What keeps us from expelling fellow citizens
In American democracy, the interests of particular groups are often stereotyped, even dismissed by leaders. Some groups might be called 鈥渄eplorables鈥� or described as people who 鈥渃ling to guns or religion,鈥� as candidates have done. Last week, progressive and centrist Democrats descended into racist labeling of each other. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example, accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of 鈥渟ingling out鈥� newly elected women of color.
What has wisely restrained such dart-throwing identity politics is a shared desire to sustain democracy itself. That takes humility about one鈥檚 own rightness as well as respect of minority rights. Those in a minority should not feel so excluded that they leave or destroy the system. Nor should a minority be asked to actually leave the United States, as President Donald Trump told four women in Congress to do in a tweet on Sunday.
Reaction to Mr. Trump鈥檚 banishment tweet was strong, notably among Democrats. But Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and a Trump supporter, asked the president on Fox News to see the four congresswomen as any politician should: 鈥淭hey are American citizens. They won an election. Take on their policies. The bottom line here is this is a diverse country.鈥�
Rough politics is often smoothed over by accommodating a minority鈥檚 interests, or at least by giving minorities a platform in the public square to voice concerns. Someday the roles of a majority and minority might be reversed. Yet the tools and values of democratic engagement must endure.
As James聽Madison聽wrote in the Federalist Papers, the public good requires measures not be decided 鈥渂y the superior force of an ... overbearing majority.鈥� He argued against 鈥渟ome common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens.鈥� That is not always easy under a majority-rule system. It requires patience and the need to place a burden on the majority for strong justification of any measure.
The political passion to exclude others, as Abraham Lincoln stated, 鈥渕ust not break our bonds of affection.鈥� Those affections, he added, arise from 鈥渃hords of memory鈥� as one nation and 鈥渢he better angels of our nature.鈥�
In U.S. history, 鈥渂etter angels鈥� have often helped snap back American politics into its role as unifying a disparate people. Politics can divide people but should never eject entire groups of citizens. Elections do produce winners. But winners cannot take all and then send others walking.
