Liberal democracies must fight intolerance
Aculture war takes place when one social group forces its values, practices and beliefs on other social groups. We don’t expect culture wars in liberal democracies like New Zealand, Australia, Britain or the United States – but that is where, increasingly, we find them.
Tolerance of difference is central to any functioning liberal democracy. We look for areas of agreement, but accept disagreements as long as what one of us believes does not break the law.
When things get out of hand, you might think it is acceptable to be intolerant. But in liberal democracies this is not always the case. Faced with extreme behaviour, the hope is that a show of tolerance will lead to dialogue.
For the extremist, this is a weakness to be exploited. They proclaim that their rights and freedoms are being infringed while continuing to ram their views down any throat that is available.
The Roe v Wade decision by a majority of justices on the US Supreme Court puts abortion in the hands of individual states. About 20 of those states want to limit or ban access to abortion.
The decision is ridiculous and a direct outcome of the culture war that has been taking shape since the election of President Reagan in 1980.
The culture war is now in full bloom in the US, engulfing everything from arts to environmental protection, education to healthcare, immigration to voting rights, vaccines to policing and beyond.
So powerful are these cultural forces that they have pushed aside the old political nostrum, ‘‘it’s the economy, stupid’’.
People who are at the bottom of the economic heap in the US are now more likely to vote for a narcissistic billionaire who shares their beliefs about critical race theory than a candidate who will make their lives materially better.
All of this, as recent events have reinforced, is coming our way. It used to be said that what happens in the US arrives in New Zealand 20 years later. Try two years. Or two months.
Our own version of the cultural divide was on full display during the height of Covid and its aftermath. Now it is struggling to find a foothold in the political mainstream.
The social media post by National Party MP Simon O’Connor noting that the repeal of Roe v Wade was a ‘‘happy day’’ was not knocked back by his superiors because it was wrong, but because it threatened the election chances of the National Party. There are many who share his views.
If this was a rational debate between different points of view to be settled in an informed way, all would be well. But these debates are now more likely to take place outside the framework of liberal democracy.
Where once differences were accepted and debate was based on shared facts, we now see a refusal to accept the legitimacy of any other point of view. Less and less, people listen to each other. More and more, they listen only to people like them.
Can we do better than the United States? It will not be easy, but there is a way forward.
The centre and left of politics should not themselves become extreme. This strategy is being adopted by elements of the left in the US. It is a mistake. Once the warring camps form, secure in their social media bubble, no-one talks to anyone.
Insisting on the maintenance of liberal democratic principles is vital. Liberal democracy has faults, but it offers a framework where different points of view are tolerated and debate can take place. This strength, however, cannot be allowed to be a weakness as it has been in the face of the Trumps of this world.
In very troubled times, Donald Trump knew that many people would be attracted to someone who had simple answers to complex problems.
He was not interested in debate. He characterised anyone who played by the rules as a ‘‘sucker’’ and ‘‘loser’’. There is no middle ground for a politician like Trump (never mind the even more extreme people trying to follow in his footsteps).
The only way to fight back, as philosopher Karl Popper advises us, is to be intolerant of intolerance. Intolerance of the Roe v Wade decision is the best way forward. The decision was wrong because it has blocked choice. If someone does not want to have an abortion, that is their choice. If someone does, that is their choice.
The repeal of Roe v Wade has emboldened intolerant people in their belief that only one set of values, beliefs and practices is acceptable. No liberal democratic society can allow this to happen. It must defend itself.
Some of the groups who would no doubt oppose choice – the fascist, neo-nazi, white supremacist Proud Boys and the Base – have been banned in New Zealand as terrorist groups.
Some might want to defend their right to freely associate. But these groups are opposed to the very essence of a liberal democratic society. They want a dictatorship. They stand for intolerance. They cannot be tolerated.
Tolerance of difference is central to any functioning liberal democracy.