When democracy is cratering, can kindness matter?

What singer-songwriter Steve Earle had to say on a Buffalo stage

Every summer, I live for a few months in the reddest Congressional district in New York State — the very one that Republican Chris Collins called home a few years back when he was doing his insider trading and was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump. In the square mile around my family’s cottage near Lake Erie, I regularly see a Confederate flag, MAGA signs and pickup trucks with Trump flags. When Covid-19 hit, I remember asking the hardware store manager his thoughts. “I think it’s bullshit,” he said of the pandemic that would eventually kill more than a million Americans. The woman who cuts my hair is a fan of Jesse Watters, the Fox News host.

Singer-songwriter Steve Earle talked about his fears for American democracy during a concert at Buffalo’s Babeville this week / Getty Images

We don’t exactly share the same worldview.

So, as I get ready to move back to New York City for the fall, I’m thinking about some things that I heard singer-songwriter Steve Earle say on stage this week during a concert at Buffalo’s Babeville.