Published in The Polis on Medium.com on Dec. 6, 2024
Angels to the left of me, angels to the right
To head off a civil war, Lincoln coined the phrase the “better angels of our nature.” It was part of his appeal for unity to counter the threats by the South to leave the Union. He perhaps thought the angels would have an easy time of it because they would call to mind the shared memories of battles fought and independence gained. Common, hallowed ground, etc. The angels, in other words, would play the patriotism card.
It obviously didn’t work, but why not? Albeit with no personal insight into the social psychology of angels, I suspect that there might be as much dissension among angels as there is in the human population. In other words, there are conservative Red Angels on the right and liberal Blue Angels on the left. If so, then the term ‘better angel has to recognize that the word ‘better’ is itself open to interpretation and there are no absolute values we can use to define what ‘better’ entails.
The political polarization exemplified in political messaging for all 21st century U.S. elections, so far, proves the point that ‘better’ is a highly subjective term. We might all agree that polarization has created some nasty language that any self-respecting Red or Blue Better Angel would blush to hear. But if we filter out the slurs and the name calling, what does any morally principled Better Angel actually think is better?
Here are some questions you might ask your own Better Angel. Is it better to be white than Black? Better to be Christian than Muslim? Better to be rich than poor? Better to be safe than sorry? Better to be straight than gay? Better to be a man than a woman?
If the Better Angel answers mainly with the words on the left hand side of the than’s in these questions— white, Christian, rich, safe, straight, man— the more likely it’s guiding you toward Republican politics. Not definitely, of course, just more likely. Political affiliation, in this sense, is predicated on who you are and how you view the world and the opportunity you’re given. A political party is just another club you feel you belong to, or aspire to be a member of.
The spin residing in biased political advertising, like in advertising generally, tries to entice you into wanting something you don’t have, even if you can’t ever have it. Like being white or straight if you’re not, or being rich when the economic deck is stacked against you.
If, on the other hand, your Better Angel is less into changing you, and more into you simply accepting yourself and being accepted as you are, then it’s better to stay who you than to regret who you’re not. Better to stay woke than to delude yourself. [Oops, my better angel just reminded me that I said ‘woke’ is better. I’ll let it stand though.]
Following are a few examples of how a Republican Angel on the right shoulder of a voter and a Democratic Angel on the left shoulder respond to the stated positions of a middle of the road politician.
Politician: Women deserve equal job opportunity, absolutely.
Republican Angel: “Equal opportunity, sure, but I don’t think women deserve any special consideration. They already have the same opportunities as anybody else.”
Democratic Angel: “Equal opportunity, of course, but recognize real talent and initiative when you see it. Don’t trivialize women’s ability to contribute.”
Politician: Black people should be able to peacefully protest; it’s in the Constitution, after all.
Republican Angel: “Sure, they can protest peacefully, but they never do. All their demonstrations turn violent.”
Democratic Angel: “Sure, they can protest peacefully, but how do you do that when the police assume everything you do is suspicious.”
Politician: I haven’t got anything against LGBTQ people. But I really don’t understand all this alphabet soup.
Republican Angel: “They already have all our Constitutional protections as individuals. They don’t automatically deserve considerations that other people don’t get. That’s dividing us.”
Democratic Angel: “If you are one of the letters in the alphabet, you know that people look down on you and treat you as inferior or damaged. The alphabet is an appeal to be fully included and valued, because people in these groups are still being marginalized.”
I view the tactics available to the woke left very much the same as those available to the anti-woke right. These are the tactics of electing people with your persuasions, messaging, organizing, demonstrating. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that these tactics were actually perfected in the Jim Crow South. This was a period of a hundred years when, according to my own Better Angel, opinions about other people were mean and unyielding. It was a time of culturally endorsed bullying, segregating community institutions, legislating discrimination. Woke attitudes and behavior from those with the heel on their necks became embedded during these times as defenses against often violent and dismissive treatment.
But though the same tactics are available to either group, those dishing out Jim Crow discrimination were certainly more effective. And that was because they held the reins of power. For instance, the voting rolls for newly enfranchised Black men in the South following the Civil War surged. But when Jim Crow laws were passed to restrict voting by Blacks, the voting rolls shed ninety percent of their Black citizens. Jim Crow was super effective in getting what it wanted.
Now in what we believe is a more enlightened time, when the Jim Crow genie has supposedly been pushed back into his magic lamp, there is a growing movement by some Better Angels on the right to rub the lamp again and let him out. These Angels are making the argument that the majority society is really the component that is being discriminated against. They bemoan that their children can’t get into Harvard because of affirmative action, that they are losing jobs to immigrants, that women no longer value motherhood, that they’re being disadvantaged and replaced.
In those states fully controlled by Republicans, Jim Crow is already out of the bottle and doing his work: restricting women’s health choices, banning books, deporting immigrants, picking on LGBTQ people, restricting minority voting. We all know the reality here; it’s in the news every day. And the thing is, these Republican states are doing all this proudly and openly, justifying all of it as the doings of their Better Angels, laying moral foundations for their actions, insisting they’re creating a better functioning, more moral, and safer society. Even if they have to break a few eggs to do so. The end justifies the means.
The Better Angels of the left, who are ascendent in the still blue states fully controlled by Democrats, are instead trying not only to keep Jim Crow bottled up, but to bury the bottle. The legislative priorities in these states reduce almost entirely to arguments of fairness for all citizen groups. There is a recognition that these states comprise diverse populations and it’s in the interest of the states to honor the contributions each such subpopulation makes or potentially can make. There’s no ducking the scope of the task, just plugging away at it. The means justify the ends.
There was described in Genesis a war in the early heavens between different factions of angels. Rather than see this, as it’s usually interpreted, as a war between good and evil, it’s in my mind a metaphorical war between the Blue and Red angels of that early time. Both sides had their arguments for the way creation should play out, but, just as with today’s Better Angels, right and wrong were slippery terms.