We Won't End Book Bans Until We Understand US Political History
How the fringe right keeps the left from making progress. Spoiler: they've used these same tactics through US history.
In his latest book Under the Eye of Power, Colin Dickey explores the history of conspiracy theories in America. I am most of the way through the book as I write this, and among the groups and moments he has tackled in-depth are the Know Nothings, the Molly Maguires, and the Haymarket Riot. The book is fascinating. It is also aggravating, as it comes back again and again to a point that can be hard for people who are showing up and doing the work of progress to accept: the arc of history does not bend toward justice. Even in the moments where history appears to be doing so–see the ending of slavery–something else is bubbling beneath the surface.
One point Dickey presents continues to gnaw at me because of how painfully it relates to where we are right now.
Throughout American history, there have always been far-right fringe groups. These groups don’t mind being seen as such and indeed, as we see today, groups like Moms for Liberty, Awake Illinois, and others, embrace the notion of “fringe” as a badge of honor. The mainline goal of these groups, however, is not to increase their membership or convince the average, middle-of-the-road individual to join their cause. Instead, it is to ensure they cause enough trouble to stop progress.
Fringe right groups do not care about moving the middle right. They care about stopping progress through whatever means possible.
This is fundamentally different than how the left operates (we’re going to set aside the far left here because the far left has a lot in common with the far right). On the left, one goal is progress, but it is too often secondary to convincing those who fall in the middle to join their cause.
We see this again and again when it is time to vote. The left wants to move the folks who are undecided or are unaffiliated to follow their lead and join them. The far right? They toss out their most off-the-wall policies in order to create a distraction and encourage the left to work harder in moving the middle their way. As a result, forward progress is halted. We lose progressive candidates in exchange for someone safe and palatable to those in the middle.
Ends achieved.
Of course, regressive policies also make their way into the bigger political picture. The result is not to sway public opinion–indeed, as we have seen with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, most Americans still believe abortion should be legal–but to keep those within these fringes in power. Look at the GOP candidates for 2024: it’s a clown car of far-right politicians who have a serious chance not because they are popular but because they have gerrymandered enough power among their base to keep it. They are outrageous enough to turn off anyone who isn’t part of the fringes all together. The left scrambles to convince them to vote for their candidate, since that candidate is middle enough to feel safe (in many cases, those voters are just turned off, period, so even the left can’t succeed in swaying their vote toward Middle-Friendly McGee).
This difference in the far-right and the left stands out to me as we look at poll after poll after poll after poll of people’s opinions on book bans. Those across the political spectrum do not think book bans are okay, nor do they buy into the rhetoric being perpetrated across the fringes, even when those fringe voices are loud, pushy, aggressive, and dominating more and more news cycles. Even when those fringes are pushing their philosophies into legislation using underhanded techniques.
While the left has been busy trying to recruit more to their cause of being anti-book ban–indeed, a worthy cause but one that every poll says is already an opinion held by the majority–the far-right has rammed book ban legislation into Congress. Fringe darling Lauren Boebert included in the National Defense Authorization Act a provision that would outlaw a host of different books from any Department of Defense Education Activity school. Accessible queer books for military kids? Absolutely not. She does not want kids to be radicalized and groomed by gender ideology or sexuality. It is okay, of course, for white Christians to have heterosexual sex leading to pregnancy, though–it’s tradition in her family
As of writing, it is unclear yet whether that amendment to the bill will stay or be voted out. Congress is attempting to get it passed before their recess in August. Regardless of the outcome, what stands out is this: the left is once again playing defense, writing their representatives to beg them to remove amendments like this one. Forward progress continues to halt.
This is the playbook of the fringe right to a T.
Drop outrageous rhetoric into a bill that would be regressive and watch as the left is too busy trying to end it–begging people to write letters and show up, especially those in the middle who have never seen themselves as particularly political–to actually make progress on proactive legislation. The left, caught off guard again.
The United States are not progressive, nor have they ever been. Even the most liberal states are still middle of the political spectrum when measured against the rest of the world. Recognizing the pattern of fringe right activity and their end goal of halting progress followed by the left expending significant effort to garner more support for their side and then playing defense is crucial if we want to make any change.
It’s also why recognizing the places where progress is emerging matters. We’ve seen Illinois pass and codify an anti-book ban bill. It’s far from a progressive bill, as it literally only denies access to pool of limited funds to public institutions who do not include the Library Bill of Rights into their collection policies. It is, however, a bill that succeeded despite the right’s efforts to squash anything not aligned with their limited world view. Dems did not waste time trying to convince people this was an important measure. They already knew, so they acted.
Now we wait to see if states like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania can pass similar measures. We wait to see if the prison libraries act that would ensure access to libraries and librarians to individuals experiencing incarceration can pass at the national level–it’s another bill that is far from progressive and yet passes as such.
Progress is made by taking the leap. It’s not made by begging people to join the cause. The fringes will continue to stay twenty steps ahead, as they’ve got this formula down pat.
Libraries are not, nor have they ever been, neutral. That should be clearer now than it ever has been before.
Further Reading:
For more on how the far-left is closely aligned with the far-right, I cannot recommend Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat by Derek Barnes, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker enough.
For more on how the left fails to push for progressive policies, despite having the evidence and support for them, I recommend reading Matthew Desmond’s powerful Poverty, By America.
For more on the long-game played by the radical right, Jane Mayer’s Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right is essential reading.
All of the books mentioned in this piece happen to be by white authors. I’d love any recommendations covering these or similar topics by authors of color, so please feel free to leave any in the comments!