Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters were good. Too good. And one of the most effective lines they used to help turn Americans against the government and each other began with “The nine most terrifying words in the English language…” And those words you probably know were: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.

This bit had everything: setup, punchline, and a dog whistle that suggested any government involved in assuring rights, sustenance, and opportunities for all Americans couldn’t be on the side of “you.”

And you know who “you” are.

With this clever framing, massive backing from the wealthiest men on earth, an actual evil foil in the USSR, a television persona honed over generations, and a lot of luck, Ronald Reagan was one of the most successful shapers of the mushy middle in American history. His reelection was so resounding that he survived one of the most obviously impeachable scandals we know of and left office with an approval rating in the 60s.

What is the mushy middle? In this week’s NEXT COMES WHAT, Andrea Pitzer returns to this concept she has spoken of before, informed by her study of authoritarianism around the world. She describes mushy middle as the miss of people “that sits between hardcore authoritarian supporters and those who prioritize flexibility and inclusion in society.”

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They’ll be bouncing their head to a Will.I.Am song culled from Obama’s words in one decade and lining up to see Trump speak at Coachella in the next. Where will they go next? Nobody knows! And as Kurt Vonnegut culled from Shakespeare, we’re all kind of like this, stuck in a reality where it’s almost impossible to cull the good news from the bad news. The Middlers are just absorbing clues about where they should be next, hoping not to arrive too quickly or too slowly so they won’t stand out too much.

Where do those clues come from? In an America where journalism has been gutted, the media has been gutted and/or subsumed by the right, and education is uneven at best, they mostly get those clues from friends and family, who mostly get their information—consciously or unconsciously—from propaganda.

“Propaganda energizes its extremist base and both persuades and intimidates the mushy middle to think that the authoritarian has a lot of support, that he is inevitable, that he guarantees security, and that he has popular support,” Andrea explains.

What’s the only antidote to surrendering the mushy middle?

Virtue signaling, says Andrea:

The mushy middle, by definition, doesn’t have firm opinions. They’re changeable and can be moved. What this means we have to virtue signal, to show up in community meetings and on the streets, to create a wall of virtue signaling that puts social and political pressure on everyone from local mayors to ICE agents and National Guard members around the country, as well as national leaders.

So I leave you today with the most terrifying ELEVEN words in the English language: The fate of America will be decided by the mushy middle.

So what can we do to mush them toward freedom?