“Disagreeing better isn’t just about being nicer to one another — it’s about finding a way to disagree that moves us toward solutions rather than deepening divides.” –Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, “Disagree Better” initiative, 2024
Crass and vicious language is today pervasive in American culture. We hear it on main streets throughout the U.S., and even on the Island.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wants everyone to “disagree better,” to tone down the political and at times violent rhetoric. And he’s right. Cox started the “Disagree Better” initiative when he chaired the National Governors Association. He re-emphasized this after the senseless murder in his state of conservative critic Charlie Kirk. Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressives must all nationally spread his suggestion. Today, we can hardly have a civil discussion in a nation so polarized as the U.S.
This includes the current President of the U.S., who not only attacks those with whom he disagrees but freely uses obscene language. It’s impossible to quote him in a family newspaper like the MV Times without using a series of ellipses.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt excused him by announcing that “one of the things the American people love the most about this president is he often says what they were thinking but lack the courage to say themselves.”
And he is not alone. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blamed Republicans in an angry video for shutting down the government with a widely reported profanity.
When vicious words turn to actual violence, it gets even worse. The mindless killing of Charlie Kirk or the assassination of former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House and her husband, or the firebombing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home, or the two attempted shootings at Donald Trump on the campaign trail are only some of the recent dreadful events Americans have witnessed. They must be condemned and stopped.
The public use of profanity is not the real problem. The tragedy is that so many people turn to ahistorical epithets to characterize those who disagree with us. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, for example, said the people who protested the deployment of National Guard troops to various cities were “communists.” Alternatively, he has labeled all Democrats “fascists.” And Democrats return the compliment by calling all Trump supporters, including the president himself, “fascists.”
Many people opposed to Donald Trump and his administration refer to them as “Nazis,” as did Trump critic and motion picture star Robert De Niro when he said, “I guess he’s the Goebbels of the Cabinet, Stephen Miller. He’s a Nazi.” He was comparing Miller to Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist for Hitler’s Nazi Party. And Miller blasts federal judges who rule against Trump initiatives as “Marxists.”
To describe the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as Nazis and fascists is reckless and inflammatory. Totally and emphatically condemn their tactics and means, yes, but it’s impossible to locate an ideological framework underlying ICE’s actions.
The use of these terms is ahistorical and unworthy of reporting. First, Marxism developed in the mid-19th century as a complex ideology responsive to the vast industrial changes taking place at the time. This was long before the laboring classes organized into trade unions. Karl Marx (1818-83) developed his beliefs while observing how capitalism develops by the interplay of economic and social contradictions.
To oversimplify, he saw how modes of production lead to the dominance of wealthier classes over the lower classes. The conflict in time moves from master versus slave to nobility versus peasant and then finally to his own time between capitalist versus worker. The end goal of Marxism is a classless society.
As a mechanical, 19th-century ideology, Marxism never came to fruition. The rise of Communism in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba and elsewhere never realized a classless utopian society, only dictatorship, death, destruction, and the gulag.
Second, the same is true of Nazism and fascism. They are early- and mid-20th century phenomena that developed in Germany and Italy (and then Spain), which demanded total obedience to the state and its leadership. To attribute Nazi or fascist ideology to current authoritarian ideas and tactics may be useful in citing parallels, but in the U.S. today, there are no organized Nazi or fascist parties able to seize power in Washington, D.C., as there were in Germany, Italy, and Spain in the 1920s and 1930s.
At least not yet.
It’s time to tone down the violent rhetoric and focus on matters on which we can agree in civil and respectful ways. Drop the profanities. Halt the contemptuous name-calling. Reject outdated labels that have little or no meaning. Instead, exhort national unity and gracious discourse. Or as Utah Gov. Cox puts it, disagree better.
Jack Fruchtman, who lives in Aquinnah, taught constitutional law and politics for more than 40 years.
Civility is the lubricant of Society. It is unfortunate/tragic that people can not debate opposing positions without fire and fury. We used to be able to take different sides, discuss, and part friends. Those days are over, at least it seems that way.
Thank you for this informative, rational essay.
Yesterday —Nov 4— , I was at SBS ( the grain store) and saw a truck with the name of a person I have had some sharp disagreements with on social media. As I was leaving , the owner of the truck walked over to it. I asked if he was the person I thought he was. He said he was. I introduced myself and offered a handshake. He immediately became enraged and said “get the *(&^% away from me you commie *%$ (*^& — and if you ever get near me again I’ll rip your ^%^(&& % $^$*# off and stuff it down your throat” I politely said ” that’s about what I expected” and left him alone… An island born and raised Vineyarder … Thanks to Jack once again for another thoughtful essay.
Jack Fruchtman is right: We are losing the ability to disagree without tearing each other apart. The constant escalation of language — from casual profanity to calling opponents Nazis, fascists, or communists — cheapens history and shuts down honest debate. These labels once described real, murderous regimes; using them today as political shorthand only inflames division and erodes meaning.
Fruchtman also notes that this problem spans parties and ideologies. No leader is exempt. When politicians and public figures normalize verbal abuse, the nation follows — and too often, rhetoric spills into real violence. Recent attacks across the political spectrum are tragic reminders that words matter.
Here on the Vineyard, we see echoes of this national polarization. Even local conversations can feel tense, despite neighbors ultimately wanting the same thing: a safe, stable, and thriving Island community. We can passionately debate policy while still respecting the people sitting across from us.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s message — “disagree better” — is desperately needed. We can hold strong convictions while acknowledging our shared humanity.
If we want a healthier nation and Island, it starts with how we speak to one another. Tone matters. History matters. Respect matters.
Thank you, Professor Fruchtman, for reminding us that civility is the foundation of a functioning democracy.
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