Defending Your Mind in a Democracy

Avoiding Myths, Wrong Conclusions, and False Narratives in Today’s Civic Arena

Feb 24, 2024

We are in 2024, an election year, a year I call “the Year of the Precipice” for our democracy. To better equip Americans to exercise their civic duty this year, we have begun a series in Democraticus examining important ways of thinking and belief systems that can have a major impact on our democracy’s future.

Where We’ve Been

We have focused on critical thinking- what it is, what it is not, and why it is critical for a democracy’s citizens to have solid critical thinking skills. Next we examined some of the most frequently used techniques such as logical fallacies and requiring proof of non-existence that our leaders use to manipulate what we believe and understand about what is going on in the public square. From there we dove into the importance to critical thinking of having knowledge of one’s national history, as well as being aware of how much of our history is taught inaccurately or incompletely. Now we will begin to identify the types of manipulative “thinking traps” that strong critical thinking in the public square can help protect us from.

Being Drawn into Myths

Mythology is not just something taught in school that are stories the ancient Greeks had about their gods. Today myths are used in the public square all the time by leaders to persuade us to “buy into” their goals of attaining or retaining power. Jason Stanley contrasts historical truth telling in a democracy to the use of myths by leaders who have an authoritarian bent:

“History in a liberal democracy must be faithful to the norm of truth, yielding an accurate vision of the past, rather than a history provided for political reasons. Fascist politics, by contrast, characteristically contains within it a demand to mythologize the past, creating a version of national heritage that is a weapon for political gain…Fascist leaders appeal to history to replace the actual historical record with a glorious mythic replacement that, in its specifics, can serve their political ends of their ultimate goal of replacing facts with power.”[1] (emphasis mine)

The Psychology of Myths

To connect Stanley’s point to the present, think of the former Trump presidential administration’s tag line, “Make America Great Again” which Trump continues to use today to run for a second term. Not only does this revision of history attempt to create a “glorious mythic past”, but to do so, it attempts to erase a nation’s painful history, something we as humans are prone to do.

Stanley cites the psychological work of Rotella and Richardson, whose study showed that “…people are more likely to suffer from a sort of amnesia of wrongdoing when the perpetrators are characterized explicitly as their countrymen. When American subjects were presented with the agents of violence as Americans (rather than Europeans), they had significantly worse memory for negative historical events, and “what participants did recall was phrased more dismissively when perpetrators were in-group members (i.e., fellow Americans). ”[2] (emphasis mine)

Knowing Myth Psychology Helps Prevent Wrong Conclusions

According to Stanley, this helps explain in large part why the history of the American South is “…continually mythologized to whitewash slavery and was used to justify the refusal to grant black U.S. Citizens voting rights until a century after slavery’s end. The central narrative in the south’s refusal to grant blacks the vote in the period known as Reconstruction…”[3] And the impact of Reconstruction and its treatment of this country’s Black population has extended not only into the civil rights era of the 1960s, but its impact is still being felt today. It is being felt in movements such as Black Lives Matter, attendant racial violence, and law enforcement’s response to that movement. Knowing history allows us to come to accurate conclusions about not only of the past, but of the present.

Using this factual knowledge and understanding, as well as being cognizant of our human tendency to gravitate toward a “mythic past”, we gain a new perspective on events surrounding the murders and lynching of black Americans that occurred after the Civil War up through the 1960s, as well as our racial violence of today. With more complete historical knowledge, what is going on around us begins to make more sense. We stop being drawn so easily into myths of our past and are forced to deal with the reality of both our past and our present.

A Major Wrong Conclusion We Can Be Drawn Into

However, based on the incompleteness of the history we are often taught about Reconstruction and its aftermath, we can come to inaccurate conclusions or arrive at incomplete ideas of what caused it and why it ended. While the Civil War and slavery were Reconstruction’s principal cause, its ending was multi-causal. As an example, Stanley identifies by shining a light on the North’s role in ending Reconstruction using W.E.B Dubois’ 1935 masterwork, Reconstruction which:

“…shows, whites in the South, with collusion of Northern elites, brought an end to the Reconstruction era because of widespread fear among the wealthy classes that newly enfranchised black citizens would join with poor whites in developing a powerful labor movement to challenge the interests of capital.”[4] (emphasis mine)

Knowing Dubois’ account of Reconstruction, we begin to see a story about Reconstruction that is more fully told. That is, the stain of Reconstruction rests not only on the South, but also on elements in other parts of the country, including “northern elites”. While the South has major responsibility for the events of that time and their impact today, so does the North. This is a major revelation that teaches us the complexity of our country’s racial history and issues. For that reason alone, we are justified in responding to this knowledge by embracing it as an issue we all need to work to discuss and address today.

Wrong Conclusions Make Us Prone to Accept False Narratives

Other examples of our acceptance of wrong conclusions which lead us to accept false or partially false narratives, based on incomplete or inaccurate history, abound. Accepting a false narrative as to something as calamitous as a civil war explains why we can so easily dwell on and accept others such as the “manifest destiny reasoning” used to justify our country’s westward expansion. We accept that false narrative while not calling out the genocide we committed against Native Americans to carry it out. And, we do this while at the same time having no problem of identifying the horrific Nazi Jewish genocide and holding Germany appropriately accountable for it.

False narrative is how we conveniently give Andrew Jackson a “pass” on all the land he was involved in taking (for pennies on the dollar) from the Native Americans (often termed the Five Civilized Tribes), much of which he profited from. The taking of these lands allowed expansion of the South’s slave economy and further fueled eventuality of the Civil War. Another example is the fractious situation in many Latin American countries and Haiti during Woodrow Wilson’s administration that continues to impact us today, especially with immigration.

False Narratives Take Place in the Present, Not Just the Past

Flagging false narratives, just as with drawing parallels of recent events with those in the past, can come from more recent events. Those false narratives, if we do not know the facts, can lead us to false and incorrect conclusions that influence the choices we make as citizens at the ballot box. These false narratives can be promulgated by elected and party officials in the public square as well as the political parties themselves. One of the more interesting, long developing, and impactful false narratives in play today has been hiding in plain sight for a long time. It is the narrative of today’s Republican Party.

One of the Largest False Narratives Affecting Us Today

Though it has been “out there” for a long time, it seems that most Americans have not caught on to it. But, Stuart Stevens, has identified it. Stevens is an author and long-time media consultant and political strategist to Republican candidates. In his book about the Republican Party titled It Was All a Lie (subtitled “How the Republican Party Became the Party of Donald Trump”), Stevens calls out the numerous misperceptions, misrepresentations, and false ideas about the Republican Party that have developed as the GOP’s narrative since the 1980s. This false narrative has been inculcated into the civic awareness of the many Americans.

False Narratives Create Deceptive Illusions

As Stevens shows, while many Americans have accepted the false narrative of the Republican Party being the “conservative party” wishing to limit federal spending and balance the budget, the facts show otherwise. Stevens explains:

“The Republican Party claims to be a party that understands the need to run government efficiently, managing debt and balancing a budget. In truth the modern Republican Party is the equivalent of Donald Trump: addicted to debt and selling a false image of success.”[5] (emphasis mine)

Stevens points as an example of this false narrative to Republican massive spending and debt incurrence that occurred in 2012 (despite a party platform at the time that depicted the horrible impacts of our national debt) “…when the Republican Party, in a shocking upset, won control of all three chambers of government for the first time since 2007…In less than two and half years, the debt increased at record levels, from $20 trillion to $22 trillion. All but six months of that period was under the Republican-controlled White House, House of Representatives, and Senate.”[6]

Although then presidential candidate Trump promised to, in eight years, balance the budget, it never happened.[7] Mention of the national debt “disappeared” from Trump’s speeches, not being mentioned in his 2018 or 2019 State of the Union Speeches.[8] Perhaps we should not be surprised, as in complete contradiction to this false narrative of being the party of fiscal responsibility, the Republican Party nominated a candidate who, as Stevens recounts: “…for over a decade had managed to lose more money than any other American and, in some years, twice as much as any other American. This is the man Republicans chose to run for president because of his business smarts and success.”[9]

The Truth About this False Narrative

The facts are, as Stevens states, “…Republican presidents (since Truman) have contributed far more to the deficit than Democrats…”,[10] yet the GOP consistently portrays itself to Americans as the party of fiscal responsibility. Why is that? The answer is two-fold. Yes, the GOP often talks of cutting government spending, but it is talk of reducing domestic spending. Republicans consistently increase, when in the majority, defense spending. At the same time, they cut taxes. In other words, they spend more, but bring in less revenue, a model that even a moderately successful businessperson would know results in debt (or worse- insolvency). Stevens notes that: “…Any serious attempt to balance the budget by necessity would include defense cuts, but Republicans have decided there is a direct correlation between the size of a patriotic heart and the size of the defense budget. This patriotism-equals-defense-spending is now so common with Republicans that it’s difficult to remember when it was otherwise.”[11]

The “Tax Cut” False Narrative

The GOP’s addiction to tax cuts has become, as Stevens describes it, almost a “…spiritual attachment…connected to a cultlike devotion to libertarian author Ayn Rand. Which is odd in that Ayn Rand hated Ronald Reagan.”[12] The idea of the necessity of tax cuts to sustain our nation’s economy was birthed as a part of Republican President Ronald Reagan’s “Reaganomics” and is now, according to Stevens, “…about as close as it can be to a definitional core belief that exists in the Republican Party.”[13]

The problem is tax cuts have never worked the way the GOP says they will. That is, the GOP contends that the impact of cutting taxes for the wealthy will “trickle down” to those making less and dynamically grow the U.S. economy. If one needs proof of that falsehood, look no further than the latest iteration of Reaganomics, the Trump tax cuts. Two years later, an NPR report in 2019 stated that even the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center was saying that “more than 60% of tax savings went to people in the top 20% of the income ladder” and reduced the corporate tax rate by 40%.[14]

Far from being “rocket fuel for the economy” as Trump predicted, as well as paying for itself in economic growth as Treasury Secretary Mnuchin asserted, corporate tax revenues fell by 31% in the first year after the cut was passed.[15] Overall tax revenues declined as a share of the economy in the two years following the tax cut’s approval.[16] As NPR reported, Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget put it this way: “The tax cuts were never going to- and have not- come anywhere close to paying for themselves.”[17] Another failure of Republican “trickle down Reaganomics” from the party of “fiscal responsibility”.

An Irony from the “Cut Government Spending” False Narrative

Yet, no matter, because many Americans continue to eagerly lap up this false GOP narrative which Stevens describes as a “dog breakfast of facts”[18] with its extensive roots, many of which can be traced to Ronald Reagan’s 1976 campaign’s “welfare queen” story. This black woman from Chicago’s total welfare fraud was $8,000, not the $150,000 Reagan said she had committed using different last names (four names, not the eighty as Reagan said).[19] This became weaponized politically by the GOP as fodder for their contention as to the need to reduce welfare programs. Ironically, while at the same time carping about domestic entitlement programs like welfare, this same alleged fiscally responsible GOP continues to be comfortable with corporate welfare in the form of tax breaks and subsidies for professional sports teams (owned by billionaires typically)[20], as well as farm subsidies (something even the conservative Heritage Foundation says is a flawed program).[21]

States Subsidized by Federal Spending

Even deeply “red states” like Mississippi and West Virginia are not immune from federal subsidization as both states receive far more back from the federal government than they pay in taxes. According to Stevens, “…For every dollar Mississippians pay in federal income tax, the state receives just over $3 back from the federal government. More than 40 percent of Mississippi’s entire budget comes from Washington…For every dollar a West Virginian pays in taxes, the state gets more than $2 back.”[22] As Stevens points out, those “evil states” like California and New York help pay for Mississippi’s and West Virginia’s deficits. Stevens asks if anyone thinks that elected officials from these two overwhelmingly Republican states are “going to get serious about cutting the federal deficit?”[23]

Critical Thinking- the Antidote for the Poison of Wrong Conclusions and False Narratives

The power of illusionary wrong conclusions and the false narratives- they create can manipulate our thinking in the public square. Consider how they have fueled a major political party’s platform for decades. That is, unless one knows some recent history, and uses it to spot what amounts to inaccuracies, inconsistencies, mischaracterizations, and in some cases, blatant lies.

There is perhaps and even more devastating impact of these portrayals. It is failing to see major change in the public square and what it means for us. Stay tuned…

We will continue exploring topics like this gone that are not given near enough time and emphasis in our civic education efforts, if they are even taught at all. Democracy is so important. But it’s hard to keep, and it’s easy to lose. It’s up to us, and only us, to protect it. Support democracy, become a Democratist! Spread the word!

[1] How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley, pp 19-21, Ibid

[2] How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley, pg. 21, Ibid

[3] How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley, pp 21-22, Ibid

[4] How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley, pg. 22, Ibid

[6] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 55, Ibid

[7] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 55, Ibid

[8] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 56, Ibid

[9] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 57, Ibid

[10] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 5, Ibid

[11] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 70, Ibid

[12] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 74, Ibid

[13] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 75, Ibid

[14] “After 2 years, Trump Tax Cuts Have Failed to Deliver On GOP Promises”, by Scott Horsley, NPR, All Things Considered, December 20, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/789540931/2-years-later-trump-tax-cuts-have-failed-to-deliver-on-gops-promises

[15] “After 2 years, Trump Tax Cuts Have Failed to Deliver on GOP Promises”, by Scott Horsley, NPR, All Things Considered, December 20, 2019, Ibid

[16] “After 2 years, Trump Tax Cuts Have Failed to Deliver on GOP Promises”, by Scott Horsley, NPR, All Things Considered, December 20, 2019, Ibid

[17] “After 2 years, Trump Tax Cuts Have Failed to Deliver on GOP Promises”, by Scott Horsley, NPR, All Things Considered, December 20, 2019, Ibid

[18] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 56, Ibid

[19] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pp 18-19, Ibid

[20] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 69, Ibid

[21] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pp 66-67, Ibid

[22] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 61, Ibid

[23] It Was All a Lie, How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump”, by Stuart Stevens, pg. 61, Ibid

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