Defeating the Evil Among Us

Only a radical Americanism that fulfills the vision of Jefferson and Lincoln can see us through this dark chapter

(Photo by Samuel Corum via Getty Images)

I often re-read the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln’s 272-word genius that asserted the value of our democratic enterprise and the “great task” to sustain it, while also questioning whether “any nation so conceived…can long endure.” President Lincoln posed this question in November 1863 on the grounds of a blood-soaked Pennsylvania battlefield that, barely four months earlier, witnessed more than 51,000 casualties of Union and Confederate soldiers.

Despite all the bloodshed, all the shallow graves, all the violent conflict that was still underway, Lincoln offered guidance that travels across time to our day:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced…that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Lincoln’s wisdom followed the direction that Thomas Jefferson’s fundamental idea gave to a fledgling nation seeking to be a light to its countrymen and the world. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” he wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal.” This too has traveled across time and continues to enlighten everyone who yearns for real freedom.

We are living through a period where the enemies within are abusing their power and working aggressively—viciously, cruelly, immorally, criminally—to destroy the central tenets that have sustained our nation and guided the gradual progress that has improved lives for the many. They are attacking:

• The rule of law: Every day the body of evidence mounts that ICE and Border Patrol agents have abandoned the rule of law.

• Free speech: Over and over, more proof appears that the unjust Justice Department rejects free speech—arresting journalists, attacking and arresting peaceful protestors, pursuing vindictive prosecutions against the political enemies of Donald Trump.

• Equality: From inauguration day onward, the Trump regime has pursued hostile policies that demonize people of color, reject equality and inclusion in our diverse society, and deny historical truths—all intended to force America to swallow a white nationalist future.

• Free and fair elections: The regime and its ruler have never stopped their sick campaign to break the public’s trust in our election system and hold power without responsibility to the will of the people.

Undergirding this demolition is a man of monumental malignancy, a sadistic sociopath, rapist and demagogue, who falsely mouthed the oath to preserve and protect our Constitution (without placing his hand on the Bible).

I won’t retell now the many ways and reasons our broken body politic provided the conditions for a man this depraved and narcissistic to retake the levers of power. But I will say again that we were warned by George Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address that such a man could feed on the nation’s “disorders and miseries” and “exploit the ruins of public liberty” that he himself helped bring about.

Washington advised how to prevent this, which America tragically failed to heed: He urged the “diffusion of knowledge” sufficient to counteract a poorly informed populace, enabling Americans to see through and reject “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men.” This was his education equation: “In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”

It’s no wonder that Trump prefers the uneducated and that he and his regime have viciously attacked and sought to defund American institutions of higher learning.

Defeating the dark forces

Over the last few days, the moral rot of the rich and powerful—those convinced that the rule of law and the constraints of basic human decency do not apply to them—has been further exposed. In their universe, rape, pedophilia and even murder are permitted to satisfy their pleasure and sustain their domination; never mind the human damage.

I have never fully believed in the concept of inherent evil, even as acts of evil can be seen playing out throughout human history, including and particularly on a previously unimaginable mass scale. I have held to a sociological view that evil behavior can be understood by the conditions and structures that feed it.

But the depraved contents of the Epstein files—combined with the murderous actions of ICE agents and the years and years of degradations and violations of Donald Trump—have finally changed my thinking. There really is pure evil and people of pure evil that cannot be adequately explained sociologically. (I offered some heinous examples from the files in Saturday’s prompt.)

For any of us who have believed in an essential goodness existing within all humans—at least some shred!—that has become more problematic. So has my assumption that the force of democratic values and ideas will alone be powerful enough to overcome fascism and convince fascism’s acolytes that they must change course.

It will take the combination of those inspired by democracy’s purpose and the dedication to oppose those who have abandoned—or never believed in—this mission; this will require an impassioned majority pursuing their overwhelming defeat with urgency and hope.

Breaking with the past

In his recent speech in Davos, Switzerland, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged us to accept our fate: “The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.”

I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I look at this moment we’re suffering through as an opportunity to make a break with the past, to think creatively, to hold onto our sense of purpose, to recognize that the central American values under attack must be re-envisioned as genuine guideposts for the future. That means acknowledging there’s no normal state to return to and nostalgia will limit our imagination and action, not expand them.

And that’s why I increasingly oppose elected officials who still imagine that business-as-usual and policy retreads are appropriate responses to this moment. We need leaders who are genuinely committed to a progressive future that includes breaking the oligarchy, holding the criminal elite accountable and pursuing policies that celebrate diversity and expand equality.

That to me means pursuing radical Americanism. That means remembering the fundamental values and principles that have enlightened and energized our nation without either counting on the old policies or fearing new policies that embrace the common good and a genuinely progressive future. After these Trump years, I believe America is more than ready for bolder—indeed, more radical—ideas that move the country closer to the promise of Lincoln and Jefferson.

We have seen the enemy among us: It is evil, it must be rooted out, and it must be replaced with new laws that represent our commitment to rejecting hate and sustaining our American project. Getting there will require new and more forceful leadership, more fearlessness and more innovative and inspiring ideas to ensure Democratic victory in the midterms, in 2028 and for decades to come. Anything less means that the depraved, the hateful and the unprincipled will continue to shape our future.

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