As we head into the last twenty-four hours of this ugly midterm election, I’ve been thinking about a friend in the battleground state of Nevada who remarked that all the fearmongering political advertisements on television, radio, and internet have left her feeling bruised and bullied.
Ads like these were unleashed in budget-busting numbers—$250 million or more by some estimates—by the Supreme Court’s recent Citizens United decision which lifted spending limits on corporations, unions, and individuals.
Are the multimillion dollar ads and the financial heavyweights who anonymously back them the new bullies of the US political process? Do they use their size and unequal access to resources to dominate others? Do they contribute to making public spaces, including air spaces and media spaces, unsafe or unwelcoming to populations historically vulnerable to mass violence, like gay people, people of color, and women?
As we’ve discussed here on RD in recent weeks, bullying (especially anti-gay bullying) is a theological issue that requires a theological response.
If post-Citizens United American politics is to be a public square dominated by heavyweight media bullies, what would an anti-political bullying theology feel and sound like? How do we make ourselves bully-proof? David and Goliath, anyone?
