2023 in 400+ articles and what they tell us about 2024

The year was five months old when columnist David French took to the pages of The New York Times to contend that the right in America fundamentally does not understand masculinity (“The Right Is All Wrong About Masculinity”). His proof? A real man can keep his cool when under fire, he said, and that’s not how the right is responding to today’s political crises.

“If you spend much time at all on right-wing social media — especially Twitter these days — or listening to right-wing news outlets, you’ll be struck by the sheer hysteria of the rhetoric, the hair-on-fire sense of emergency that seems to dominate all discourse,” he wrote.

He added, “Catastrophic rhetoric is omnipresent on the right.”

And while French’s analysis is not inaccurate per se, it is glaringly one-sided. The left in America is defined by “sheer hysteria,” too. And so are independents. The fact is that catastrophic rhetoric is omnipresent everywhere in America today. For French — or anyone else — to pretend otherwise is almost laughable.

I’ve spent the past year covering politics for Convention of States and Citizens for Self-Governance, clocking in at over 400 articles between both sites, and I’ve learned several important lessons: Both sides are convinced that the other will destroy the country; Both are panicked; Both are playing a zero-sum game.

Mr. French raises a worthwhile point about the right’s melodramatic rhetoric but fails to make the same point about the left’s. The left loves to make speeches about how everyday right-wingers pose the greatest threat to democracy. They use sensationalized language, such as “book bans,” to describe common-sense policies that remove age-inappropriate books from school libraries. (We wouldn’t let R-rated movies in public schools, but we don’t say that those movies are “banned.”) They write lengthy, fear-mongering op-eds about how their opponents’ leading presidential candidate will destroy the country — something French faults conservatives for doing in his editorial.

SEE ALSO: 2023 in Review pt. 1 — Race in the States

Evidently, — and this is what covering politics taught me — Americans of every political affiliation, race, and religion are genuinely convinced that the country — barring dramatic political action — is on the verge of cataclysmic collapse.

And what if everyone is right? Meaning: What if catastrophic rhetoric is omnipresent, not because we’re being dramatic, as David French seems to think, but because the country really is in dire straits? Everyone seems to sense it — America is on the brink. Every news story is tainted by the perception that such-and-such or so-and-so is not merely bad for the country but could be the final straw that pushes us over and ends the whole thing.

In such a high-stakes political environment, a “hair-on-fire sense of emergency” is not only forgivable but to be expected. Anyone who loves this country, regardless of political affiliation, should be alarmed.

SEE ALSO: 2023 in Review pt. 2 — Top 5 Media Moments

But what do we do about it? Blame the other side? Scream into the void? Vilify our opponents? Those are the easy options, and they do virtually nothing for the country.

Alternatively, there is a positive side to catastrophic rhetoric, namely, taking action to save the country. If America really is on the rocks — and we all seem to agree that she is — then it’s time to start acting like it. Luckily, I’m pleased to report, that’s exactly what the American people are doing. Even as hysteria permeates our discourse, so, too, does a determination that this blessed land shall not perish from the earth.

“I couldn’t sit around and do nothing,” or some variation of that phrase surfaced in nearly every conversation I had with the grassroots in 2023. And their actions confirm it. They don’t just go around with their hair on fire — they channel that fire to fuel the fight for the country.

That’s what we need more of. In 2024, as we near another presidential election, our national rhetoric will inevitably heat up; our doomsday scenario will darken and appear more imminent. But our commitment to preserve liberty, the principles that made us great, and the future of this country should only deepen.

That’s what happened in 2023 — it’s safe to bet it will happen again in 2024.

So, let the naysayers on the NYT editorial boards say what they will; the rest of us have a country to save.

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