The New Hampshire Statehouse lurches to the marching orders of a national far-right disinformation agenda. House Bill 544 “defines and prohibits the dissemination of certain divisive concepts related to sex and race in state contracts, grants, and training programs.” Racism is reflected in laws on voting and housing and is prevalent and often unrecognized. The amended measure, now incorporated into the budget bill and vague enough to be almost meaningless, would intimidate teachers from holding discussion on injustices around race and gender, camouflaged in terms such as “race and sex scapegoating.”
Concealed within a manufactured issue around “critical race theory,” which few had heard of and which is not taught in elementary or secondary schools, HB 544 would have the effect of instructing teachers: “Don’t look there.” This assumes that a discussion of racism or sexism somehow “blames” those in the power majority, rather than raises their consciousness. It reframes and perverts the necessary exploration of racism as “racial superiority.”
Although it might be dismissed as the hot-button, right-wing diversion of the week, it would likely provoke educators to avoid essential topics. This nonsense has no place now in the budget bill, and if it is signed into law by the governor, remember it as counterfeit.
As July 4 approaches, we value the founding documents that express our cherished ideals. The binding currency of a nation is shared narrative, the shared ideals of who we are, who our heroes have been, how we honor our distinguishing history and promote our common aspirations. Our shared narrative changes when we acknowledge and correct injustices, incorporate the vitality of a new wave of immigrants, recognize bogus conspiracy theories or gain scientific knowledge. Such advances may be “divisive” when first recognized, but like the changing faces and design of our currency, they are not counterfeit.
Our strength lies in incorporating truth into our narratives. Some 160 years after the Civil War and 60 years after the civil rights movement, smartphone videos and ongoing disparities continue to demonstrate how racism remains an ongoing part of the lives of Black Americans. It must be acknowledged and addressed.
Leaders of the GOP have created another counterfeit. A failed, mendacious ex-president propagated the lie that his victory was “stolen,” so elected officials stay complicit, attempting to maintain cohesion around their discredited leader. It remains fact that every state, many led by Republicans, has certified the 2020 election. It remains fact that every challenge in our nation’s courts has been rejected for failing to offer evidence of fraud. Conspiracists claiming altered voting machines have recanted, and the media that provided them air time have retracted this nonsense. Clumsy, dubious efforts by partisan “cyber ninjas” are imported to alter an Arizona vote already confirmed three times.
This counterfeit is a matter beyond simple politics.
Those propagating election lies unwittingly serve as dupes for foreign adversaries who wish to corrupt our elections.
Foreign governments and domestic provocateurs routinely subvert information passed around on websites, social media and quasi-news organizations. While the Treasury safeguards our monetary system, we lack measures to filter out outright lies or destructive conspiracy theories in media.
We know Russia employed disinformation to sway public opinion during the 2016 election, with Vladimir Putin’s stated intent to favor Donald Trump. As a new president meets with the former KGB agent, Russian operatives act with impunity to hack our infrastructure and disrupt the flow of oil, food and essentials. Calamity and price spikes follow such attacks and destabilize our economy, just as the ongoing “hacking” of shared truths frays the fabric of our society.
In years past, our CIA destabilized foreign democracies in the developing world, where these methods of overturning elected governments are now business as usual. Here in the U.S., claims of election fraud are new and extraordinarily dangerous.
The former Soviet Union was creative in its disinformation methods, which gave rise to general distrust that there are genuine “truths” still to be found. Our former president and irresponsible media outlets and politicians have exploited such methods. This is evident when “infotainers” like Rush Limbaugh are awarded the Medal of Freedom for purveying polarized opinion as truth while the best efforts of public health officials to convey evolving science during a pandemic is characterized as partisan disinformation.
Democracy endures only as we share demonstrable truth. So, too, we must respect the rulings of referees we’ve empowered to safeguard truth in our elections, such as bipartisan election boards and courts. To create an autocratic state, it’s necessary to dissolve the binding ties between political opponents, then dissolve democratic norms of tolerance while allowing checks on executive power to lapse. We have witnessed all of this in recent years.
We must renounce leaders who promote the unraveling of standards of adjudicated elections, forbearance and truth. The continuation of our pluralistic, democratic republic depends on such loyalty to American-borne ideals of government and society.
Kenneth Dolkart lives in Grantham.