There has been a lot of examples of white grievance from various sources including former President Donald Trump, Utah politician Phil Lyman who blamed the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore on DEI to television host Bill Mahr’s ahistorical and silly diatribe about identity politics. Unfortunately this is not a new phenomenon as the United States has had to deal with fringes from NAZI’s marching down New York City’s 5th avenue and in 1927 where Fred Trump the father of the former president was arrested in Queens as a result of marching with the KKK. The reality however is that this new configuration is not a fringe. When you add this to the fact that a segment of the evangelical community has added a theological framework albeit false to this it has enabled this segment to consider themselves to be on a mission from God although clearly not the God of the Bible.
George Wilhelm Hegel’s Master Servant dialectic gives us insight into the foundational problem of this trend. In its most simplistic form this passage which comes from his book “The Phenomenology of Spirit” lays out the belief that we cannot develop full self consciousness if we do not encounter others. Hegel also believes however that when two consciousness do encounter each other it would lead to conflict and a battle. Ultimately there will be a loser who then becomes the servant and a victor who becomes the master. When an encounter such as this did occur in the United States the white population simply vanquished the other to a subservient existence. Native Americans are an example of this. In places like India, it became subservient to Great Britain in the 19th century. When it comes to the black slave population as they were considered children of a lesser God even the mere idea of encountering them on an equal footing was a no starter.
In the United States white consciousness has not had to deal with the notion of developing full self consciousness by encountering others in a mutually respectful manner until relatively recent.
A significant segment of white Americans albeit not the majority have not developed a sense of true self consciousness nor do they have a desire to do so. Recently this has led to various efforts around the country to ban books that in their mind may hurt the sensibilities of white children, obliterate civil rights legislation, dilute black voting or outlaw any discussion of DEI. This view and subsequent actions shouldn’t come as a shock. Even a great personage as Winston Churchill said the following “I do not admit for instance that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black peoples of Australia. I do no admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, a more worldly wise race, to put it that way has come in and taken their place“
At a time when the only opinion that mattered was a white male protestant viewpoint it should not shock anyone that with the advent of a pluralistic society the sense of loss about their perceived superiority is profoundly felt. This is not unique to American society. In 1910 Prussian General Friedrich von Berhardin wrote the book “Germany and the next war” in which he said Germany “is in social-political respects at the head of all progress in culture” but is “compressed into narrow, unnatural limits.” She cannot attain her “great moral ends” without increased political power, an enlarged sphere of influence, and new territory. This increase in power, “befitting our importance,” and “which we are entitled to claim,” is a “political necessity” and “the first and foremost duty of the State.” This nationalism and sense of a God given entitlement to rule over others which would have grave consequences with World War I is not unlike the American nationalism that is becoming more and more apparent each day.
As America became a superpower after World War II and then the only superpower after the collapse of the Soviet Union its influence around the world albeit without the usual annexing of territory had been virtually unchallenged for decades. Domestically even with the tumult of the great depression the domestic hegemony of white Protestant males was unchallenged although it was tested with the election of a Roman Catholic president named John F. Kennedy.
It might be hard to place the exact point of when this anxiety stemming from a challenge to their authority began but one could certainly see the civil rights movement as an impetus in which a counter voice to an established sense of white supremacy was becoming prominent within the nation and around the world. It has also been suggested that the election of Barack Obama was a bridge too far for many in the nation. Perhaps this is why Donald Trump continuously refers to Obama in many of his stump speeches. One can also see this challenge manifest itself internationally with the so-called global south nations increasingly going against American decisions.
With the rise of China as well as pluralism it should not surprise people that the extreme right looks to Vladimir Putin a white male Orthodox Christian (his embrace of Christianity is dubious at best) as a model for returning back to the good old days. When you couple this with an embrace of Hungary’s Viktor Orban by the MAGA community you begin to see how the GOP plans to govern should it win the White House.
The question becomes what shall be done to confront this scourge. It is clear that the upcoming election is a manifestation of Hegel’s sense of two consciousnesses confronting each other. While it’s true that the so-called MAGA group includes blacks and Latinos I would point out that there have always been people who joined those who were intellectually and politically against their community for various reasons. Whether Jews through the Judenrate who worked with the NAZI’s or blacks and Latinos who mistakenly believe that the white nationalist rhetoric doesn’t apply to them this is not anything new. Just listen to Mark Robinson the African American candidate for governor in North Carolina whose comments sometimes are more absurd than many MAGA supporters.
Nonetheless, America as a nation should recognize this movement as a clear and present danger to the current governance structure. To say the upcoming election is about the lesser of two evils is one of historical ignorance and political stupidity. This is about a conflict of visions. A vision where the idea of white male Christian nationalism becomes the working paradigm for American governance versus the idea of a vibrant pluralism that remains our present organizing philosophy. It is an encounter of consciousnesses in which one or the other will prevail.
It is incumbent upon those Americans who reject the notion of white nationalism to make their presence felt. This includes those who may be upset about the present policy operating in the Israeli war against Hamas or young people in general who may feel disaffected. This also includes republicans who have taken a principled stand against their nominee. We are indeed at an inflection point in the nations history. Those who wallow in the false narrative that boring doesn’t matter only need to go back to the recent Dobbs decison by the Supreme Court which took away a women’s right to choose.
The reality is that the vote is the one weapon that disparate groups from civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, as well as the faith community can come together around to protect the nation from spiraling down to a system of white nationalism and authoritarianism. The choices have been made clear. If the nation devolves away from its democratic practices it will have no one to blame but itself.