Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.
Out of desperation, as a fearful election day looms, let’s grasp at some straws to try to make sense of what we’ve been through and, even worse, what might be ahead.
For example, some political campaigns have had musical themes.
Few, if any Bleeding Heartland readers were around in 1932 to sing along with “Happy Days Are Here Again,” the theme of Franklin’s D. Roosevelt’s anti-Depression campaign against President Herbert Hoover.
More of us may recall Marilyn Maye’s catchy version of “Step to the Rear (and Let a Winner Lead the Way)” sung on behalf of Governor Robert D. Ray. (Warning: Before listening to Ms Maye, be prepared for tears if you are subject to emotional responses in recalling the more congenial, bipartisan days of the Ray administrations, when Democrats generally accepted letting Ray “lead the way.”)
As political campaigns are subject to error and misunderstanding, so it would be if you think the piano-playing President Harry Truman used “The Missouri Waltz” in his politics.
In the current vernacular, that’s “fake news.”
To quote Wikipedia: “Although the song is often associated with [him], the president did not claim it as his favorite song. In fact, he [said] in a television interview: ‘If you let me say what I think, I don’t give a … about it, but I can’t say it out loud because it’s the song of Missouri. It’s as bad as the Star Spangled Banner as far as music is concerned.’”
A FITTING THEME FOR TRUMP/MAGA
In hindsight, a song from a 1949 Broadway musical reflects the essence of the 2024 Donald Trump/MAGA campaigns on the national and state levels. Admittedly, it’s an oddity, because, while on point with Trump rhetoric, it is never sung or played at campaign rallies. Perhaps it doesn’t have to be on MAGA lips, because it is so fixed in MAGA minds and so endless in Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric.
The song that comes to mind is from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific,” which deals with hatred of the other. Here are the lyrics of “You’ve got to be carefully taught”:
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your [MAGA types] hate—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
POLITICS AIN’T BEAN BAG
It’s striking that the “South Pacific” song strikes the tone of a campaign that came some 75 years later. And there is a troubling contrast between the merriment and joy of the FDR and Ray campaign anthems on the one hand, and the hate and fear in the song that seems to reflect Trump’s rhetoric.
The expression “Politics ain’t bean bag,” which came from the fictional Mr.Dooley in a Chicago pub, has for more than a century characterized the rough and tumble nature of our efforts at self-governance.
But seldom if ever has the electorate been subject to the “hateful, deceptive, violent speech that has too readily found a place in our national discourse…this language has led to hate-fueled action.”
I put those 21 words in quotation marks because they come from a statement the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted this fall. The ELCA is one of the larger U.S. Protestant denominations, with about 3 million members in 8,600 congregations.
In Iowa, just under 400 ELCA congregations had an estimated 175,000 members as of 2022. The Conference of Bishops comprises the bishops from 65 synods (Iowa has three), the ELCA presiding bishop, and the ELCA secretary.
Although meeting in Chicago, the bishops did not have Mr. Dooley in mind. They focused on the 8th commandment, “You shall not bear false witness.” From that statement emphasizing “the need to speak the truth”:
We, the members of the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, speak with one voice to condemn the hateful, deceptive, violent speech that has too readily found a place in our national discourse. We lament the ways this language has led to hate-fueled action.
We refuse to accept the ongoing normalization of lies and deceit.
We recommit ourselves to speaking the truth and pointing to the one who is truth. We find courage in our collegiality and implore the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as our partners and friends, to join us as we:
- Pledge to be vigilant guardians of truth, refusing to perpetuate lies or half-truths that further corrode the fabric of our society.
- Commit to rigorous fact-checking, honoring God’s command to “test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
- Reject the use of humor that normalizes falsehood, remembering that our speech should “always be gracious” (Colossians 4:6).
- Boldly advocate for the marginalized and oppressed, emulating Christ’s love for the least among us.
- Courageously interrupt hate speech, standing firm in the knowledge that all are created in God’s image.
- Lean in with curiosity, engage with those who think differently and “put the best construction on our neighbor’s action” (Luther’s explanation of the Eighth Commandment).
- Amplify voices of truth.
The fact that the bishops felt compelled to adopt that extraordinary statement attests to how 2024 has differed from previous election years.
Further, the bishops’ statement may run counter to the beliefs of many ELCA members. An analysis of denominational voting in 2020 reported that of ELCA members who voted, 52 percent supported Trump and 48 percent Joe Biden.
Regardless of political persuasion, many people are as weary as the bishops are of half-truths and no-truths.
Yet today Iowa political advertisements scream that candidates who, in step with the bishops, “advocate for the marginalized and oppressed” are way “too radical” for Iowa.
It may be right to shed a tear upon viewing that Ray video.
Top photo of “The Thinker” by Rodin, in front of the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia is by Sdwelch1031, available via Wikimedia Commons.