The brilliance of Tim Walz’ response to the GOP’s culture war is that it put a foundational element of the Bill of Rights into everyday language.
“Mind your own damn business” is a more direct expression of that underlying philosophy than the one that I used in my classroom–“Live and let live.” As I have posted innumerable times on this blog, the Bill of Rights, taken as a whole, is based on the libertarian premise that individuals should be free to pursue their own ends–their own life goals–so long as they do not thereby harm the person or property of someone else, and so long as they are willing to accord an equal liberty to their fellow citizens.
Government’s role is to protect our individual liberties while keeping the strong from abusing the weak.
Adherence to that philosophy means that even if you strongly disagree with your neighbor’s choice of religion or life partner or reading material, you mind your own damn business. You don’t try to get the government involved in the absence of harm to nonconsenting others. You don’t try to use the power of the state to impose your own religious or lifestyle preferences on your neighbor–and he doesn’t get to impose his on you.
Live and let live.
The current iteration of the GOP has utterly abandoned fidelity to that limited government principal. The culture war being waged by the MAGA Christian Nationalists is all about punishing–or at least burdening–life choices with which they disagree. The latest–and yes, weirdest–example is JD Vance’s insistence that women who don’t produce biological children should be socially and legally disfavored. (Vance has even proposed that people with children be rewarded by giving them “extra” votes.)
These very unAmerican approaches to policy disputes also tend to be delivered in the nastiest possible way. As the Bulwark recently noted,
Consider the latest weird statement by JD Vance to emerge. Vance disagrees with the education policies pushed by the American Federation of Teachers and its president, Randi Weingarten. He doesn’t like Weingarten’s political activities either. Fine. That hardly makes him unique among Republicans.
But apparently he can’t just say that. He has to attack her personally. Weingarten, it seems, doesn’t have children. And Vance has a view on that. What’s more, he has a view on the character and effectiveness of teachers who have kids and those who don’t, and has decided he’s “disturbed” by those who don’t.
One could ask, are the private lives of millions of teachers any of JD Vance’s damn business?
As the article proceeded to note, Vance obviously thinks so. But it isn’t just Vance–it’s a core belief of MAGA world that everything is their business.
For MAGA—as for other authoritarian movements of the left and right—the personal is the political. MAGA is about judging and disparaging other people, whole classes of people, whole groups of our fellow Americans…The routine slander of individuals and groups is part of the essence of the movement.
It is true that political disputes often get nasty. History is replete with examples of unfair accusations and various slanders leveled by candidates for office and their supporters. What the Bulwark reports in this particular case, however, gets to the essence of what is wrong with today’s GOP, and its devolution into White Christian Nationalism. There are a number of reasons to label that movement unAmerican, of course–any fair reading of the First Amendment and the Founders’ insistence on Separation of Church and State will provide the most obvious one. What is less obvious, but equally shocking, is the MAGA movement’s manifest belief that government should be able to dictate the personal behaviors of individuals even when those behaviors do not affect others.
So MAGA says government can force women to give birth. That government can prevent medical personnel from helping trans children. That government can remove library books that offend MAGA sensibilities, even though many other citizens want access to those books and no one is forcing the censors or their children to read them.
MAGA Republicans want government as busybody, despite the fact that such a role is entirely contrary to the foundational philosophy of this nation.
If, as I believe, real patriotism requires fidelity to our foundational philosophy– if it requires citizens to mind our own damn business in the absence of harm to unconsenting others– then MAGA culture warriors must be ranked as the most unpatriotic of all Americans.
We all need to listen to Tim Walz.
Well said Prof ! Thanks
Very good summary of how ideological vapidness destroys a Constitution that asks us to work toward a more perfect union. NOTHING associated with Republicans of ANY stripe does that anymore. The persistence of the monster from Mar-a-Lago is a cancer eating at the souls and minds of what used to be good people. As with any psychopath, Trump wants everyone to be like him so he can control them. And the MAGA crowd of idiots follows obligingly. Why?
I think it is because they are intellectually lazy. It begins in the public schools that have been politicized and dumbed-down to satisfy politically motivated, high-stakes tests. So, instead of teaching critical thinking skills, the students are conditioned to answer test questions from the state by being drilled on those very things. No thinking required, just knee-jerk. So, when these kids become adults, they’re going to follow the easiest path where they don’t have to think, only respond to various stimuli.
This, in my opinion, is MAGA world in a nutshell … emphasis on nut.
What I find so interesting is that Sheila’s assessment is spot on, but if you listen to MAGATs, they hate the authoritative state, which they refer to as “scientific theory.” As they say often, there are other “explanations” for why this happens. They complain vociferously about the Marxists of the Democratic Party telling them what they can and cannot drive, what they can eat or drink, etc.
This is one of the reasons they want to eliminate the “Deep State,” which they’ve defined as the government bureaucracy in Washington. This is what Project 2025 is all about. Why?
They want to eliminate career federal workers with allegiance to the guiding principles of science and replace them with employees loyal to the Executive. In this case, Trump. For some ungodly reason, they are comfortable with Trump telling them what to do, but nobody else. If this isn’t the definition of a cult, I don’t know what it is, especially since Trump’s decision-making has been flawed for decades. His track record is abysmal.
They aren’t libertarian-minded at all. MAGATs do want the government telling them what to do, but only Republican politicians, judges, workers, etc. Not those damn Marxists (they have no clue what that means)!
My cousin visited her local public library in Cape Coral, Florida. All the older classics have been purged. It’s empty, and mostly new books remain. She said it felt like a bookstore and not a public library. MAGATs are fine with that. [eye-roll]
When we look at movements like MAGA , we usually see a movement that needs a villain. They will progressively move from yesterday’s villain to a new one for today. Eventually, they run out of “others” and they have to find something about one another to hate. Apologies to Reverend Niemoller for my lame interpretation of his words.
Vernon – “spot on” !
Do want you wanna
Do what you will
Just don’t mess up your neighbor’s thrill
and as you pay the bill
Kindly leave a little tip
to help the next person on this one way trip
“MAGA Republicans want government as busybody, despite the fact that such a role is entirely contrary to the foundational philosophy of this nation.” This is exactly why the Big Lie of Project 2025 is the “pilar” of getting rid of the “administrative state.” A government that does what Trump and the MAGA movement want it to do will require an extensive, and extensively intrusive, administrative state. Every authoritarian regime does.
There seems to be no protection in the Constitution to force elected officials to perform the duties and responsibilities of the Oath of Office they swore to adhere to. The lack of requiring truth be spoken by our government officials is protected by the 1st Amendment freedom of speech and separation of church and state keeps government from controlling religion but does not keep religion from controlling government. We are living in a Catch 22 situation where the MAGA Republican, White Nationalist, Freedom Caucus is using the protection of the Constitution to access the power to end the Constitution.
Kathryn Graham, owner of the Washington Post, and Ed Bradlee, Editor of the Washington Post, used the freedom of the press to provide the public the truth of our government by publishing the Pentagon Papers as the Constitution meant to do. Was that the last time the Constitution worked as it was meant to work to protect democracy and government of the people, by the people and for the people? When did the Constitutional powers end being the protection and became the weapon against America and Americans and depriving us of the freedom of “Minding Our Own Business”?
The constitutional powers have not ended, they have been ignored by the MAGATS, and we need to re-emphasize them, loudly, with our votes!
Vernon hit the nail on the head with “I think it is because they are intellectually lazy.”
They were mostly lazy as children and just wanted to be told what to do, rather than having to expend the energy to think for themselves. Unfortunately, when truly evil people gain enough wealth and power they utilize that power to control other people. Over the past 4-1/2 decades this country’s God-forsaken Federalist Society has managed to take control of the republican party and the majority of the supreme court. They knew the weak-minded wanted to be controlled and their wealthy donors have made billions in their ROI.
Nobody cares what Republicans say. Everyone should deeply care about what they do. Election years are about deciphering what party offerings predict about the future actions of their party depending on their ability to control the Presidency and Congress.
In my opinion, Republicans equal Trump, and Trump lies almost continuously. I cannot predict anything from what he says about what he will do. I grant him zero credibility. He is unknown except for what he did in his former term as President and the leaked Project 2025.
On the other hand, I trust Harris/Walz. They have earned it.
MAGA is a cult. Cults are characterized as having:
Absolute authoritarianism without accountability
Zero tolerance for criticism or questions
Lack of meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget
Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions
A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave
Abuse of members (sexual, financial, spiritual, etc.)
Records, books, articles, or programs documenting the abuses of the leader or group
Followers feeling they are never able to be “good enough”
A belief that the leader is right at all times
A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or giving validation
Any questions?
Followers are not always dumb, lazy or victims of a poor school system, although these traits sometimes predispose a person to being vulnerable to cult messages. There are plenty of people who are dumb, lazy or victims of poor schooling who do NOT join cults.
MAGA appeals to people for a variety of reasons — the main thing WE should have for the followers is compassion. (And as someone who has a family member in the cult, that’s REALLY hard.)
Thank you Ms. Green for recalling the Pentagon Papers, published in 1971 by the Washington Post, exercising freedom of the press as the Constitution meant to do. That wasn’t, though, the last time the Constitution worked to protect democracy.
Mark Zuckerberg’s 8/26/24 mea culpa letter from Meta (FaceBook) to Congress, admitted FB yielded to White House pressure to “censor” (Zuckeberg used exactly this word) content distributed to Americans. Zuckerberg’s letter further cited information withheld by FB that related to the family of one of the 2020 presidential election candidates. Zuckerberg learned later the information was not “misinformation” as alleged; he wrote that the story should not have been “demoted.”
Though Zuckerberg’s letter did not admit that Meta has a duty to uphold the Constitution, as does government, he is clearly influenced by First Amendment rights of freedoms of press and speech, and has stated a position that Meta will not in the future be influenced by government to circumvent those rights. A future court case may make Meta’s duties clearer.
As usual, Sheila sums up the situation!
“MAGA Republicans want government as busybody, despite the fact that such a role is entirely contrary to the foundational philosophy of this nation.
If, as I believe, real patriotism requires fidelity to our foundational philosophy– if it requires citizens to mind our own damn business in the absence of harm to unconsenting others– then MAGA culture warriors must be ranked as the most unpatriotic of all Americans.”
That sane, that savvy.
Gordon,
I mentioned the other day what Zuckerberg’s letter was all about. There was a hack and release of Israel’s Justice Ministry data. It has been shared on the Internet and social media. Telegram took down the link because it goes against their policies.
However, the website still exists, and lots of the content released exposes how Meta, Google, and Instagram have agreed to work with the Israeli and US governments to demote and delete content asked for by the governments. COVID and the BDS Movement were mentioned specifically in the leaks.
Facebook and Zuckerberg also testified before Congress that they’ve censored members based on requests by government agencies. Mark was trying to get out in front of the damage coming his way while most US media continues to quash the Israeli hack and leak.
We’ve known Facebook sold us out a long time ago and it’s why journalists won’t use it with sources. Even the local police departments are giving access to the program to track user data. Mark’s letter is a distraction.
Public schools create weak minded adults. Perhaps,it is time to shut them down?
Good call.
Ian, and replace them with what? Where did you get your formal education, if you ever got one?
META is a business. Businesses make decisions all the time about policy and what will be public or not.
People who want the government to be run like a business should be careful what they wish for. Cutting losses is a business strategy. Who gets to decide what the “losses” are and how to dispose of them?
I was being sarcastic.
Culture war? No, it’s a class-war. When one uses disparaging remarks about the education of MAGA types, the bias rears its ugly head.
I think a good portion of the folks commenting on this very forum have biases aligned with their supposed nemesis named Trump.
The MAGA cult is devoted to one man. The cult of DNC is devoted to party. One thing both cults have in common is their disdain for public education.
Even what were once considered exclusive thoughts to Republicans has now been adopted by Democrat Party acolytes.
If you were to remove the evangelical element from the current Republican environs. What is left isn’t much different from the current zeitgeist emanating from the DNC.
Reaganism has crept through the DNC,as well.
I’m sure Mary Kohen would like my previous comment to be stricken from the forum.
And they still call themselves CONSERVATIVES! They only thing they want to conserve is their own seriously distorted idea of how everyone should live their lives. Heil Adolph Trump!
As usual, your discourse here is eloquent, concise, and relevant. I disagree with the sentiment of “MAGA” as a philosophy; especially a refined or directed pursuit of a group of a like-minded movement. The division of the policy wonks, as insane as they are, are far removed from the everyday Trump voter. JD Vance might encompass this dichotomy more perfect than anyone: here is a guy no one wants a beer with, especially a Trump supporter. I encourage you to listen to the youthful political Kendrick Lamar song “Not Like Us”, and embrace the thesis therein: “You have gotten loud, and I tried to be cool and make money. But I will expose you now, and be trusted because I am from the streets.” It is a relentless takedown that cannot be responded too, and the more lettered among us should take heed in the conversation of right and wrong going on in the pop culture world. In other words, we need to clarify if one is in or out on ideas. Kendrick goes so far as to call out how the fans of Drake are getting colonized, hits his audience where it hurts. We have to be more lovingly urgent. We tried to explain the scam. Scammers like to be scammed.
Vance forgets that in the good ole days, women teachers were fired for marrying. If somehow they kept their job as a married woman, they definitely were forced to resign when becoming pregnant and beginning to “show”.
Vance never finds the interest to comment on men teachers. Hmmmmm.