POWER POLITICS

A think-tanker’s view of the post-Trumpian rubble.

“The United States faces extraordinary problems of polarization, extremism, and radicalization, which make it difficult to safeguard our democratic system and deal with important policy issues.” So writes West, vice president of the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution. Sadly, there’s nothing novel about this observation, but the author is well equipped to observe from his position, where a battery of political scientists studies events and trends. Naturally, they are dismissed and loathed by the MAGA crowd and its allied media. When one Brookings fellow identified the chief culprit as Trump and the authoritarian cult of personality he had built around himself, right-wingers howled even as some of West’s longtime friends on the right “complained about the capital city’s ‘cockroaches’ and said it was time to use the popular bug-killer Raid to get rid of political adversaries.” It all makes for a dangerous moment indeed, requiring long-needed reforms: among many others, abolishing the “antiquated Electoral College,” stopping gerrymandering, and quashing campaign finance rules that privilege the haves over the have-nots. Moreover, West suggests, many institutions in civil society, such as universities, must be overhauled in order to remove dark money. The author attempts to be evenhanded, noting that social media amplifies misinformation by both left and right even as the loudest voices emanate from the right. He also calls for self-policing that falls short of self-censorship, while stronger matters (here he recalls Leon Wieseltier) face a hitherto unexplored “challenge of delivering justice to those with complaints while also protecting the procedural rights of the accused.” Overall, West’s prescriptions are reasonable, but given a time when gerrymandering, fascism, and extreme partisanship are some of the defining features of the political landscapes, most seem unlikely to be enacted.

Liberal-minded students of politics will find West’s arguments persuasive and his case well presented.