September 14, 2025

By Stephen Stofka

Sunday morning and another breakfast with the boys. This week Abel and Cain discuss political divisions. The conversations are voiced by Abel, a Wilsonian with a faith that government can ameliorate social and economic injustices to improve society’s welfare, and Cain, who believes that individual autonomy, the free market and the price system promote the greatest good.

Abel tucked some butter between his pancakes. “I usually turned off Charlie Kirk a few minutes after listening to him, but I was shocked when I heard he had been shot. His family must be devastated.”

Cain sighed. “You know, we come up with ideas every week. It’s another thing to have the energy and guts to follow through. Kirk was like 31 when he died. He started the Turning Points USA organization when he was 18. He walked the talk.”

Abel argued, “Kirk was a professional provocateur. Whether right or left, it’s not my style. I didn’t like the way that TP went after professors and universities.”

Cain shook his head. “Look, democracy is a fight to gain control of the agenda of a country’s institutions. The liberals had a lock on the educational institutions in this country. Kirk helped expose that and bring the policy pendulum back toward center.”

Abel smirked. “The pandemic lockdowns did that. Parents finally paid attention to their kids and what they were learning. Some parents weren’t pleased. Organizations like TP used that momentum to go after education at all levels. Critical theory, a graduate level course, became a punching bag for parents angry about what their third graders were reading.”

Cain argued, “Look, advocacy organizations throw a bunch of ideas and tropes against the wall and see what sticks. Liberal or conservative, that’s how these organizations work. So don’t pick on TP for using the same tactics.”

Abel shrugged. “Ok, good point.”

Cain continued, “We criticize these public figures but it takes a lot of courage to put yourself in harm’s way in public like that. Like Kirk, Trump was standing on stage when he got shot. That guy just missed. Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X were both sitting ducks on stage. JFK was in an open car. Martin Luther King on a balcony. All vulnerable to some nut with a gun.”

Abel shrugged. “Like I said, I felt bad for his family, but I didn’t like the way he milked hate.”

Cain argued, “Come on, promoting one’s values is not ‘milking hate.’”

Abel tilted his head slightly. “I disagree. He was contentious because he wanted to arouse divisive sentiments in his audience. The audience was entertained by that vitriol. Some people like to listen to hateful talk radio. Strong emotions help people feel they’re alive.”

Cain looked over his glasses at Abel. “And liberals don’t have strong emotions?”

Abel shook his head. “So many liberal talk radio stations have failed. It’s remarkable that a progressive like Thom Hartmann has survived (Source). A 2007 study found that 91% of talk radio stations in the largest markets were conservative (Source). Why? Liberals actually want to find solutions. That may be informative but it’s not entertaining. Conservative talk radio feeds the anger monkey in people.”

Cain smiled. “Oh, like liberals don’t have an anger monkey. Come to think of it, I don’t know when I last listened to talk radio. Too many commercials. I think I’ve become less tolerant of advertising in my listening stream. I don’t miss the days when all we had to listen to was radio stations while at work.”

Abel paused in thought. “I wonder if technology will advance enough that public figures will appear as lifelike avatars on stage. Already there are hologram recreations of past performances (Source). Combine AI technology to create a live performance? The day may be coming.”

Cain replied, “Politicians are reluctant to do townhall meetings. Sure, some would like to avoid protesters but also partly because of the security concerns (Source). 9-11 was sudden. After that, security precautions affected our lives. Tight security protocols at airports and on public transportation. A before and after moment. The increased targeting of public figures may mark a more gradual trend to ‘democracy by Zoom,’ or something like that. It might just become too risky to appear in person in a public venue.”

Abel woke up his phone. “I was reading a working paper published this year by the United Nations. The authors, Patricia Justino and Melissa Samarin, identified two dimensions of public trust. One is a trust in society’s institutions and government. The other is an interpersonal trust (Source).”

Cain interrupted, “Interpersonal like with people you know? Work mates and family?”

Abel replied, “Trust in dealing with strangers. Like, how well can you trust people in your daily life? Anyhow, that level of trust affects how we comply with laws and regulations, and how we cooperate with others. They cited a World Values Survey that’s been going on since the early eighties and they say there has been a decline in trust the past two decades.”

Cain asked, “Institutional? I get that. 9-11, the financial crisis, the pandemic.”

Abel nodded. “It’s global, not just in this country. The biggest declines are in Africa and Latin America.”

Cain asked, “What about the U.S.?”

Abel replied, “The U.S., U.K. and Australia decreased slightly. In China and Vietnam, institutional trust has increased.”

Cain frowned. “I think there’s also a decrease in trust between the states, between government institutions. Texas is suing New York over the mailing of abortion pills. Reminds me of the controversy over fugitive slaves. The non-slavery northern states did not honor orders from a slave state to return a slave that had fled into a northern state. There are sanctuary cities which won’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.”

Abel sighed. “Yeah, immigration is one issue. The abortion pill thing is different, I think. The states don’t regulate the mail. The federal government does. Congress has passed laws against mailing lottery tickets into some states but hasn’t passed a law against mailing prescription medicine (Source – Title 18 U.S.C. 1301). Besides, most mail-order prescriptions get sent from a California pharmacy so that involves California even if the controversy is between New York and Texas. This is an issue for Congress unless this activist court steps in and issues yet another decision with no explanation.”

Cain said, “Back in the sixties, people in southern states used to hang Chief Justice Earl Warren in effigy. They didn’t like the court’s decisions requiring them to desegregate schools, or allow marriages between consenting adults, regardless of race.”

Abel smirked. “Rural folks did not like ‘one person, one vote,’ something we take for granted today. Apportionment in a lot of states negated any population growth in urban areas and ensured rural control of state legislatures (Source).”

Cain nodded. “Yeah, that was the Warren court too. Another 5-4 decision that affected the balance of power. I’ve been reading Rick Perlstein’s book Before the Storm. It’s about the birth and growth of the conservative movement in American during the 1950s and early 1960s. It’s like a month by month account of what was going in in America during that time, seen through the lens of political ideology and alliances.”

Abel frowned. “Did he write Nixonland? Or am I thinking about Robert Caro?”

Cain replied, “Perlstein wrote that. He also wrote on the Reagan years. Caro did the biography of Johnson.”

Abel shook his head. “It’s weird. Both Johnson and Nixon were melancholy men. Why did Americans elect melancholy candidates during the 1960s? Kennedy’s election was aspirational, uplifting. He was assassinated in 1963. The 1964 election was a memorial to Kennedy in a way. Sometimes we elect people who reflect ourselves. Other time we elect those who seem to represent something we aspire to be.”

Cain nodded. “Maybe it’s a struggle between those two forces. Kennedy worried whether he could win reelection. He campaigned in Dallas to help shore up support in that state. According to Perlstein, the south was already turning away from Democrats. Nixon’s so called ‘Southern Strategy’ really began with Goldwater’s campaign in that election. Goldwater was so popular that he filled Dodger Stadium with people who paid to see him.”

Abel looked quizzical. “I thought Johnson trounced Goldwater in that campaign.”

Cain nodded. “He did (Source). Johnson ran his own election campaign and he used every bit of Presidential power to tarnish Goldwater. But all of the deep south states went with Goldwater, a total flip from the 1960 election. It wasn’t just folks in the south who were unhappy with decisions from the Warren court. The reaction to integrated schools and busing, another Warren court decision, was strong in northern cities. Big protests in New York City against busing. In Chicago, union activists protested affirmative action policies. They were afraid they were going to lose their jobs to black workers. In the 1968 election, the industrial Midwest states flipped red (Source).”

Abel sighed. “I think this country will ever be cursed by slavery. Trump wants the Smithsonian to put away some of its slavery exhibits. A ‘stick your head in the sand’ approach to solving problems. I think a lot of people thought that by electing Obama, a bi-racial candidate, America would finally put the issue to rest.”

Cain smiled. “Yeah, like China would adopt democracy and laissez-faire capitalism after being admitted to the World Trade Organization in the early 2000s. Like the country would play by the rules of free trade and floating exchange rates. Fat chance.”

Abel replied, “I think the International Monetary Fund supervises exchange rates, not the WTO. Actors within the system get away with murder because regulation and supervision is separated among different organizations. The U.S. complained about it a lot, but these international organizations are toothless.”  

Cain argued, “I think they’re constructed to have weak enforcement capabilities so that they do not threaten the sovereignty of the more powerful countries who set up these organizations in the first place. Every country complains about the anarchy that’s inherent in the international system, but no country wants to recognize any authority greater than their own.”

Abel laughed. “It’s the rule of self-interest. If a country wants help, then they are all about consensus values in the international community, blah, blah, blah.”

Cain frowned. “Back on the subject of slavery. Perlstein’s book reminded me that there have always been regional differences in this country. Madison worried about factions in general. Factions based on religion, culture, social class, economic self-interest (Source). As the country spread westward in the first half of the 19^th century, he worried about factions based on geography, particularly North and South, and the issue of slavery (Source). While slavery was no longer an issue in the 20^th century, racial prejudices run like an undercurrent through our history.”

Abel nodded. “I liked your idea a few weeks ago. Having four regions within each party. Fight faction with more faction. Formalize the regional differences in this country so that they are not just categories in some economic or political study. Let the divided interests speak and compete within each party. Otherwise, I’m worried that we are coming to blows.”

Cain stood up. “I feel bad for Kirk’s family, his wife and kids. His parents. No parent should see their child die. If I got to make one rule in the universe, that would be it.”

Abel looked up. “Like I said, I was shocked. I didn’t want to give you the impression that I lacked sympathy for his family. We’ve both been there. We know the hole that an early death leaves in our lives.”

Cain pursed his lips. “Yeah. Hey, I’ll see you next week.”

Abel said, “Here’s hoping to better news next week. See ya.”

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Photo by H&CO on Unsplash