SPRINGFIELD — Imagine an alien arriving on Earth and being told about all the world’s countries, from France to Germany to Sudan. Which one would seem most destined to collapse?
The United States, according to former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
“Of all those countries, that one right there [America] is the one that’s going to fail because how do you bring people that are so different together?” Kinzinger imagined the alien asking.
It was one of several colorful examples the former Illinois congressman offered a few hundred people gathered at Symphony Hall on Tuesday for an event titled “Defending Democracy and Defeating Toxic Tribalism,” presented by the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts. A vocal critic of President Donald Trump, the Republican describes himself as a “pragmatic conservative.” He now works as a senior political commentator for CNN after not seeking reelection in 2022.
Kinzinger, a six-term member of Congress who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was one of two Republicans on the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Tuesday’s address focused on what he described as the importance of American democracy and the need for people to remain engaged in civic life.
He used the alien hypothetical to show how extraordinary the American experiment in liberty remains, and why defending freedom matters in a multicultural country.
“When we talk about democracy, why does it matter to us?” he asked.
His answer centered on what democracy allows people to do both at home and abroad.
“When you can look around and care about what’s going on around you, when you care about injustices that happen to somebody else and you don’t shrink your field of view to just what affects you … it brings a richer life to us,” he said.
“Your kids can make a decision about what they want to be, what they want to do in the future. They can have a depth of personality beyond themselves, and not living in this cold, damp, dark world where the only thing that matters is what happens to you.”
Kinzinger argued that American democracy also serves as an example abroad. He pointed to the Cold War, saying American music, television, books and other media helped people living behind the Iron Curtain imagine a different way of life.
He also recalled congressional trips to Ethiopia and Kenya, where he said he saw U.S.-backed programs help farmers reach markets and improve their livelihoods. There may be some waste in foreign aid, he said, but very little, and American help brings hope to impoverished countries.
Kinzinger used baseball as a metaphor for democracy, arguing that the system depends on people agreeing to follow the same rules even when they disagree about the outcome.
He also placed the current political moment within the broader history of the United States, pointing to generations that faced their own crises, from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War and World War II. He invoked Abraham Lincoln, encouraging the audience to compare photographs of the president from the beginning and end of his presidency as evidence of the personal toll of the fight for democracy.
Central to his message was staying involved. Sitting on the sidelines, he said, amounts to succumbing to authoritarianism. People in authoritarian countries often focus solely on their families and immediate concerns because they believe they have little ability to influence what happens around them, he said.
“One of the things you see in authoritarian countries is people take their point of view and they shrink it to right here,” he said.
Kinzinger closed by urging the audience not to do the same, and not to become apathetic or disengaged.
“There is no silver bullet,” he said. “The one thing you can do, I can do, is to refuse to give up hope.”
During a question-and-answer session, Kinzinger discussed the future of the Republican Party. Asked whether the party could be reformed from within, he said he was unsure.
“I think the GOP is a very damaged brand for probably the next at least 10 years,” he said, adding that circumstances could change with a new party leader.
He also said that as traditional media has fragmented, Americans have increasingly become responsible for determining whether the information they consume is reliable.
“We can’t passively receive information,” Kinzinger said. “Now we actually have to go out and seek the truth and the answers.”
The appearance was Kinzinger’s first visit to Springfield. He said he was staying at MGM Springfield but had not yet tried his luck at the casino.
