Joseph Sabino Mistick: In search of a silent majority

When President Richard M. Nixon appealed to the nation for support of his Vietnam War policy in a televised address, he called on the “silent majority” of Americans to side with him.

The term “silent majority” has come and gone and been used in various ways, but it suited Nixon’s political needs in 1969.

Nixon was the leader of a divided nation, facing massive public protests over the war and a cultural revolution on college campuses. But he was betting that the nation was not evenly divided. He believed that those Americans he called the “silent majority” outnumbered a loud and troublesome minority on the political left.

Nixon was onto something. After his speech, his approval ratings shot up 30 points to over 80%, and “silent majority” became a trademark of his administration. He won reelection in 1972 — winning 49 of 50 states — in large part because of the “silent majority.”

For better or worse, Nixon had found that bloc of voters near the middle and got them to be against what they saw as the political extreme. Over time, the “silent majority” excluded any group of people that was different, and it faded away once again.

But in Time magazine’s 1970 “Man of the Year” edition, publisher Roy E. Larsen wrote, “In a time of dissent and confrontation, the most striking new factor was the emergence of the Silent Majority as a powerfully assertive force in U.S. society.”

Well, this is again a time of dissent and confrontation. Both political parties have very active extremes — on the right and the left. Both parties are struggling for a clear majority, competing for independent voters. Both the House and the Senate are divided by a few votes, and very important issues, like immigration reform, are not getting solved.

Sometimes the good of the country is being sacrificed for the good of the party. Too often, tribalism has replaced patriotism. On the national level, most of the time, we are either going nowhere or headed in the wrong direction

So, here’s the question: Is there a “silent majority” out there now that can help lead us out of this mess?

Donald Trump has claimed from time to time that a “silent majority” supports him, but that is clearly not the case. Hillary Clinton got nearly 3 million more votes than he did in 2016. He lost by 7 million votes to Joe Biden in 2020. And we all know that there is nothing silent about his supporters. CNN’s Harry Enten has called them a “loud minority.”

At the risk of appearing too provincial, let me suggest that our local Democratic and Republican parties here in Allegheny County may provide us with hopeful examples of how we can serve our communities and each other.

I have attended more political functions in Allegheny County over the years than I can count, both Democratic and Republican annual dinners, rallies and summer picnics. At every political event there are lots of American flags and lots of speeches about love of community and country. By and large, we agree on a lot of things.

But we are different from the national political scene. We have found a way to fight hard for the political win, but when it comes to our community, we respect the necessary processes of our democracy and find that great common ground.