We the American electorate are being scared stupid by the political class | Column

America doesn’t want a rematch between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

According to a recent NBC poll, a whopping 70% of Americans don’t want Biden to run, and 60% aren’t interested in a second Trump term. At this point, it’s not enough to blame the other side and continue chanting our political mantras. We must stop the self-inflicted damage and focus on the enemy in our midst.

As much as I’d enjoy highlighting how deeply unimpressive the aged and recycled partisan frontrunners are heading into 2024, I’ll almost certainly lose the audience who favors the one I criticize first. Too many of us struggle to function in a world where our political preferences aren’t immediately affirmed.

So let’s go after our enemy.

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

We are being nudged to fear each other

Cable news and social media constantly warn me that he (she, it, they or whatever pronoun my enemy uses these days) is knocking at the door to depriving me of my rights, economic opportunity, and even my voice in the public square. Most importantly, my dissent from the governing orthodoxy will almost certainly be silenced.

Apparently the enemy is strong enough to take out Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon … on the same day. Who am I to stand in the way of such a formidable phantom barreling down upon my life, liberty, and prosperity?

Oddly enough, I’ve published columns without censorship for years. I tweet, post, and call my elected officials with regularity. As best I can tell, almost everyone I know in the United States is similarly free to opine with a frequency never before seen in human history. If my enemy aims to stifle dissenting voices, he is remarkably ineffective.

At last check, all of my guns are safe and secure. During my lifetime, gun laws and judicial rulings have actually reduced burdens on my Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. If my enemy wants to come after my guns, he, again, is having a tough time.

For others, the enemy is targeting and even “hunting” transgender individuals. A 2022 study from The UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute found that the number of transgender teenagers and young adults doubled over the preceding five years. That enemy isn’t carrying the day either.

Even as the left-leaning Center for American Progress warns us of the enemy of white supremacy returning to mainstream politics, they repeatedly note the large majorities of Americans who have come “to grips with the deeply embedded historical legacy of racist structures and ideas.” With significant majorities of both liberals and conservatives appreciating the harms of racism, the white nationalists seem particularly out of touch.

Sign up for Latino Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling stories for and with the Latino community in Tennessee. 

Outrage makes us less intelligent

Political psychologists call this phenomenon “perceived deprivation.” We’ve been warned of our looming demise on such a regular basis, we’re treating relatively remote political possibilities as a present reality. When we don’t immediately see the political relief from those potential hazards, we become frustrated and then angry.

When we’re outraged, we literally become dumber. The prefrontal cortex in our brains responsible for our reasoning is hijacked by the amygdala which encourages us to fight, flee, or freeze.

How else do roughly two thirds of us oppose the two old guys running for our highest office, and still somehow manage to rally behind them? We’re far more frightened of our “enemies” carrying the day than admitting our respective frontrunners are deeply flawed.

Tell me, John F. Kennedy Democrats, that Biden is the standard bearer into the future you want. Ronald Reagan Republicans come out of the woodwork and express your confidence that Trump will bring us together as a nation. Too many of us know our current state of affairs is ridiculous, and yet we refuse to do anything other than retreat to partisan corners.

Sign up for Black Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling columns by Black writers from across Tennessee. 

The victimhood delusion is a threat to Americans

Our nation faces great challenges. Americans have deep disagreements in good faith. Democracy is not dead. In fact, it remains the best means for our nation to forge a future in which we all have a vested interest.

Perceived deprivation could easily go by another name, “victimhood.” I cannot remember a time where so many Americans felt like their “side” was losing. Democrats, Republicans, liberals, and conservatives all feel like the end is near. This is the grand delusion which allows sub-par leaders to thrive.

Truth is out the window. Who cares if a candidate can't string two sentences together? It’s not important that his family has shady business dealings. Criticisms and investigations are nothing more than political attacks.

None of it matters as long as he’s not the other guy, right?

I could be talking about either of the top partisan contenders right now, and that’s precisely the problem.

We know the majority of us don’t want either Biden or Trump, but somehow we’re pushed toward a showdown at the political retirement home as if it were an inevitability. Maybe the enemy at the door is a political class who prefers an electorate scared stupid instead of one that might actually hold their leaders accountable.

USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising four boys in Nolensville, Tenn., with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Direct outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on Twitter. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor to letters@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: American voters are being scared stupid by the political class