There’s nothing like the fear of the other to bring the demagogues in our midst out into the open.
Whether it is an ugly town meeting in Bourne or a radio personality stoking fear at a rally in Boston, it’s all the same. And it’s not new.
History shows that Americans have routinely struggled to match their ideals with their practices. Joanna Weiss offered a timely reminder last week.
The country was founded as an aspiration but with a very real understanding of the danger demagogues could present.
Part of the reason for the creation of a federal system was the attempt to ensure that demagogues couldn’t easily control the levers of power. Alexander Hamilton noted that “Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State.”
Concerns over immigration consistently spur the “little arts of popularity” like few other issues. Whether they are patiently waiting their turn, coming here by the boatload, fleeing poverty or violence or living among us furtively, we have typically resorted to demagogic appeals in attempts to keep them out.
As someone with Italian immigrant blood, those demagogic appeals would have been directed my way in an earlier era. Worse than being Italian, my great grandparents were immigrants from southern Italy. The dark skin, foreign tongue, strange religion, and poverty made southern Italians, the “other” of their day, a target for those looking to uphold American culture and public health. Author Ed Falco reminds us that, at the time, Italian immigrants were subjected to discrimination, stereotypes, and violence.
That history is helpful as we navigate the current moment.
Let’s posit that the current issues that divide us are not necessarily partisan. It was a Republican President, George W. Bush, who offered a forward-looking and comprehensive immigration bill in 2007. Today we see Democratic Governors in places like Connecticut refusing shelter for the children fleeing violence in Central America. Republican Charlie Baker agrees with Democratic Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to make one of two installations in the Commonwealth open to shelter and process children.
The politics of this are clearly not straightforward.
Let’s further posit that a nation founded upon an idea shouldn’t easily throw up walls to others. But neither does a sovereign nation give up on enforcement of its immigration laws. The debate that occurs about where and how to draw the line is important to have.
But whatever your view of the immigration system or immigrants, we are not going to solve the problem on the backs of poor children fleeing for a better life. We are not going to solve the national issue by denying shelter to those whom we are legally obligated to shelter and process. Opponents might reflect on that latter point.
The Governor opened up the possibility of allowing the federal government the use of one of two sites to accommodate and process the children arriving at the border.
Demagogues are using low intrigue to thrown down various claims that cannot be answered by an appeal to reason:
- Gubernatorial candidate Mark Fisher told the Globe, responding to the timeframe proposed by the Governor, “We think that’s a lie; it’s not temporary.”
- Linda Zuern, a member of the Board of Selectmen in Bourne, said in a public meeting, “We don’t know if they’re sick or not…we don’t know if they’re gang members.” She also noted that “My feeling is this whole invasion of our country is against the constitution.”
- Not to be outdone, local resident Mary Woodruff noted “They’re not all cute little kids with brown eyes . . . They know what they’re doing and they’re going to be sucking us dry. Send them the hell back.”
Repeated claims about gang members, threats to public health, the cultural impact of these kids–advanced by elected officials as well as ordinary citizens– are not designed to advance the debate. These are outrageous, though time-tested attacks.
Those Italian immigrants Falco discovered? A group of them deserved lynching, according to an 1891 editorial in the New York Times, because they were “sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins.”
Some of the claims put forward by today’s demagogues cannot be answered because any legitimate answer is ignored. As Fisher contends, “it’s a lie.”
A recent lesson in both “low intrigue” and the “little arts of popularity” featured Representative Marc Lombardo’s on MSNBC’s Up with Steve. The Representative was opposite former US Senator, and Patrick confidant, Mo Cowan.
Asked about the specific aspects of the Governor’s plan, Lombardo responded by claiming that the Governor has noted
his need to act because he’s a humanitarian and for 16 months here in Massachusetts we watched how the governor treated Justine Pelletier—the nation watched—and I can tell you that the Governor is no humanitarian.
That’s a perfect illustration of demagoguery. Note how Lombardo avoids, in the very first instance, an answer to the specific elements of the administration’s plan. Instead, he wraps himself with the blanket of a tragic situation that was far more complex than he allows.
By starting with the Pelletier case, Lombardo can delegitimize the Governor’s call for a humanitarian response. Because the Governor’s “treatment of Justina Pelletier” shows that he “is no humanitarian.” Thus it must follow that using sites in Massachusetts to process kids cannot be humanitarian either. What is it? A plot?
Mark Fisher calls it a lie and Lombardo feeds the story line.
That feedback loop helps the demagogic cause for even if the Governor is 100% accurate on how this is all going to unfold, there will always be that dark corner of suspicion. Because if it’s “a lie” then we won’t ever fully know how many of these kids have invaded our schools, communities, and, naturally, social welfare agencies.
Invasion is also a favored word of opponents. What would a demagogue be without an apocalyptic notion of what the future holds? And there is always a small kernel of reasonable assumptions in some of their concerns. It’s what keeps them from descending into Scott Lively territory.
For example, some of these kids may, in fact, stay in your community. They could receive asylum, get reunited with family here or, in remote and unusual circumstances, end up being adopted by someone in your hometown. If history is any guide, most will be returned to their home countries. How many could possibly stay? Impossible to know.
Such a question cannot be answered. And uncertainty, no matter how slight, feeds the demagoguery which feeds the conspiracy which further empowers the demagogue.
The administration has answered many questions. But many simply don’t like the answers. Others simply do not like this Governor. And, it must be admitted, some just don’t like the idea of others in our midst even if they are temporarily located deep within a sprawling and secure military base of 22,000 acres.
No one is talking about moving these kids into the house next to yours. In yesterday’s Globe, Joan Vennochi points to “opposition” to the Governor’s plan with the following:
In some ways, the debate over these kids is not unlike the Massachusetts gambling debate: Some people favor taking care of helpless children in principle, but don’t want their own community to play host.
“Their own community.” Well, Camp Edwards is located deep inside a massive and secure military base that is about as remote as you can get on Cape Cod. You won’t see them or hear them.
No matter. These children are the other and all the concrete answers in the world won’t change that essential fact. It’s the thing that gives the demagogues their power.
My ancestors were once the other. They and their contemporaries were viewed as dirty, poor, gang members who couldn’t speak English and who practiced strange religious customs. They were a blight on the American horizon and a threat to American culture.
One of the ways these immigrants handled the prejudice they encountered was to form groups such as the Order of the Sons of Italy. This mutual aid society not only helped immigrants cope, but was designed to preserve the culture, language, and heritage of Italians in the face of overwhelming anger.
Many other such groups were similarly formed and still exist. Representative Lombardo is a member of the Sons of Italy. These groups were a refuge from the demagoguery of the day. And they would have been largely unnecessary had earlier generations simply followed the advice given by George Will yesterday and said, “Welcome to America.”
