Is Love More Powerful Than Hate?

A Saturday Prompt on Valentine’s Day

Flowers placed at the makeshift memorial for Alex Pretti, the day after he was murdered by federal agents on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

I had in mind to write about villainy. It’s a fact of our public life that the Trump regime is thick with this dark force and overloaded with people who revel in it. The villains come easily to mind: Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, Russel Vought, Greg Bovino (to name a few) and of course their ringleader, Donald Trump. They have motivated countless others to join their hateful cause to reject the Constitution and demolish democracy in America.

But on this day—Valentine’s Day—I want to turn this over and look at the flip side. Because behind this discussion of villains and villainy is my belief that their dark force can be defeated with the force of light and love. I don’t mean the biblical advice to “love your enemies,” although that may be a mindset that others more merciful than I can conjure.

I’m thinking more about the guidance found in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the topic of love. Let me share four shining examples:

• “Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos.”

• “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”

• “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”

• “I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems.”

There are days that these insights—these deeply held convictions—may seem inadequate to confront the horrors we witness committed by men and women who have lost their moral compass, assuming that they once possessed one. But I’d like to suggest that the more powerful our revulsion toward the regime’s acts of villainy, the more we are influenced by the inverse.

I returned to yesterday’s essay, “Pam Bondi’s Utter Contempt for Justice,” to test this notion. If you read it and thought that I am horrified by her villainous behavior this week, you would be right. But let’s look at the basis for my horror in three sentences from the first several paragraphs: “It’s hard to imagine someone more overtly hostile to justice and more utterly incapable of basic human compassion…This person is responsible for serving the people…But when asked for the most basic show of humanity, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.” Behind the obvious criticism of her hateful action is love: For justice, for basic human compassion, for serving the people, for humanity.

My point is that in our articulation of the horrors, we can find the light that can inspire us to stay in the fight and overcome this dark chapter. “Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos,” King wrote. In other words, love is more powerful than hate and, as King also insisted, “the only answer to mankind’s problems.”

Do you agree with King? Is love more powerful than hate? Do you struggle to find the light right now? Do you worry that this regime will be successful and snuff out the light and make it impossible for America to regain its moral compass? Perhaps you can share an example or two of where you find love that sustains your political engagement. On this Valentine’s Day, perhaps you’d like to share a personal story about love that nourishes and sustains you. (I am lucky enough to be happily married for more than 30 years, a fact which I will be celebrating with my valentine tonight.)

As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for this community to hear from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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