Robert Hornak
Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Directvor of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail. com and @roberthornak on X.
In the modern Christmas classic Scrooged, a retelling of the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol, Bill Murray plays jaded TV executive Frank Cross, the Scrooge character who is shown the emptiness of his life by the ghosts of Christmas past and present, and by the ghost of Christmas future how it will end if he doesn’t wake up.
In the final scene, Frank Cross has his epiphany on the set of a live TV production of A Christmas Carol. His speech was about how the Christmas spirit doesn’t need to be only once a year, that we can hang on to that special feeling all year long.
Cross makes his highly emotional plea proclaiming, “It’s Christmas Eve! It’s… it’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we… we smile a little easier, we share a little more… for a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be.”
Being who we always hoped to be is a worthy goal for our political discourse now also. American politics has never been for the sensitive. We should admit that at the start, so as to not be under any illusion that things were never like this before.
It was reported that while serving in Washington’s cabinet things were so bad between Jefferson and Hamilton, they could not be in a room together without fighting. This carried over into 1800, our first competitive presidential election where the sides were forming along ideological lines. Personal insults and false accusation were commonplace. And, just like today, the lies and accusations were driven by purely political differences.
The Federalists, led by Hamilton, represented mostly urban interests and the desire for a strong central government. The Republicans were led by Jefferson and Madison, represented mostly rural interests, and fought for a more decentralized government and emphasis on individual rights.
What the founders didn’t have, or any of the generations of political leaders since then, was social media. Today we are bombarded daily with a flow of negative comments, name calling, and even death wishes, for our elected leaders on both sides.
We are learning how the constant barrage of social media is negatively influencing our youth, leading to the highest levels of depression and anxiety ever. But the effect has been the same on our politics and it’s getting worse over time. And it’s leading to atmosphere where violence is now considered a viable option by many when advocacy doesn’t work.
Our experiment in self-rule was a novel concept in the 1700’s. The world was run by kings and clergy prior to the American revolution. The idea that people could choose their own leaders was, well, revolutionary.
But it only works if we all agree that we engage in civil discourse, and even spirited and sometimes aggressive debate, but once the people speak, which they do every November, we all come together, work together, and keep this experiment going for the next generation.
And while everyone thinks it’s only the other side, it’s everyone. Just like it was both Jefferson and Hamilton. Who started it is irrelevant, blame the founders. But the extreme rhetoric magnified by social media has become toxic. Hating anyone for their politics is something we all can stop doing. Calling people Hitler (literally one of the worst mass murderers in history) is also something each of us can promise to stop. Spreading those messages on social media is something we all must do.
We are in a new era of politics, unchartered territory in people’s ability to amplify their most base feelings. Our foreign adversaries will certainly be exploiting that to drive division in our country. There is no reason we need to as well. Wanting higher or lower taxes or spending should not be a reason to hate anyone.
It’s the holiday season, so let’s embrace that belief in good will toward man and make our resolution to be the people that we always hoped we would be and disagree without being disagreeable.
