Get Ready: "So What" is coming.

Since I was born just a few months after Highlander debuted, I'm not aware of a time in which it was possible for people to change their minds when it came to their politics. Being honest, I'm not even certain that time ever existed.  When you're talking about your political beliefs, you aren't just talking about the policies you think would most benefit the region you reside in.  You're also talking about the policies that you'd like everyone in that region abide by.

Especially in the United States, because here, our politics are more precious to us than our sports teams. Compounding the problem of identity politics is the fact that this is such a big country that any policy change on a level above the local (and most times not even then) isn't transformative enough to have any measurable effect within months, if not years. Even Obamacare, the disappointing child of progressives and alleged bane of conservatives, is just now starting to show any sort of remedial effect almost six years after it was signed into law.  People are actually losing and gaining money, and yet the vast majority of Americans don't feel any different about it.

It's symptomatic of the inherent bureaucracy of modern day political legislation: People who wanted more from the Affordable Care Act bemoan its lack of teeth, and people who wanted it to die in a fire bemoan its overwhelming power to compel the public to comply. In other words, despite the fact that the effects are more or less actually affecting real human beings, it hasn't really changed anyone's opinion. If one of the most publicly cited pieces of legislation is actually showing real effects and nobody thinks any different of it, then what does that say about the culture we live in?

Here's the truth: the only way to shift the tectonic plates of public opinion, especially in politics, is shame. You're not going to change any one person's mind through a thousand arguments, but through generations, young people grow to sympathize with the victims of stupid laws. Enough people grew up around black people, gay people, and marijuana users, and now those people are on board with laws addressing desegregation, marriage equality, and, now, the legality of marijuana. It ain't perfect, but its the best we got.

In the short term, to the end result of somewhere between no change and almost no change, people use empathy as a shortcut through reason. Take the issue of Black Lives Matter. Any traction the BLM movement gained has come from convincing people to imagine they're in somebody else's shoes, and from there, they compare points of view and (gasp) even change their minds a little.

Sure, we could try and go the long way around, and talk about how fucking over an entire segment of the population is going to drive down part of the economy, inevitably taking money out of all of our pockets, which in turn draws the conclusion that the racism is literally not worth the effort, but my guess is that you've probably stopped reading this sentence.

The point is that it's a lot easier to suggest to somebody that, if they were part of that segment of the population, they certainly wouldn't be OK with what was happening.

In the best possible cases, you could reasonably explain why most laws exist- the reason you aren't allowed murder people in traffic is because society couldn't really function if every single day was like The Purge, but it's mostly because enough people have been to a funeral and seen what somebody's death can do to the ones left behind.

Cognitively speaking, this could be considered laziness, but really, but it's laziness on both parts. Considering the consequences of policy on a societal level is a lot more intellectually taxing than considering it on the individual level.

It's the only way in which the electorate has slowly shifted its opinion on any scale, and therefore, it's the only way to get lawmakers to do anything. Politicians don't need to change their minds to stay in office, per se, but they do have to answer to a specific voting block, and if they want to remain in charge of anything, they need that voting block to continue to check the box next to their name when November rolls around.

It's the sport of politics in a nutshell- the gameplan is to influence just enough voters to force a politicians hand. It can take years, decades even- but get it done, and you've done something remarkable.

But just like any sport, every offense creates a defense, and there's finally an answer to the people's utilization of shaming politicians- having no shame whatsoever. It's how we got from 18,000 GOP candidates to just one and a half. By refusing to acknowledge any reality except his own, Trump has become the GOP's Expecto Patronum. He's no longer bound to the limits of what's really true, just what he wants to be true, and his supporters, the ones who say he “tells it like it is” or “speaks his mind,” don't have to do expend any more mental effort on considering arguments from any other side, let alone understanding them. (I'm not sure if this is intentional on Trump's part.)

That's how you get debates where the front-runner can advertise the size of his dick- it's the only issue that people aren't already sure about.

This sucks by itself, but it's going to get worse. Before any of us are ready for it, there's going to be a clash between two different world-views (although, maybe not so different) on the most elevated political stage in the country, and that's when reality actually begins to matter. And here's where I'm worried that things will go horribly, horribly wrong for anyone who isn't on board with a fictitious (but gorgeous!) 300 foot wall separating the United States from other countries. 

I can sum the incoming menace up in two words- “So what?”

First, one more time for posterity, watch this quote:

Look at this response from Trump to Hillary's accusations of racism:

“Failing candidate Hillary Clinton, who is desperately trying to hold on to her lead in the democratic primary against Bernie Sanders, is knowingly putting out lies about my stance on illegal immigration. I said “Mexico is sending”— I’m not knocking immigration or immigrants, but rather am very critical of the country of Mexico for sending us people that they don’t want. Likewise I am very critical of illegal immigration and the tremendous problems including crime, which it causes.

“She is desperate, she is sad, and she is obviously very nervous when she has to revert to issues that have already been settled given the absolute accuracy of my statement. She speaks about “my tone” and that’s the problem with our country’s leaders. They are more worried about tone than results! It’s not about being nice— it’s about being competent.

“Hillary should spend more time producing her illegally hidden emails and less time trying to obfuscate a statement by me that is totally clear and obviously very much accepted by the public as true. I am honored, however, that she is attacking me... The last person she wants to face is Donald Trump.”

Here's the abridged response:

Is what I said wrong? Am I lying about it now? Nobody cares. What I said was true then, and I'm saying something different, but equally true, right now. Also, the reason you're trying to attack the things I've said is because you're trying to attack me, the same way I attack others, which is the wrong thing to do. Therefore, let's talk more about your emails.

See how that works?

There is no shame, because today, shame is a liability. Shame is something that losers have. Jeb Bush had shame, and it killed his campaign- he was dead the moment he walked back the mistakes his brother made. In an ideal world, that would make him a better candidate, but in this world, it makes him weak. Dammit, denial in the face of overwhelming evidence takes gusto! Who wants politicians who break every time somebody brings up pesky data that interfere with their momentum?

Now, to be fair, the right is certainly not the only group to use this tactic. Remember when Bill Clinton committed perjury and nobody gave a shit? It's because there was no shame involved. It's a step beyond “out of sight, out of mind.” It's kind of like the opposite of the Emperor's New Clothes, in which enough people are naked that it doesn't particularly matter what anyone else says. You could have legions of screaming people in robes. But who cares? Enough people think it's true to prevent any further discussion on the matter. And besides that, so what? I think you're naked, and reason can't stop me. What now?

It's why Trump's going to win the nomination, and why it's more and more likely he's going to win the presidency. Throw whatever you want at him- shame, facts, logic, history, personal attacks- it doesn't matter. He doesn't care. If he's wrong, so what? Who says the truth is the truth, anyway?

Sam Wellborn lives in Austin, TX, and is genuinely excited to write about something other than Donald Fucking Trump.  Follow him on twitter!  Want him to write about something?  Email him at swellbo@gmail.com.