Conflict exhaustion or democracy renaissance? The age of in-your-face activism
| Washington
They showed up at restaurants. They rallied outside senators鈥� homes. They dogged officials at elevators and airports, they crowded hallways and offices on Capitol Hill, and they broadcast everything in real time on social media.
And although in the end Brett Kavanaugh became a Supreme Court justice, the activists who protested for weeks ahead of his confirmation have shown few signs of slowing down or changing their strategy.
Already Republicans are accusing them of promoting anarchy by employing 鈥溾�� against conservative officials. Activists say they only want to hold those elected to represent the people accountable for their decisions and are using every tool at their disposal to do so.
Why We Wrote This
Democracies aim to turn political passions into protests and activism. Living through such a time, however, draws on civic reservoirs of patience and goodwill.
Somewhere in the middle are the bewildered casualties 鈥� like the the D.C. restaurant where protesters聽 (R) of Texas last week, or the Virginia community where one restaurateur declined to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Average citizens are finding themselves suddenly caught in the center of pitched partisan battles. 聽
Welcome to the new normal: a potent mix of public outrage, political polarization, and broadband-speed publicity combining to create a reactionary and deeply partisan protest culture that is bleeding into every corner of American life. 鈥淚t feels like a political crisis on a day-to-day basis,鈥� says Diana Mutz, director of the University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics.
We鈥檝e seen some of this before. The country is only about 50 years removed from the turmoil and rioting that marked the civil rights movement 鈥� a chaotic era that ultimately affirmed fundamental rights for women, African-Americans, and other disenfranchised communities. American democracy was built to allow space for dissident and minority groups to air their grievances.
But social media has propagated and intensified what in the 1960s would have been covered almost exclusively by daily newspapers and nightly news programs. It has encouraged the public to participate in politics in new and exciting ways, even as it further drives a partisan wedge between them.聽
The question, political analysts say, is whether the current period of highly-charged political engagement and high-profile protests will result in a stronger democracy 鈥� or further undermine the nation鈥檚 institutions and split its people apart.
鈥淪eeing people be politically involved is a very good thing. Seeing them care enough to do these kinds of things is very positive,鈥� Professor Mutz says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just unfortunate that the grounds of consensus have become so small 鈥� that we鈥檙e all experiencing a sense of sheer conflict exhaustion.鈥�
'I don't know what else to do'
The Thursday before the Senate voted to confirm Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Alison Turkos took the 6 a.m. train from Brooklyn to Washington. For the next 30 hours, she all but slept on Capitol Hill: One minute, she was at the offices of Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine to urge the lawmaker to vote against Kavanaugh; the next she was chanting with fellow protesters on the steps of the Supreme Court.
One video shows Ms. Turkos (D) of West Virginia 鈥� the only Democrat to vote to confirm Kavanaugh 鈥� at an elevator, asking him why he was supporting the nominee. 鈥淗ow do you know how I鈥檓 going to vote?鈥� he responds before disappearing into the lift.
On Friday morning, Turkos sits on a bench at the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. Her sharp black blazer and bright red lipstick project strength, but Turkos 鈥� 鈥� admits to feeling broken. She鈥檚 devastated that the senators put Kavanaugh on the bench. She questions putting herself through the agony of retelling, and reliving, her own trauma.
鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 know what else to do,鈥� Turkos says.聽 鈥淭he only option that鈥檚 left is for me to come to them.鈥�
Her experience, echoed by other activists, is central to the strategies that organizations like the Center for Popular Democracy have been honing for the past year. Their idea is to train people, mostly women, to create situations where they can confront their elected officials about their concerns and broadcast the exchange to the world.
Called 鈥渂ird-dogging,鈥� the tactic draws from civil rights-era civil disobedience strategies and is meant to both hold lawmakers accountable in public spaces and empower individuals to stand up to authority.
鈥淲hat you see is women who are tired of being ignored and using tactics that refuse to allow people in power to make decisions that impact our lives without looking in our eyes and recognizing us as human beings,鈥� says Jennifer Epps-Addison, the center鈥檚 co-executive director.
From a big-picture perspective, this blend of sit-ins, street marches, and in-your-face confrontations 鈥� all amplified by social media 鈥� could be a good thing, political observers say. It motivates people, and when people are motivated, they participate in the processes that strengthen a democracy. Some exchanges, like the one between Sen. Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona and a pair of activists at an elevator, even seem to lead to direct change. The senator later agreed to give a 鈥測es鈥� to advancing Kavanaugh to a full vote only on the condition that the FBI conduct an investigation on the sexual assault allegations against the judge.
But Senator Flake, who is retiring, is the exception, not the rule.
鈥淢ost people, if they鈥檙e confronted in a way that they don鈥檛 expect or in a way that they don鈥檛 feel is appropriate, they鈥檙e not receptive to the message,鈥� says Laurie Rice, a politics professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 鈥淭heir guard goes up. It鈥檚, 鈥楬ow dare you do this?鈥� 鈥�
Both sides dig in
Minutes before Turkos walks into the Hart Building鈥檚 foyer, Laura Murphy wanders in, wearing a navy T-shirt that proclaims, in big block letters, 鈥淚 stand with Brett.鈥� Her take on the events leading up to the justice鈥檚 confirmation? 鈥淚t鈥檚 shameful,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 see a lot of disrespect for authority. I don't see civil discourse.鈥澛�
She adds that the antagonism from liberal activists has only served to聽聽ahead of November鈥檚 elections, when Democrats are expected to turn out in record numbers in a bid to retake the House. Conservatives, Ms. Murphy says, 鈥渁re聽going to come out and vote in the midterm elections. They don鈥檛聽like what they see on the side of the left.鈥�
That surge underscores one short-term consequence of confrontational activism, especially when magnified by social media: Both sides tend to dig in their heels, further shrinking the odds of meaningful conversation or compromise. Some conservatives warn that by harrying public officials, protesters are endangering the very notion of representative government. 鈥淭he only way that we have any power is if our members of Congress are free to act according to the wishes of their constituents,鈥� political historian Jay Cost for the National Review.聽聽
Lawmakers themselves have spoken out. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted in of Senator Collins, whose decisive vote in support of Kavanaugh was met with everything from disappointment and derision to . Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul鈥檚 wife, Kelley, wrote that she now keeps a loaded gun by her bed after violent encounters with protesters, including at a D.C. airport last week. Majority leader Mitch McConnell described Republican senators as being 鈥溾�� during the hearings.
The Republican response has in turn further enraged the other side. Ms. Epps-Addison, who was among the protesters who confronted Senator Paul at the airport, says it鈥檚 not activists鈥櫬爅ob to make lawmakers or even fellow citizens feel comfortable. Not when there are people suffering because of the decisions public officials make.
鈥淢aybe they do feel attacked,鈥� Turkos says of senators. 鈥淏ut guess what? I feel attacked. And if the worst attack you鈥檙e going to feel is me approaching you in an elevator, that鈥檚 the greatest thing for you.
鈥淚 have been kidnapped and raped,鈥� she adds. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know what that鈥檚 like.鈥�
'People don't feel heard at all'
As yet, there鈥檚 hardly incentive for anyone to back off. With the midterms a month away, candidates and supporters are doubling down on their positions. They鈥檙e using social media to boost the us-versus-them mentality, and 鈥� because the most extreme, emotional, and moralistic proclamations are often the ones with the biggest payoff 鈥撀爌ushing the narrative that democracy itself is at stake.聽
Other observers point to the fact that political participation on the upswing is ultimately strengthening, if painful, for the country.
鈥淧eople are engaging. Wherever you fit on the political spectrum, we鈥檙e seeing a renaissance of democracy,鈥� says Dana Fisher, a sociologist at the University of Maryland and author of the coming 鈥淎merican Resistance,鈥� a book on Trump-era activism. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 got to be good.鈥�
But it鈥檚 a political culture that leaves little room for the kind of patience or self-reflection that lead to thoughtful decisions聽or compromises. The pace of technological development, and therefore political churn, has made it impossible to stop and ask what the standards of our interactions with one another should be, much less set those standards. Which then leads to more shouting, less listening, and more division.
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 feel heard at all,鈥� says Deana Rohlinger, a professor of sociology at Florida State University. 鈥溾�橳il [our leaders] can figure out ways in which people they鈥檙e representing feel empowered, we can expect a lot more interruptions at dinner and confrontations in the elevator.鈥�
