The hand that hits

How to fight back against the new threats to liberal democracy

We’ve just emerged from a year of stunning blows to liberal democracy around the world. Brexit rattled the bones of the post-war liberal order in Europe. In Austria, the right-wing populist FPO performed distressingly well for a political party founded by a former Nazi SS officer. In Asia’s oldest democracy, the Philippines, a demagogue who promised a vicious drug war waged through extrajudicial killings decisively won the presidency, and has kept his promise. The United States turned the White House over to a tanning bed mishap with an authoritarian streak. Facing a budget crisis of their own creation, Oklahoma legislators persisted with cuts to public school funding so steep one could be forgiven for wondering if their plan for public education is to just starve it to death once and for all. 

Shocked out of complacency by these and other threats to the future, people near and far who believe in pluralism, decency and open society are revving up and getting organized to fight back, which raises the question: how?

The rise of clicktivism—or slacktivism, as its detractors sometimes term it—has led to something of an online petition boom in recent years. Change.org claims over 100 million users in nearly 200 countries, and some petitions started through the site have amassed huge numbers of signatures. A petition asking the Electoral College to give the presidency to Clinton rather than Trump, for instance, got more than 4.9 million signatures. Of course, the fate of that ridiculous request points to the problem with petitions, particularly when signing one takes less time than it took you to read this sentence: they might not do anything. Though clicktivism has had some successes—like the petition to get the Associated Press to drop use of the term “child prostitute”—petitions aren’t elections, and in a world awash with online petitions they might not even really be petitions anymore. Neither are retweets, likes and secret Facebook groups (or public ones, for that matter). The potency of petitioning for redress of grievances has been diluted by overuse. And the Trumps of the world are, by nature, not all that interested in expressions of the public will beyond fawning praise and obedience anyway. Defeating the anti-intellectual, illiberal, populist ethno-nationalism on the march around the world will require more than the clicktivist alone can offer. 

The side of pluralism and democratic values needs to remember the Kung Fu maxim, “the hand that hits also blocks.” Or, as you football-loving Okies may have heard it rendered, the best defense is a good offense. The enemies of liberal democracy must be attacked in the marketplace of ideas relentlessly and treated with ridicule and contempt. Note that this does not mean shouting anyone down or preventing anyone from speaking—shutting someone up by any means other than proving them wrong isn’t victory, it’s cowardice. Part of the attack will need to be made with a little jujutsu, using the enemy’s own energy against him by provoking him into overreactions. A defining feature of the bully is that he is weakest where he acts strongest. The clumsy bluster that leads to overreach and mistakes is always a cover for some deep-seated and pitiful vulnerability. Use it. 

People who cherish values like political and legal equality, freedom of expression, and individual liberty, who celebrate creativity and appreciate beauty for its own sake, will do their most important work in the coming year not by fighting but by building a better alternative. There’s something grimly unsurprising about the fact that the TV shows “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant” are most popular in places like Oklahoma, where teen pregnancy is rampant and Trump is hailed as a hero. Trumpism and other similar movements emerged because of the failure of liberal democracy to deliver on its promises and live up to its own ideals, allowing some communities to descend into such hopelessness that Trump and mindless television became an attractive alternative to reality. So build a better, more attractive alternative. Invest in your communities, making them better, more beautiful places to be. Invest in your families and yourselves, making yourselves better people to be around. Pluralistic, liberal, open societies have the advantage of being more innovative, dynamic, hopeful places to be than a Trump rally seething with fear and anger. Liberals have more fun. So have it. 

For more from Denver, read his piece on 2016, “Year of the trolls.”