Resilient Politics: What It Is, Why We Need It

I have wanted to write a post about Resilient Politics for a while.

And I’m going to explain shortly what I mean by the term Resilient Politics. But first, I want you to imagine a scenario I’ll call The Party Loyalist Scenario.

The Party Loyalist Scenario

Imagine that one day someone from your political party, an opinionated Party Loyalist, comes and asks you to pledge lifelong, unquestioning obedience to the political party.

The Party Loyalist says, “No matter what this party says or does, you must swear unquestioning allegiance to it for the rest of your life.”

All drawings and paintings in this post by Shelly P. Johnson.

I imagine you would probably say “No thank you” because you have drawn some metaphorical lines in the sand that your party cannot cross.

For instance, if your political party suddenly told you to give up your religion or required that you violate your moral standards, you would refuse.

Or if it unjustly tried to seize your property or person, you know your party would be wrong.

So, you refuse to pledge unquestioning support to your party.

And let’s say the Party Loyalist anticipates your concerns and adds, “Don’t worry! Our political party never makes a mistake. It’s perfect.”

I imagine that you would respond to the Party Loyalist something like, “Look, no political party is perfect. So, I’m still not pledging unquestioning loyalty.”

A Strange Thing

Most people would refuse the demands of the Party Loyalist if he showed up on our doorstep.

But the strange thing is that many of us practice politics as though we have already accepted the demands of the Party Loyalist.

(I am speaking of how we practice politics in the U.S. where I live. However, my points here may also be relevant to politics in other countries.)

That is because in the U.S. right now, we live in the midst of an especially partisan political period.

As such, we increasingly feel distrustful of the other political party and more confident that our party is the only right party.

Such feelings cause us unconsciously to pledge unquestioning loyalty to our party.

As evidence of this, consider how often we often refuse to criticize our own political party, even when people within the party behave in grossly inappropriate ways.

And we know they do.

And consider how often we refuse to consider arguments from the opposing political party, even compelling arguments from moral, thoughtful people.

For instance, consider how often we refuse to read or listen to news sources other than ones that promote our preferred views.

These are just a few pieces of evidence indicating we have unconsciously pledged unquestioning loyalty to our party.

This is tragic because deep down, most of us know that no political party, including our own, is perfect.

So, when we pledge unquestioning loyalty to our party, consciously or unconsciously, we deceive ourselves.

That is, we pretend our party is always right when we, in fact, know it is not.

We also get stuck in false binary thinking.

As such we believe that it’s either our way (meaning our party’s way) or the highway.

So we choose our own party no matter what it does or says.

The Party Loyalist within us wins.

Victor sum is Latin for “I win!”

Such false binaries destroy our political imagination.

And this hinders our ability to imagine compelling political alternatives.

Is there an alternative to unquestioning party loyalty and false binary thinking?

I believe there is: It is Resilient Politics.

What is Resilient Politics?

I promise I will define the term Resilient Politics shortly.

First, I need to lay some more groundwork by inviting you to consider the purpose of politics.

The Purpose of Politics

I want to make a simple suggestion that I think most people can agree upon: Politics are for the sake of people, not the other way around.

By this I mean, that people aren’t supposed to serve politics. Politics are supposed to serve people.

Another way of stating the above ideas is to point out that if there were no people, there would be no politics. (And no need for them.)

Furthermore,  we could also say that politics are only useful insofar as they protect and help people in some way.

And that is why most of us would refuse to pledge unquestioning loyalty to our political party if a Party Loyalist demands it.

We know that our party must serve and protect people. And if it doesn’t, the party and its policies are useless.

How do political parties best serve and protect people?

I suggest the following definition of the purpose of politics.

The purpose of politics is to empower people to live just and fair lives in community, while still maintaining independence to pursue their happiness and potential.

Let me say that again:

The purpose of politics is to empower people to live just and fair lives in community, while still maintaining independence to pursue their happiness and potential.

Let me break this statement down into three points.

One: Politics should be just and fair.

Principles of justice and fairness suggest that all people, despite their differences, are equal in one respect: their human dignity.

This idea is common in all major religious and moral and ethical systems.

Our human dignity is rooted in our ability to take responsibility for our life; to  make moral decisions; and to contribute positively to our community.

This is our vocation as humans, and to achieve this, all people must have  basic human rights.

Justice and fairness protects our human dignity and rights equally.

Two: Politics should help people maintain a safe community.

At a minimum, we need community for protection and conducting business or activities to support our livelihood.

Thus, we believe government should protect the community from lawless, unethical individuals and groups who violate principles of justice and fairness.

This is why we need courts, laws, and effective and fair policing systems.

Three: Politics should protect people’s independence.

Most people believe the government should support people’s ability to live, to be responsible, and to learn about the world around them, to be happy and pursue their potential in a just way.

At the very least, we think the government should prevent others from interfering with our ability to do these things.

That’s why we care about things like rights, education, and fair news reporting.

I’m going to call these three ideas Foundational Political Goals.

Here they are again:

One: Politics should be just and fair.

Two: Politics should protect community.

Three: Politics should protect independence.

Republicans, Democrats, and Foundational Political Goals

Now, different political parties argue about whether more government involvement or less government involvement helps us achieve Foundational Political Goals.

And they often also disagree about whether we should prioritize communities or people’s independence in various aspects of life.

Despite these disagreements, both parties do tend to agree on these foundational goals.

And this brings me to the idea of Resilient Politics.

What is Resilient Politics?

First, resilience is a term that refers to our ability to rise to challenges and bounce back from adversity. You can read more about general resilience here:  Resilience: What it Is, Why It Matters for Everyone.

Resilient Politics is a political view that reminds us that the purpose of politics is to serve people by achieving Foundational Political Goals.

And Resilient Politics reminds us further that no political party is perfect.

As such, Resilient Politics reminds us that we should approach politics, whether our own or our party’s, with humility, charity, and the courage to dialogue and hope together.

Such virtues help us to create the politics we need and deserve.

And such a view helps us rise to our political challenges, as well as bounce back from political adversity.

I mentioned four virtues above–humility, charity, courage, and hope.

So let’s look at those virtues.

Resilient politics reminds us that we need humility because no person or political party is perfect.

And that means no person or political party has a perfect grasp on Foundational Political Goals.

Resilient Politics reminds us that we need charity, which is a virtue that reminds us that other people have wisdom from which we need to learn.

Remember, our goal is Foundational Political Goals, not unquestioning loyalty to our political party.

As such, we should be wiling to listen to thoughtful, well-researched arguments about how to best achieve Foundational Political Goals.

And we should be willing to do this even when these arguments come from people with political views different from our own.

Resilient Politics reminds us to practice courage.

Courage helps us hold fast to Foundational Political Goals (which can be harder) rather than pledging dogmatic party loyalty (which is often easier).

The more we feel anxious about things in the world, the easier it is put all our hope in one party or leader.

Resilient Politics reminds us that putting all our hope in one party or leader is a losing game.

And it reminds us that keeping our true goals in mind is always a winning strategy, even if it’s hard sometimes.

Keeping Foundational Political Goals in mind takes courage. But all of us can cultivate courage.

Resilient Politics reminds to have hope.

Our political history in the U.S. is full of both gross errors in judgment as well as beautiful triumphs.

By this I mean that our politics have sometimes failed grossly to protect and serve people.

Slavery and the Japanese internment camps in WWII are an example of this.

But our politics have often done a wonderful job of protecting and serving people.

I propose the achievement of women’s suffrage and the New Deal as an example of this.

The difference between our political failures and triumphs is the focus on Foundational Political Goals.

When we focus clearly on Foundational Political Goals, we succeed politically.

When we forget these goals, we fail.

While the reality of our failures can make us feel hopeless sometimes, the persistent reality of Foundational Political Goals can give us hope.

That’s because the more more we realize we share these goals in common and focus on them, the more we cultivate political imagination together.

This always changes our word for the better.

The Good News about Political Resilience

The good news about Resilient Politics is that we don’t have to change our politics to practice it.

And we don’t have to relinquish our conviction that our party has good ideas, maybe even the best ideas.

We just need to be willing to practice humility, charity, courage, and hope.

When we do this, we kindle our imagination and find new solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.

I was talking with my friend Mark recently, and he said (quote used with permission) . . .

What if we focused on the common threads of love found throughout all and [aim] our energies to what unites rather than what separates? What if [this] . . .  comes about by bringing all the world’s people together to create something not yet seen on earth?

~Mark Bodnar

I couldn’t agree more. This is the goal of Resilient Politics: Focusing on what unites us in order to create something even better politically that we haven’t yet imagined.

Striving for Foundational Political Goals, not pledging unquestioning allegiance to our party, should be our focus.

Resilient Politics focuses us; clarifies our goals; and build bridges in a world where bridge burning is a current national pastime.

By the way, while the term Resilient Politics is one I created, many philosophers and thinkers write about something similar.

Here are some of the authors and books that have helped me develop my thinking about resilient politics.

You can find these books at your local library or bookseller. Or you can buy them from my local bookstore, Fabled Forest, here and support a family-owned business.

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