perhaps a pivotal one, where things could go bad, but they could just as easily go well - even better than we imagine. Many of our democratic yearnings have been realized (not fully, but that arc still seems to be bending toward justice). The result is that we've unleashed not just new technologies, but new voices as well. The public square is cacaphonous and anarchic at the moment. It may be that way for a while, but I'm willing to bet on the dream that democracy has settled into our DNA. In a rational world, we wouldn't need a vulgar, clownish fraud like Donald Trump to usher in a renewal of our creed, but stranger things have happened.
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Democracy, it can be said, is only as strong as its weakest elements. The legendary King Arthur was famous for his wisdom, justice, and humility; in a monarchy, only one or a few individuals must possess those traits. In a democracy, we must all strive for these attributes.
And therein lies the paradox of democracy: as Ortega y Gasset pointed out, "The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated."
The coarseness of our current "propagandists and demagogues," and the effect on our public dialogue, is not anomalous, it is expected. What is unique are those brief epochs, like the mid-20th century, when humans managed to rise above such grotesqueness, and form societies that sought to replicate the progress and (alleged) dignity, if not the architectural and scientific accomplishments, of renaissance aristocrats.
Let's all hope that Mann's optimism is warranted; that Americans will indeed "resist the cheap and the superficial," and restore the striving for excellence, abandoning this chaotic circus and its carnival barker in chief.
Mann had a time and place, neither of which exist today. Philosophers are suspect because they tend to express generalities although they do not have all the evidence. Who can have all the evidence? Who will, ever? If enough of net neutrality survives we may see more articles such as this by Brooks. Fair enough. We must all start somewhere. For now, among the remarkable things quoted from Mann: "Mann has confidence in democracy’s ultimate victory because he has confidence in democracy’s ability to renew itself, to “put aside the habit of taking itself for granted.”" Democracy takes itself for granted in the Panjshir Valley? On the Mongolian plains? The population of the world approaches an unmanageable number, questioning whether or not we may safely rely on the selfish, arrogance of modern individuals to give serious consideration to community needs. We evolved in tribes; we may need to find a way to revert to tribalism but in a framework of real collaboration.
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How many businesses and companies think that free speech is a problem? Conservatives always cite college campuses when they decry attacks on free speech but turn a blind eye, for the most part, when business denies their employees the right to free speech. Places of learning are supposed to accommodate every form of hate speech, agitation and advocate of repression - all at their own cost - while businesses can force their employees into non-disclosure contracts to save their cash and reputations.
Thank you for your column. I look forward to your series.
I think it would be helpful to clarify the difference between "democracy" and "capitalism." The two terms are not synonymous...since capitalism is an economic system and can become
"undemocratic", while it's possible for other economic systems...socialism, communism..to be democratic.
Mr. Brooks is a conundrum. He can endorse such wonderful vision while clinging to positions that run counter to what he espouses here. "a true hierarchy of values, put money in the service of production, production in the service of humanity, and humanity itself in the service of an ideal which gives meaning to life” - can anyone recognize conservative economic policies here? Let our thinkers, including Mr. Brooks, line up his political choices with his ideals.
This is an interesting twist on Brooks's nostalgic longings for the good old days.
The problem with the Brooks approach is that he misreads the present in America. The so-called "degradation" of democracy in America, represented by the election of a dunderhead and the anger on college campuses, is not because of the loss of a Thomas Mannish devotion to "infinite dignity" or a "Man is made in God's image."
The erosion of democracy in America is due to the surrender of our democratic republic to the manipulative dogma of free enterprise. Beginning in the Reagan era, he notion of justice for all and the idea of a social contract have been gradually surrendered to blind faith in markets and propaganda created by multi-national corporations. We no longer live in a society. We live in an economy. And, odd as it may seem, both the buffoon in the Oval Office and the angry young folks on college campuses are products of this insidious shift.
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Good piece. I couldn't agree more.
And speaking of 'moral responsibility', NYT has the moral responsibility to give this excellent reporting on Niki Haley's performance today a lot more prominence. Hiding it on page 10 does no justice to our nation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/world/middleeast/nikki-haley-iran-wea...
It seems we are split into warring factions and as a result no longer share a common understanding of what is good or best for the country.
On good days I like to think of the Trump administration as just another episode in our continuing struggle with pluralism. On bad days I worry about Nuclear War.
On good days I see Trump as a merely US made self-serving chiseler. On bad days I see him as a Russian manufactured utensil designed to do real damage to our democracy.
On good days I see the GOP suffering major pain in 2018 for their complicity in this circus. On bad days I see the dems unable to unite and restore some normalcy to our political system
Some leaders do live up to the first principles as described by David Brooks. They serve as inspiration and models to us all, capable of leading us where we need to go. They are here, and it is up to us to recognize and appreciate and support them. Not so long ago one such leader was the Governor of the State of Oregon. His name was Tom McCall. One of his grandfathers had been Governor of Massachusetts and the other had been a stock manipulator who "got religion." It was said about Tom McCall that the people of Oregon didn't quite know what they were until he inspired them, and they said "Yes, that's who we want to be." Precisely what he inspired them to become is laid in McCall's own colorful language at http://open-spaces.com/articles/timeout/. It provides much of the inspiration needed to lift the darkened mood described by David Brooks.
Along with David's essay and his future thoughts on this subject, I encourage that everybody read Tom Holland's book, "Rubicon", in which the author describes how the Roman democracy died. The book ends with Julius' , the future Caesar, crossing of the Rubicon river on his march to Rome. The Roman democracy fell to the caesars, because of the strife between the poor, the publicans, and the aristocracy. It sought glory from conquest, not to liberate and improve social order, but only to add to Roman wealth. The only path for a decent life for the publicans was to support and join the conquests for a share of the plunder, which was promised but seldom delivered.
The growing income inequality, the militarism, conquest in the name of the democratic order, the mean disregard for the publican life are rampant today, perhaps have always been so deep within us, never mind the occasional flashes of a rebirth. Thomas Mann invokes the hand of God in his writings. The Christian evangelicals do the same also, but they have perverted Jesus' message by focusing only on their own personal salvation and narrow moralistic principles, such as right to life etc., forgetting entirely the Meeks and the least privileged among us. Democracies die, when the publicans finally arise, destroying every thing along the way, the good with the bad.
Outstanding column - and I don't agree with Brooks that often. Being democratic is not just about procedures and politics but about a vision of what it means to be human. And that is more than a political animal or an animal that is perpetually afraid of losing advantage in the merely biological struggle for survival. The human animal is the one that can see and that wants to see the miraculousness of everything, even beyond the categories of good and evil. My ideal here is Job, who wakes up to the miraculousness of the world on the worst day of his life and even without getting answers about truth and justice and fairness. That kind of animal has an altogether different idea about what "original sin" is: "that too many men and women lack the knowledge not of good and evil but of joy" (paraphrasing Nietzsche here).
Democracy only works with an informed public -- a public knowledgeable about the economy, government, journalism, media, and propaganda. We do not have this in the US. For example, most people cannot explain the monetary system and do not know that the Federal Reserve is NOT a government agency. Without such knowledge, one cannot accurately vote for a politician based on his/her ideas on the economy. And that is the tip of the iceberg...
"the infinite dignity of individual men and women"
Another way to say the same thing is that we all have souls. In the eyes of the universe each soul has the same value, the same hopes for greatness, and the same possibilities of sovereignty to make personal decisions. With the hope of reincarnation there are no limitations on the roles we can play as we go through our lives. http://weallhavesouls.com
Blessings!
Thank you, David. I am truly grateful that you have become a voice of reason in these confounding times.
We have a president who is willing to destroy hallowed institutions in the name of personal advancement and self preservation with the expectation that he will be loved for it.
We have a majority political party (in part due to shameless gerrymandering) that cuts funding to public schools and gives funding to schools that teach creationism in science class. A party that has dropped entirely the pretense of morality and doesn't pretend to hide its servitude to the rich and powerful.
Laws are made not on the basis of facts, science, and philosophical ideals but through the wallets of the rich and stories from thousands of years ago.
Just a few hours ago 3 men chose to ignore upwards of 80% of the American population to appease cable companies that are already making record profits.
It's fun to theorize about the state of democracy and our path to restore it, but we mustn't be ignorant of the extent to which it has already dissipated. Our democracy doesn't just have enemies, it is headed by individuals who stand only to gain from its demise.
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David, many thanks to you and Thomas Mann for proclaiming the great truth that underlies democracy: "the infinite dignity of individual men and women".
Demagogues of both the right and the left seek to "massify" individuals with the aim of making them lose themselves in a common purpose -- the demagogue's purpose -- and thus become useful as a political force. In such hands, the "demos" will lose its birthright of democracy and settle down to being a mean-spirited rabble.
The guardians and nurturers of democracy are those who guard and nurture the dignity, and the sense of responsibility, of individual human beings. So many thanks, too, to all who are engaged in that. You know who you are.
"...democracy is not just about politics; it’s about the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial"
It strikes me that this could be a description of President Obama's time in office. Here's hoping we can get there again one day.
The US Democracy is capable of being glorious. Look at what it has accomplished in its early days and yet how much better it can be. It is a well-crafted system that should be able to weather even the Bully-storm of Trump.
But democracy is of the people and by the people, so the people need to step up to preserve it. That is the only way. It takes involvement.
We the people should esteem those that involve themselves in public service but vote them out when they no longer serve the public. Just look at all those ancient hair-dyed white men in the US Congress, both parties, who have forgotten their callings.
We the people should educate the children on civics but also on thinking for themselves. Just look at the ignorance of so many grown Americans on the democratic system (and its alternatives) and their willingness to follow a demagogue.
Frankly, I am hoping the US women can help us now in these odd days. Drafting off of Mr. Brooks - “Act as women of thought, think as women of action.”
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David Brooks is eloquent and the column is uplifting given the barrage of current events we see daily. It is good he has come around to a more moderate view and I appreciate his perspective if I do not alway buy into it.
The thought that passes through my mind in reading his penultimate paragraph,
"Renewal means reform. He calls for economic and political reform that, quoting a French deputy, “will create a true hierarchy of values, put money in the service of production, production in the service of humanity, and humanity itself in the service of an ideal which gives meaning to life.”"
is this: would not most of those in power look at this and scream to high heaven: socialism! or communism! ? at least in public?
They would claim that service to humanity is service to the undeserving poor, those who do not work or work enough (despite the hypocrisy that the wealthy mostly live off their rents).
But no matter, as the erosion may already be too deep. The tax bill will eviscerate the remains of the safety net, if only indirectly. The Interior Dept. will sell off as much as is feasible. The FCC will allow the behemoth communications companies to wall off Mr. Brooks and the NYTimes with an extra charge. And the corruption of the government elected officials in Washington will be institutionalized, as they presently don't follow any of the rules and custom established over the last 100 years.
Laudable is the spirit of Mann's writings, but the devil is at our door.
"Man is made in God’s image. Unlike other animals, humans are morally responsible."
An insult to other animals. Animals have a sense of fairness within the culture and boundaries of their instincts, as we do. We may not relate to them, but they are there. Animals are much saner than we are, except, probably, in captivity. In nature, animal who is not sane - as in, inappropriately aggressive and destructive - is immediately seen for who they are and the remedy that follows is within the laws of that particular species.
"Man" is a problem in/for the natural world. Too numerous in many areas, too much competition for dwindling resources. Weapons abound, yet we live unnaturally long!
We need to advance ourselves to cope with our unnatural existence and transcend this world-wide perversion of "God's image".
Good luck with that.
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An enemy of democracy does what he can do to suppress the votes of those who oppose him. Looking at the gerrymandering that has resulted in the present House of Representatives, I suppose one could be forgiven for giving Republicans that title.
Oregon has vote by mail for all elections. That stops voter suppression at the ballot box, and gives a clear paper ballot in case of suspicion of fraud. If America adopted vote by mail for federal elections, the renewal would be a Democratic one.
America has a great free press, which is our greatest ally as we "struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap". So to work to undermine our free press is to be an enemy of democracy just like those who would take the right to vote from people of color or the poor.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
When Mann argued on the ennemies of democracy he probably did not think that he would be describing a futur President of the United States and the Republican Party. The ennemy within has reached the highest levels of America’s democracy. The current institutional framework, and degrading mass culture, face a true challenge to maintain a worthy democratic beacon for the free world.
The only system-of-thought and moral guide to action “built on respect for the infinite dignity of each individual man and woman, on each person’s moral striving for freedom, justice and truth” is Anarchism (and that grand-illusion is its self-inhibiting predicament), certainly not Democracy.
The Democratic system is founded on the deep recognition that the best possible organized society must be based on distinguishing between rulers (leaders, decision-makers, representatives) and ruled (non-rulers voters) and in order to prevent the rulers from achieving absolute control they are chosen by modes of popular vote, for limited duration and powers are structured to balance each other. Democracy is justified as the least faulted system dedicated to prevent the egoistical, full of fears and potentially malicious nature of “conscience” beings from realizing their true character in a bacchanalia of destruction.
And another realization, except for the most totalitarian regimes, nothing kills the spirit of creativity as a normally and efficiently functioning democratic society – just look at America’s contribution to the arts and literature in the Fifties.
Yes, equate Trump and the kids who think offensive speech isn't protected. One of those two actually run something important!
The kids are wrong of course. David Brooks may imagine you think the students who are wrong are overwhelmingly Democratic. Apparently, kids who say they support the Dems and GOP all get through high school without a good civics or U.S. Government class.
39% of Democrats thought the First Amendment protected offensive speech v. 44% of Republicans. 20% of Democrats thought violence was acceptable to stop offensive speech v. 22% of Republicans. About even. The Democrats on campus were more likely to think shouting down was okay. I guess if you're not a frequent victim of this, it's less disturbing.
Anyway, yes, David Brooks, I support a requirement for U.S. Government in high school! But back to the guy who is actually President of this country . . .
The problem with democracy is it takes the active participation of all citizens. Most political systems are developed to make better societies better, even communism. They all fail in some way because they depend on people behaving well. The horrible laws, policies and presidential decrees occur because people are not paying attention to their democratic duties when the flawed humans in power behave in way which would make Thomas Mann frown.
Capitalism is anti-democratic. As we are experiencing with Trump, capitalism is destroying our democratic institutions. Capitalism hates net neutrality, the average person’s vote, and Now the Supreme Court majority protects the sanctity of capitalism versus democratic ideals. The Federalist Society, started in 1982, is another front for protection of corporate interests. Even the Supreme Court no longer functions to protect basic voting rights for all citizens. Tyranny is around the corner.
A priest told me once that a boy usually decides by the age of 13 what kind of man he wants to be. He almost always follows the same path for the rest of his life.
I've wondered what actually holds democracy together and the bottom line is that it is just an idea that free and honest men agree on. And vow to protect and defend.
The Republican party today are not free people. They are owned, bought and paid for by arrogant wealth.
I hope I live long enough to see governance and democracy return to of, by and for the people.
Thanks Mr. Brooks, good read
As he has proven for years, our Mr. Brooks can only look backward when he gets uncomfortable. We can rest assured that in the coming months, he will create a narrative that does not address the Republican Party's responsibility for our current state of affairs. Southern Strategy? Busting unions? Dog-Whistle Campaigning? Citizens United? Our Mr. Brooks will never grapple with those actualities, but will produce a lovely set of essays that examine the works of intellectuals of the past and he will come to conclusions that are very comforting. And bla bla bla...
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Thank you, David, for prompting us to strive for a renewal of democracy.
Until we understand the biological/psychological evolutionary process that all humans are subject to we can't get a clear picture of our situation. As long as people refuse to believe even in biological evolution (never mind psychological evolution [Ivolution Theory] we'll wander aimlessly in the woods. Education is the key; But if people refuse to hear or act on the truth, the result will be suffering for many. THE TRUTH WILL EVENTUALLY SET US FREE. The Earth after all is not flat. And lies, as comforting as they may be eventually are exposed for what they are - a dead end with no applause.
Way back in 2004, John Stewart went on that CNN show Crossfire. The show was a left/right political debate over issues which exploited partisan conflict for profit. There was occasional debate, but mostly it was a fistfight. It was the equivalent of the Jerry Springer show but for political junkies. Stewart correctly diagnosed the problem with our so called democracy back then and it is even more true today with social media. He said of the show...
"It's not so much that it's bad, as it's hurting America."
"anybody who willfully degrades the public square — the propagandists and demagogues."
So it must be said... for this renewal to occur, the media has to change its business model. It's hurting America.
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Great! You're going to provide me with the liberal arts education I managed to avoid all through college. :) Hopefully there won't be quizzes!
The "democracy" you speak of here, mostly by paraphrasing someone else -- a cop-out, making the ideas sound objective and profound since they come from a great literary figure (think how it would be if you quoted great literary figures expressing anti-Semitic or fascist ideas-- Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliot) -- is a very generic democracy.
Many claim to be following some version of democracy -- Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example. On what basis are you right and they wrong?
Are you speaking of some particular form of government or some sensibility?
Many countries claim to be democratic either by name (a rather meaningless claim) or by claiming ultimate sovereignty of the people. But in all cases, including the small country of Israel, someone is speaking and acting in the name of the people -- and "the people" get defined/selectted by a small group.
Do I or David Brooks have the same level of sovereignty, authority, or effectiveness, say as the Koch brothers, James Dimon, or Rupert Murdoch? Do citizens of the People's Republic of China not treat each other as well as Americans do (especially in our current atmosphere of treating each other as evil monsters)?
Furthermore, are we not more than individuals? We see ourselves, and others see us, (and live as and are treated) both as individuals and as members of groups -- families, religions, localities, nations, political parties, ethnicities, language-speakers.
What is this democracy of which you speak so glibly?
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"Unlike other animals, humans are morally responsible." Hmmm...some are. Animals except humans present as pure to me, their nature is known. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, is confused or undecided on its nature: a constant battle between good or bad, high or low, helpful or destructive.
I always think of democracy as the finest, most beautiful car ever built. Our problem is that we just haven't learned yet how to properly drive and maintain this vehicle...
So, tell me something I don't know. Tell me how to EFFECTIVELY forestall this, and revert back to Democracy.
"Mann argued that the enemies of democracy aren’t just fascists with guns. They are anybody who willfully degrades the public square — the propagandists and demagogues. “They despise the masses … while they make themselves the mouthpiece of vulgar opinion.” They offer bread and circuses, tweets and insults, but have nothing but a “rabbit horizon” — all they see is the grubby striving for money and power and attention."
Alas, This quote of Mann's resonates today as we look at the Republicans and how this party has evolved since Reagan's time. I actually consider the Republicans and conservative Christians as our most worrisome terrorist groups to our democracy. While i want to be hopeful that some rational voices will emerge with these groups, there is little evidence to nurture this hope. The big question we face is how did this happen with folks who believe themselves to be patriots of our democracy. Obviously, there are historical roots that allowed us to accept slavery for so long and our tendency to identify groups to suppress and discriminate against. The only thing over time that changes is what group is the 'lucky' one to receive this hatefulness. I appreciate Brooks taking on this tread of discussion to educate or remind citizens what we potentially as a people need to understand. We truly do not understand what has inspired people around the world to look to America as an example.
In its current iteration democracy is is a nest for the breeding of politicians.
"democracy is not just about politics; it’s about the individual’s daily struggle to be better and nobler and to resist the cheap and the superficial".
To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, for many politicians politics isn't everything, it's the only thing. And "cheap and superficial" is their long suit.
A good idea David...to those of us who are already on the team. The problem here, it seems, is that those of a different philosophy or, more likely, a favored collection of indulgent answers, generally do not read this newspaper. We will enjoy these coming writings, but to what purpose is unclear. We're already here, they are not. And they won't be coming anytime soon.
"Far worse has been the degradation of democracies
..."
time to wake up, it has been the "subversion" of democracies.
the ills you cite "then it all went bad...etc.," including the loss of "a certain framework of decency" has been by intention, the result of a dedicated effort, abetted by our own complacency, or addiction to convenience, if you will, that has eroded our strength, (the alert and effective "can-do)," leaving us with the habits of self-interest: indeed, we've taken "our liberal democratic values for granted for so long...we...no longer defend (or even regard) our system with a fervent faith."
Totally agree with you as to campuses today promoting no-speak. I see it in discussions I have with parents who have kids who have just left college. There is A way to look at the world, and divergence is no longer accepted.
However, the opening line of you piece leaves me nonplussed.
Reagan's posturing at the Berlin wall was barely worthy of a B-movie script. Contrary to your prior worship of Jeane Kirkpatrick, the Soviet Union came down from nothing more than bureaucratic rot, and Gorbachev had the courage to let it collapse under its own bloated weight.
It wasn't so much the success of Democracy as the failure of Capitalism.
The Reagan era falls into the category of moral cowardice with the sole exception of his embrace of de-nuclearization.
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"On college campuses, according to a Brookings/UCLA survey, 50 percent of students believe that 'offensive' speech should be shouted down and 20 percent believe it should be violently crushed."
David, the vast majority of college students who hold this belief are only just beginning to think about the nature of public discourse and simply don't want their friends and peers humiliated and terrorized by hateful speech. In time, they'll probably realize that the question is more complex than they realized.
But you compare this to "tribalism," "authoritarianism," and the degradation of democracies"? Seriously?
I appreciate Mann, but perhaps for your next piece you should go back or forward - say John Stuart Mill or John Rawls. It seems that one of our major issues today is the inability on the part of many to respect the basic dignity of the few simply because they are the few.
"Man is made in God’s image"
We have a pretty high opinion of ourselves don't we? If anything we're made in the image of the same ape that is the ancestor of chimpanzees. Our ancestor. There is nothing infinite about the dignity of man. I don't even know what that means.
if democracy is falling apart it's because we're not very good at it. Nearly half of us don't vote. Of the others very few understand the issues or know who the candidates are. We tend to vote emotionally over issues that are mostly irrelevant. Bush got people riled up over gay marriage. Ten years later who cares. I think it might be possible to pull names out of a hat and get a congress about as good as this one. Why not eliminate the expense.
I'm not moved. I don't have the will be misty-eyed.
After what the GOP has done to this country, DESPITE the popular will, I don't need a lecture from a Republican.
Democratic principles are not isolated and self-propelling abstractions consigned to textbooks. Rather, they are restatements of the natural rights of humankind. We are born with these and are entitled to enjoy their benefits and protections. When they are compromised or prostituted by despots or traitors, good men and women are called into action. A young man in Alabama, Doug Jones, did more last Tuesday to carry the blood-stained banner of principled democracy than any so-called leader of the minority party in Congress. He taught those who look the other way when confronted with evil to combat it head on when he prosecuted and convicted the murderers who bombed the church in Birmingham. Winning a Senate seat was a cakewalk compared to this act of profound courage.
All we need do is to turn back to the documents that established this country.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
They had Mann beat many years before he was born.
Our founders clearly understood the principles of a democracy. Just listen.
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A good column, Mr. Brooks.
If readers keep Putin in mind when they read this column, they will understand why Putin simply doesn't get democracy. Democracy isn't a coat of paint on a criminal organization disguised as a government.
Readers will also understand why Trump fails to defend the Constitution and our way of life when he gives Putin deferential treatment, e.g., ignoring Putin's interference in our democratic process. Trump is dangerous to our liberty and derelict of duty.
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What Mr. Brooks has neglected to do is to ask why democracies are declining.
It's nice to think of democracy as not just a political system but a way of life that encourages people to make the best of their capacities. However, without a political system, without rules to rein in those whose "rabbit horizon" is too see themselves as victors in the game of accumulating the most money, too many people find it hard just to survive, much less find bliss in what gives meaning to their lives.
I would like to ask those who, like many conservatives, have faith that the market will make its own corrections without government intervention, how they think poets, artists, and research scientists who are seeking truths that may never pay off in any financial way are to survive in a system in which there are no constraints against the consolidation of wealth. Is it that hard to see that we may end up with a society led by the most ruthless wealth accumulators and their often unmotivated offspring?
We form societies and political systems in order to escape the dog-eat-dog world in which the guy with the biggest club wins. Lately those with the biggest clubs are subject to fewer and fewer constraints. Shouldn't we at least entertain the idea that with a progressive tax system, fewer de facto monopolies, sensible banking regulations, and other "leftist" policies, we might encourage citizens to become neighbors seeking communities that will result in the kind of democracy Mann describes?
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a true hierarchy of values, ...money in the service of production, production in the service of humanity, and humanity itself in the service of an ideal which gives meaning to life.”
Trump's statement that people will get their greatest ever Christmas gift in the form of money through the tax bill is a clear refutation of this hierarchy of values.
Today it's all about money and power. Turning this around will be difficult in the face of Citizens United; but after the Alabama Senatorial election, I have a shred of hope that individual citizens can check their own moral compasses, employ solid critical thought, and make good choices for the benefit of the community as well as themselves.
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The thing to begin with is to get rid of Citizens United. It sounds like it should be a good organization, but oh the lie in even the name.
Bring back true Democracy by taking Big Money out of elections. Doesn't matter what party you are, this will make a more level playing field where candidates have to place issues in the spotlight.
The column reminds me of the value of the "Civil Liberties Union" and its role in our history. The republican party has in recent years attacked it for protecting our civil liberties, particularly when freedom of speech is involved.
Now the President has attacked free speech in the case of Kolin Capernik and other NFL players.
It is time for us to bring to light the common attacks on free speech by conservatives in our country.
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The fundamentals of freedom to endure must make everyone a Mann's Democrat. A democrat advances and protects democracy or rather safe freedom. Republicans and Democrats can be one as well, we all can work to be one. The entry and the preservation dues of this way of life is captured and suspended in this wonderful article. We must listen and hear.
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