McMullinism: Help me write a Letter to Editor

In My Humble Opinion
1

The Atlantic is, by far, the best periodical published in North America. I used to love it because it didn’t emphasize political issues. During the century and a half between 1861 and 2015 it endorsed a total of only one candidate for President: the magazine endorsed LBJ over Goldwater in 1964. (It can hardly be blamed for endorsing the Republican in the 1860 election; the magazine was founded by the Fireside Poets.)

Lately the magazine covers American politics much more than it did in the 20th century, but it can hardly be blamed for that! When I read the latest issue, one article immediately aroused my ire and I was ready to fire off a Letter to the Editor. Instead I’m going to post a rough draft here and hope Dopers will help me tone it down.

(My ire is certainly not directed against this outstanding magazine. I see that The New Yorker has a much more sycophantic article on McMullin.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In “The Defector” Evan McMullin is paraphrased as arguing that “the defining conflict of American politics today is not right versus left, but pro-Trump versus anti-Trump.”

Let us hope that America’s centrists and leftists are not stupid enough to fall for that pernicious lie.

I am a centrist myself and would support a truly centrist party. If I lived in one of the European welfare states I’d probably support a right-of-center party. I’d be happy if the legality of abortion were left up to the states; and I agree that the U.S. has moved too fast on social issues like gay marriage. (Wishing gays no ill well, I wonder if many of them would have foregone the right to marry had they known that the result of such progressivism would be a backlash that led to the Trump Presidency.) If America suddenly developed a truly centrist party I’d be first in line. But McMullinism isn’t it.

It would be absurd to describe McMullin and his ilk as “centrists” and his attempt to appeal to anti-Trumpists is vicious cynicism. I’ll be happy if McMullin’s movement succeeds in fracturing the right-wing into two factions: the moderates (ignorant racists who vote as the Koch Brothers tell them), and the blithering lunatics who still give Trump 38% approval, but let us hope clear-thinking Americans see through McMullin’s self-serving message. (Those who imagine there is such a thing as a right-winger with respectable views should read “The Architect of the Radical Right” in the same issue.)

America has a large variety of serious problems, but with the stock market setting new records, and corporate profits now representing a larger share of the pie than ever, the impoverishment of our multimillionaires is not one of them! Income inequality is now as high as it was during the Roaring 1920’s. As recently as 1980, U.S. income inequality was about the same as that of countries like France, but U.S. inequality has soared in recent decades and the U.S. Gini coefficient now exceeds that of every single country in Europe, including Russia, and every single country in Southeast Asia. Yet what is McMullin’s priority? The most important policy McMullin would have addressed had he been elected? Tax cuts for the rich! The mind boggles.

The claim that pro-Trump versus anti-Trump is the more important dichotomy in American politics today is absurd. A Pence or Cruz Presidency would promote policies just as evil as Trump’s but would offer much less comic relief. I hope Americans are smart enough not to fall for McMullin’s lie.

2

What point are you trying to make?
As is your letter is unfocused and overly emotional. You state you object to McMullin’s quote but then do not mention why the Trump/anti-Trump is less important than left/right. You should first state why Trump/Anti-Trump is unimportant and then state why left/right is important. Your feelings on European centrist parties is not relevant and should be excised. Furthermore you proclaiming yourself a centrist and then showing a fulminating hatred of the right makes you sound like a leftist and undermines your argument.

3

It seems a fine and cogent letter.
Trump is merely a distraction. Whilst everybody gets frenetically excited about non-existent Russian Connections and his woeful personality in order to feel good ( and to feel relevant ), he and the GOP get away with murder on important issues ---- and it would have been even worse with a Cruz or Rubio or Ryan or Walker.
I think Hil would have been worse than any, because none of the above, including Trumpo, are interested in using nukes as a threat, but in general I agree heartily.

4

Thank you both for the comments. :slight_smile: Yes, the paragraph “I am a centrist” should be deleted — I just wanted to make a personal comment for our purpose here. Certainly I encourage debate on the content of the letter. (I didn’t post in GD because we needn’t insist on citations for every claim.)

I do need specific help finding replacements for phrases like “pernicious lie.” Roget’s Thesaurus won’t be enough — I need much better crafted phrasing.

5

I regard Trump as an incompetent as whole who should never have been nominated or elected. In fact, I threw my vote away on Evan McMullin rather than vote for Trump.

But the OP confirms what I’ve always known: the Left would despise and ridicule ANY Republican President as much as they do Trump. They wouldn’t give a President Rubio or a President Kasich any more respect than they give Trump.

6

President Cruz would have the same respect problem as the late Mr. Dangerfield.

7

And I threw my vote away on Johnson rather than vote for Clinton or Trump.

Exactly right. Look no farther than Romney four years ago. He is a serious, smart, decent centrist who was ridiculed and mocked by the Left.

As for the OP’s letter, I don’t see gay rights as that much of an issue in Trump winning, nor ignorant racists. There are numerous reasons he won, but those two are far down the list. At the top of the list, of course, is that Hillary Clinton was the Democratic party nominee.

8

FTR, I didn’t ridicule Romney; indeed I defended him right here on this message board. My comments are specifically about “right-wingers”; I regard Romney as an intelligent centrist like myself.

As mentioned, one paragraph should be deleted altogether. And just as gay rights is a minor tangential issue, so the only issue I do emphasize — tax cuts for the rich — is hardly the only issue that should be emphasized. Removing environmental regulations and degrading public schools are other bad right-wing policies I shall mention.

As I said, OP is only a rough draft. I hope helpful Dopers will work with the skeleton of idea and prepare a good joint letter.

9

Maybe he is a centrist then. I read his letter and thought he was showing too much favoritism to the right.

10

Nonsense. The Republican Party has been taken over by the right wing. There’s no place in the Republican Party for the left. There’s also no place in the Republican party for the middle. And the Republican party is trying to push out people who are on the right but not far enough to the right. Then you complain that it’s unfair how that all of the people you rejected and refuse to represent won’t support you.

11

As is well known in England, Sir John Schorne trapped the Devil into a jackboot. I feel quite sure this little fellow, held by the good priest, presented as an alternative, could have beaten Hillary handily.

12

I will offer just one piece of advice:

It sounds like you are blaming gays for Trump. I would take that out, or at least say that SSM was “part of” the backlash. Personally, I think it was just a small bit of whatever cultural backlash there was, and not worth singling out.

Oh, one more thing. :slight_smile: If you mean “Republicans”, say “Republicans”. Right wing doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. I think you do mean “Republicans”, but I’m not sure.

13

‘Ignorant Racists’ sounds too much like sovietized ritual denunciation ---- and I doubt if 5% of them have heard of the Kochs; ‘Blithering Lunatics’ sounds a bit too much like cross old colonel complaining about new street furniture circa 1910,

14

Calling it a pernicious lie in the first sentence is stating your conclusion before making your argument. If you seek to persuade you should not use loaded language like pernicious lie.
What I would change the letter to:

In “The Defector” Evan McMullin is paraphrased as arguing that “the defining conflict of American politics today is not right versus left, but pro-Trump versus anti-Trump.”

Let us hope that America’s centrists and leftists do not fall for that.

I am a centrist myself and if America suddenly developed a truly centrist party I’d be first in line. But McMullinism isn’t it.

America has a large variety of serious problems, such as income inequality which is now as high as it was before the great depression. As recently as 1980, U.S. income inequality was about the same as that of other developed countries, but U.S. inequality has soared in recent decades and the U.S. Gini coefficient now exceeds that of every single country in Europe, including Russia, and every single country in Southeast Asia. Yet what is McMullin’s priority? He states the most important policy had he been elected would have been tax cuts for the rich. Instead of solving the problem this would make it worse.

(Two more issues where you think McMullin is not a centrist, one issue per paragraph.)

The claim that pro-Trump versus anti-Trump is the more important dichotomy in American politics today is just not true. A McMullin Presidency would have promoted policies just as harmful as Trump’s with less comic relief. I hope Americans are smart enough not to fall for McMullin’s line.

15

*Say what you’re going to say.

Say why you say it.

Then summarize what you said.*

What’s wrong with that?

16

Leading off with loaded language like “pernicious lie” is well poisoning, it turns off people who don’t agree with you. Nothing wrong with saying that it is incorrect, but calling it a lie implies malice that has not been demonstrated.

17

Thank you, puddleglum! That’s much better. Let’s hope I get off my lazy ass and mail the letter before deadline.

18

Huh? You haven’t seen Trump’s recent tweets aimed at North Korea? He ain’t threatening them with tiddlywinks.

19

That’s one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve ever read. First of all the OP is not “the Left” and doesn’t represent “the Left” and doesn’t even have leftist views, so how can he “confirm” anything for you? Secondly, how “the Left” or anybody else would treat the various Republican candidates isn’t hypothetical – they were all in debates together and all out campaigning last year and how they were treated is a matter of record to anyone with eyes and ears. Kasich in particular was accorded a good deal of respect for being intelligent and moderate – in fact the often-belligerent “leftist” Bill Maher did a very respectful interview with Kasich on his show last May in which Maher was uncharacteristically complimentary.

Romney wasn’t mocked for being a centrist and he wasn’t accused of being stupid, he was mocked for being a hypocrite – a centrist pretending to be a “severe conservative” (his own words).

20

There is no possible chance of a Nuclear Exchange in the next 4 years. It’s just bluster, and both parties know where their bread is buttered.