Dennis M. Powell: Persuasion is essential for democracy to survive

Persuasion is fundamental to our self-governance, because it allows us to build consensus for action with the consent of the governed.

“Come let us reason together,” Isaiah 1:18 states a belief in the power and promise of people, using reason, to self-govern. It is foundational to our system. Thomas Jefferson, was a Deist who valued reason over divine revelation. This explains why he was a strong advocate for our Bill of Rights that included free speech, assembly, press and the right to petition the government. Jefferson believed, “In a republican nation whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance.” 

As we approach the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence we find a divided America where people are less willing to come together to find common ground. In a 2022 opinion piece in Scientific American, Nathan Ballantyne, Jared Celniker, and Peter Ditto coined the term “persuasion fatigue.” This is a result of an uncompromising belief in “your own logic” and unwillingness to tolerate people who “refuse to follow.” As a result, we are becoming increasingly polarized around certainty in unchallenged beliefs.

Pew Research reported in 2024, “fewer than half of Americans say there is common ground between Republicans and Democrats in Washington.” Pew data also show, “common ground between the parties has declined by an average of 12 points on six key issues since 2023.”

In a another survey released on 2023, Pew Research found 65 percent of Americans are “exhausted” and 55 percent are “angry” while only ten percent are “hopeful” and four percent “excited” when they think about our politics. The study found, “Ordinary Americans are more polarized than in the past. Partisan divisions on issues are wider than they were a few decades ago, and many Americans hold deeply negative views of those on the ‘other side’ of politics.”

Writing in Psychology Today, Jessica Koehler, Ph.D. states, “Social influence in social media encompasses the various ways individuals are affected by the content and interactions they encounter online. This influence can be direct or indirect, intentional, or unintentional, and it often operates through conformity, compliance, and obedience.” This is antithetical to the promise of American democracy.

Control of the narrative by the like-minded on both sides is creating an immutable worldview for their acolytes. Inquiry is replaced with certainty to short-circuit debate. On the climate, social justice, gender, vaccines and immigration issues, discussion was stifled and descent often punished as unpopular policies were enacted by force not with consent of the governed.

Opinion has been relegated to soundbites, slogans, and chants as advocates demand “conformity, compliance and obedience.” Replacing consensus with certainty and consent with force provides license to promulgate violence as a justifiable means to accomplish political goals.

President Trump is defined by his opponents as a Nazi, Hitler, authoritarian, oligarch, and threat to democracy, providing license to use whatever means available to stop him. During his 2024 campaign there were two assassination attempts on his life. Recently, former director of the FBI James Comey, thought it was “clever” to post on social media seashells arranged as “86 47.” At Trump’s first inauguration, singer Madonna at a rally stated she dreams of “blowing up” the White House. An IPSOS Poll in 2023 found that 73 percent of Democrats wanted to see Trump put in prison. 

Dangerous rhetoric births hostile action.

After 26-year-old Luigi Mangione gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thomson in New York City, NORC polling found 69 percent of those polled believed “denial of coverage” had a great deal or moderate level of responsibility and 67 percent agreed “profits” played a role. What was missing was universal condemnation of using deadly force to resolve a dispute. Over $1 million has been raised for his defense.

Supporters of the pro-Hamas movement have occupied universities with impunity, openly intimidating Jewish students, and forcing their anti-Israel narrative on the American people. On May 22, 2025, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, soon to be engaged Israeli embassy aides, were gunned down by a pro-Palestinian assassin who proudly chanted “Free Palestine” upon his arrest. It is a short path from the violence advocated in speech to violence put into action.

In Palm Springs, California, a fertility clinic was blown up by an anti-natalist to make his point against having children. The U.S. Capitol was stormed by protestors upset by election results. A would-be assassin was stopped only a few blocks from the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Is this the new norm for advancing our democracy?

At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln provided prescient guidance: “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” 

In the end, eradicating the path to common ground leaves only the zealots willing to serve in elected office. These fringe ideologies are rigid and based in certainty. They can only govern using force and violence rooted in appeals to base emotions rather than reason.

In 2026, let us reawaken as a nation to the role persuasion plays in preserving America for future generations by uniting behind, “come let us reason together.”

Dennis M. Powell is a strategic issues management consultant at Massey Powell and author of the book, “Leading from the Top: Presidential Lessons in Issues Management.”