It is one of the hallmarks of modern political rhetoric to compare an utterly human phenomenon, politics, to natural or mechanical phenomena: we speak of grassroots politics, lame ducks, and radicals (from the Latin radix, “root”), and likewise of machine politics, political movements, and balances of power. Thomas Hobbes, perhaps the arch-modern political theorist, managed to mix the metaphors: his “leviathan” (whale) was also an “automaton” (robot).
In the wake of Democratic victories on Tuesday, the metaphors have been oceanic: the blue wave, the blue tsunami, and, well, “wake.” Waves are everywhere in our political rhetoric this week.
If metaphors are capsules of meaning, the idea seems to be that while political currents may ebb and flow, great moments in political history “sweep” the nation up, “roll through” the states, or take the country “by storm.”
But there is a problem with these oceanic metaphors. They suggest that what happened in Texas on Tuesday was directly and causally connected to what happened in Maine, and what happened in Maine to what happened in South Carolina, and so on. It was One Hell of a Big Wave.
Except it didn’t seem to hit Florida, or Montana, or Wyoming, or Idaho, or Alabama, or several other states.
Wave metaphors hide the fact that each surprising victory on Tuesday was the result of good candidates and disciplined campaigns. Yes, there is plenty of anti-Trump sentiment out there, but not every Democratic candidate was able to capitalize on it, and not every Republican was knocked over by it. These campaigns were won and lost on the ground, not at sea.
The metaphor of the tsunami causes us to see politics as a form of force, when in reality politics is an alternative to force. The metaphor of the wave also gives us a Big Appetite for Big Change, when political change is incremental, uneven, slow, and sometimes arduous. Moreover, the metaphor of the tsunami provides cover for power by giving the victors the appearance of an irresistible force: this can’t be stopped. Of course it can be stopped, and probably will be, or at least slowed down.
Tsunami, wave, and other oceanic and stormy metaphors are bad for politics, and bad for the nation, because they cause us to misunderstand what politics is really about: the hard work of vote-getting and coalition building.
If we must use aquatic metaphors, how about “bubbling up”? What happened on Tuesday was the consequence of a lot of different factors bubbling up. It was also the result of significant cracks in the surface of MAGA, not least the reputation of MAGA’s fearless leader, Donald Trump. Most importantly, what happened on Tuesday was the work of some damn good candidates and some very disciplined campaigns. They helped create a groundswell.