Manliness

Tucker Carlson says men should shine red light on their testicles.

Weird. 

A lot of other Republicans are making a similar point. They say men have turned into "pansies."

We are observing a re-emergence of the very old idea: Americans have gotten soft. 

Tucker Carlson worries that men are under attack for their "toxic masculinity." Men "can't be men," he says. Women shame them. Women boss them around. Women make more money than men, so men can't find mates. 

It isn't just Tucker Carlson. Republican U.S Rep. Madison Cawthorn urged mothers to raise their children up to be "monsters." His audience applauded. Josh Hawley complains that men are weak and adrift, sitting in basements watching porn. Ted Cruz said the left is "trying to destroy the American military and turning it, frankly, into a bunch of pansies."

It would be easy for Democrats to dismiss this as partisan posturing. Would-be Republican successors to Trump are expressing a deep and long-held fear in America. Rather than dismiss it, Democrats could recognize it and work with it, giving it expression that repositions the Democratic brand. Let Tucker Carlson have the testicle tanning. Michelle Obama offered a better way. Recognize that Americans, now and always, worry about the overall fitness of their children to get educated, get jobs, get mates, and to survive in the changing world. Let's eat healthy food and exercise, she said. "Let's get moving." 

John Adams expressed the concept that prosperity brought refinement. Progress meant moving indoors.  

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain

John Kennedy, in his Boston accent, urged American to renew American vitality by acting with "vig-ah," i.e. vigor. We had a missile gap with Russia. Both militarily and physically, Americans had grown soft, he said. Kennedy voiced a challenge to Americans: Walk 50 miles in 24 hours. Only strong people can accomplish it. Kennedy authored an article for Sports Illustrated, The Soft American.

The age of leisure and abundance can destroy vigor and muscle tone as effortlessly as it can gain time. Today human activity, the labor of he human body, is rapidly engineered out of working life. By the 1970s, according to many economists, the man who works with his hands will be almost extinct. 

In a February, 1942 fireside chat, FDR cited Axis propaganda that called us decadent weaklings:

Ever since this nation became the arsenal of democracy – ever since enactment of Lend-Lease – there has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, (and) that Americans have considerable industrial power – but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. From Berlin, Rome and Tokyo we have been described as a nation of weaklings – 'playboys' – who would hire British soldiers, or Russian soldiers, or Chinese soldiers to do our fighting for us. Let them repeat that now! . . . Let them tell that to the Marines!"

Democratic sensitivity to #MeToo and support for the equality of women has been interpreted as an attack on men, not disapproval of boorishness, harassment, and misogyny. Democrats have a difficult and narrow path in messaging. They need to promote the full involvement of women in the life of America without appearing to accomplish it by suppressing and disrespecting men. It may be impossible. Democrats are the party of office workers, not farmers and oil drilling roughnecks. Democrats have already lost the votes of White males. The loss of Black, Hispanic, and Asian males may follow. 

Democrats have been more comfortable with the language of "equity" over the language of "equality of opportunity." Biden in Portland talked about all the women he appointed to high positions, not the highly qualified people he appointed. Progressive women may insist on this language and approach. Men less schooled in anti-racist, anti-misogyny doctrine may consider it being picked on and ignored. 

Montana Senator Jon Tester

In less than a year Democrats seeking the presidential nomination will be trying out ideas and language in gatherings in New Hampshire. One thing a Democrat can do is praise physical fitness and strength, a presumably male trait reflecting manliness. It doesn't diminish women. The Democrat can be shown spending time outdoors. Ronald Reagan supposedly chopped wood. Maybe he really did. Senator Jon Tester really farms. The fact that he doesn't "look like a Democrat" is the point and the problem for Democrats.

The Democrat who can get this right--or right enough--will emerge as the one who will find pluralities that launch him or her into the Democratic nomination. I don't expect it to be Joe Biden.