The Dangers of Political Nostalgia

Claude Rains and Jimmy Stewart in the climactic scene of Frank Capra’s film “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”

Former Vice President and presidential hopeful Joe Biden recently got himself in some hot water with progressives by publicly indulging in a bit of nostalgia for the good old days when elected representatives in DC could engage in civil discourse and “get things done,” even when they violently disagreed with one another.

I’m not quite as old as Biden, and I’ve never served in public office, but I can still share his nostalgia for seemingly simpler times when our political leaders displayed some sort of respect for each other, even when they disagreed over issues of state.

However it’s one thing to reveal a preference for certain elements of those bygone days, but quite another to base your presidential run on wishful thinking that those lost elements can somehow be restored in the third decade of the 21st century. Both Joe Biden and Howard Schultz seem taken by this idea that a centrist presidency can somehow restore this lost era of civility, and bring both sides of the aisle to the table to engage in productive, common-sense discussions for the good of the country as a whole. Such a scenario plays well as a work of fiction — hence the return of the TV series Designated Survivor for a third season — but there are elements of our modern times that make it impossible for such a scenario to play out in current reality.