Some of us are old enough to have known about the phrase “silent majority” as used by Nixon back in the day to describe voters who were occupying the middle ground between three presidential candidates in 1968. The phrase indicated the many people in our country that don’t protest or voice their political opinions loudly in public.
Trump tried to revitalize the phrase to describe his own supporters, but it backfired. I think the reason is that he misjudged, along with a multitude of other things, who the silent majority is.
The new silent majority is actually very diverse. They are the core of our society. Those who don’t care to be involved in public displays of political views. They are Democrats and Republicans and Independents that consider it their duty to vote for the person they choose, but don’t think that they have to share that information with anyone else. Voting is a private process for a reason.
The silent majority are Americans of every race and religion that go about their days working in every realm, raising families in every city, and minding their own business, not getting involved in vicious, violent protests of any kind. They may feel very strongly about issues that others are protesting publicly about, but they either lack the chance, the time, the money, or the ability to enter into such public protests. They use the voting booth to influence the nation.
The silent majority understand that the only other way they can truly change this world is the way they treat their own sphere of influence. They know that if they treat those around them with kindness and respect, they will usually get kindness and respect back. They understand that the only person they can truly change is themselves.
There are, certainly, some issues in our country and world that need to be addressed. Along with the silent majority, I think that some changes need to be made. But the violence and vitriol that has dominated the media in the last few years is a heartbreaking attempt to make that change. Can we not make the changes without it? The prophet Isaiah shares God’s desire to work out his relationship with his people, and I think it is a good admonition for people to use with others as well. “Come, let us reason together,” and work out the differences between us without violence.
Our country needs the silent majority to keep doing what they do. Keep working, keep changing, keep influencing. Perhaps opening up to speak in reasoned voices, instead of vicious screams, about what we believe to the people who can make the changes, like our duly elected representatives. No matter what your political view, they will surely listen more easily to reason than attack. Silence in the face of such need is not the way to obtain the changes we want. Maybe we could try instead to be the quietly reasonable majority, and our influence will be more surely felt.