BRUGGER: The Grassroots is Important, but MAGA is an Invasive Species

The alarming thing is that the RNC is supporting states’ use of the traditional language of the South American Military Coup. The model is a simple one. While every political faction promises to right a selection of wrongs, MAGA declares that everything any person in America finds disagreeable is someone’s fault—in this case, Democrats, liberal thinkers, and Republican elites. The implication of this rhetoric is left to the listener. The dissatisfaction can be anything depending on a person’s situation and depth of feeling. This rhetoric could significantly influence the electorate if not critically examined, potentially leading to a polarized and divided society.

The image of an electorate made up of salt of the earth, everyday Americans, is part of the iconic American Dream. When someone is profiled because of extraordinary success, part of the narrative is usually how rooted they are in an average or even less advantaged past. At the beginning of a dictator’s campaign to justify taking total control of a government, there is always an appeal to the populace. The first group to answer is those who feel they have no control over their lives. Whether it is apparent to them because of current or generational circumstances, they always look at external reasons for life’s disappointments.

The idea that your political representative cares for you and people like you is appealing. Indeed, some public servants put service at the front of their actions. However, voters must always be somewhat skeptical of those who say they are for the people but have nothing but words backing them up. Candidates who accept the endorsement of MAGA leaders are particularly hard to read. They are genuinely lovely people who often only find out that their continued support by the party depends upon their predictable votes on cultural issues and efforts to shrink the size and effectiveness of government agencies.

MAGA has managed to harness behaviors common to the schoolyard bully. Along with using common obscenities in speeches about the evils committed by the enemy, MAGA has normalized language only used as informal jargon. They double down on outrage by using the language of disgust. This language and the maliciousness behind it spread as quickly as crabgrass attacks the grassroots of a lawn. Opponents pick it up in retaliation, and political debate descends into irrelevant name-calling.

Many of today’s problems have emotional ties to warfare and land occupations in the distant past or stem from a virus that may have accidentally escaped from a Chinese research laboratory. They can be attributed to bias and favoritism surrounding a cause. They are challenging to resolve without a vision of all the parts and all the possibilities. How can a leader possibly be all things to all people?

Any good, even great leader can only promise to consider every possible side to an issue and not favor one side’s requests over another because they are part of a wealthy and powerful minority. Since all laws must be passed by two legislative chambers and signed by an elected head of government, our constitution guarantees that five hundred forty people consider their effect before they become law. Minority opinions are understood, and the grassroots has the opportunity to change the members of Congress every two years.

MAGA is using a series of political actions to strengthen its position. They criminalize actions that are a matter of individual choice and do not harm another person. They have become the weeds on the fruited plain of our country.