Professor Starts The Come Together Project Through Social Media

Senior Lecturer Brian Endless of the Department of Political Science posts one TikTok each day about the political division he believes is tearing America apart. His message is part of his initiative, the Come Together Project, which held a talk Feb. 19, co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the Interdisciplinary Honors Program.

CTP is primarily a social media project currently, but Endless said he wants to branch out by holding more talks to grow the project’s prominence. He said he’s already held several talks at universities, community groups and churches to promote CTP’s message of unity.

The project’s website lists four core beliefs — predatory capitalism as a primary problem, as is the purposeful division of society by elites, taking power back from the elites to achieve true freedom and the understanding of community as our greatest asset.

“The first piece is just to give people the tools to help stop the fighting that we’ve had in the U.S., and that’s built up over the last 40 years, and where we’ve kind of built into two teams and politics and society has become a team sport,” Endless said.

Endless said predatory capitalism is the first problem CTP confronts, but it’s not concerned with capitalism as a whole. CTP’s website defines predatory capitalism as a form of capitalism that works really well for the elite but poorly for everyone else. Elite domination of the economy and government — which he calls corporatism — is the main concern with predatory capitalism.

“I don’t think American capitalism is capitalism in any meaningful form,” Endless said. “I think it’s corporatism. It focuses on corporations and the owners of the corporations. And I think, as opposed to a democracy, we’ve become a plutocracy.”

The second core belief is that “elites,” or a small group of wealthy people with disproportionate power and influence, purposefully divide the American public. Endless said the division in American society isn’t primarily due to political differences.

“We can’t talk to each other, and I want to suggest that’s been set up on purpose,” Endless said. 

Endless said political action committees have stirred up division, particularly around what he deems culture war issues, such as abortion and gun control — issues that only gained relevance in the early 1980s due to activist groups creating coordinated political campaigns to influence public opinion on both sides.

“These are not natural things,” Endless said. “The Heritage Foundation and three or four other groups started trying to actively politicize them and writing talking points that got them to make it a political issue.”

Endless said political division in America has gotten worse, moving from a view of politics as a tribalistic sport to a vehicle for personal hatred.

“In 2016, when President Trump first assumed office, we saw a gigantic split in this country, where instead of just the team fighting, we started to hate each other, and we started to cancel each other,” Endless said.

Endless said CTP’s third belief is about taking power back from the elites. 

“I would say to students, to faculty, to anybody you know reading this, it sounds huge, and it is huge to change the system, but it starts with each one of us, and we can start in small ways,” Endless said. “We can start by figuring out how to talk to our family members — how to stop talking about the culture war issues we disagree on.” 

CTP’s fourth belief is about rebuilding a sense of solidarity in our communities.

“We’ve been pushed toward individualism in this country, and I think we are better, and I think history and society and economics all show we’re better when we’re a community,” Endless said. “I think we need to take back community.”

CTP plans to hold future events and incorporate as a club at Loyola. Jolie Brochu, a senior majoring in political science, said she’s in the process of bringing together potential officers and starting the club formation process. 

Ben Braun, a first-year majoring in global studies and political science, said he thinks CTP is a great opportunity for Loyola students to bond.

“I think it will create a comfortable setting for political conversations,” Braun said. “This will allow for civil discourse to take place, leading to collaboration and true growth. I hope it will give the students confidence that together we can make real change.”