Although the correlation can be attenuated when reasoning by analogy, such analysis can be helpful to illustrate key concepts and common issues. I have previously observed that the deliberate and strategic divisiveness orchestrated and exhorted by the White House occupant and his sycophants has brought the nation to a point of psychological and spiritual depression, what President Jimmy Carter would call a “malaise.” The division we see today, however, is not driven by concern for the future of the nation and its people, as was the case during the Carter Administration. Instead it is driven by incitement of deep fear, distrust and even hatred toward fellow Americans. That fear-mongering and hatred is directed primarily against people of color grounded in bigotry and racist policies. There are also calls to demonize anyone who speaks out in support of measures supporting social justice, community, and sustaining welfare of the public. These advocates for a representative democracy are being branded as “radicals” and “anarchists” even as they call for repair and fidelity to the rule of law and preservation of democratic institutions and values being undermined by the current Administration.
We have not seen a society so riven since the apocryphal
Civil War. At that time, the nation was hopelessly divided based upon a racist
ideology that people of color were “inferior,” and that exploitation and
inhumane treatment was excusable, if not “justified.” The nation was pushed to
the point of war in an attempt by the slave holding populace to retain that
prerogative of owning persons of color, controlling their lives, and exploiting
their labor. We should be mindful of the long and tortuous road the nation had
to travel to recover a sense, even if tenuous at times, of a “union” and a “common
good.”
Currently, the nation is faced with a level of division
advocated by the president and his administration as forcefully and as
consistently as leaders of the Confederacy sought to divide the nation in the
19th century. Some groups are attacked directly because of their
ethnicity or gender, while others are attacked via equally identifiable “dog
whistle” vernacular used to avoid explicit naming. The purpose seems to be to
solidify irrational and almost cultist loyalty of adherents who can be
persuaded to ignore their own self interest when given a target to hate and
vent their frustration toward. That the “leadership” they support is actually
causing them more harm that the targets of their hatred speaks to the
irrationality of such bigotry. And so, as in the Civil War, the “common enemy”
is not some foreign power or some economic crisis, it is a divided segment of
our supposed union. “We the people” has transmogrified into “I the people.” The
goal for many has changed from what makes “us” stronger, to what gives an
individual power to exercise individual rights and privileges without regard to
the harm such exercise may do to others. No where is this ethic embodied more
clearly than in the character of the White House occupant.
To effectuate this self-centered and inhumane ethical
persuasion, policies and practices have been employed that ignore the rule of
law and domestic legal prohibitions, and frequently violate international norms
of human rights. Immigrant and refugee families are being targets by race and
ethnicity, with family members separated and abused while children have been
put in cages, which for some has resulted in death. Legacy manifestations of
the Civil War and Reconstruction “Slave Patrols” in the form of emboldened and
unrestrained police forces have unleashed mayhem and abuse on citizens of
color, with a death toll any civil society would consider unthinkable – but for
the issue of race. And even the very core fundament of a democratic government,
the right to vote, is being assailed and undermined through suppression of
certain groups. The effect is not dissimilar to the concept of the 3/5 person
strategy employed surrounding slavery to deliberately diminish human value. If people
of color can be systematically denied or discouraged from voting through racist
policies of redistricting and closing polling stations during elections, then
only a fraction of their numbers will have access to the right to vote and
disenfranchisement succeeds.
The core question is what will it take to recover from the
depth of this division and distrust, even after the primary public figure acting
as catalyst is removed form office? President Lincoln gave a stirring and
inspirational Gettysburg Address to advance the healing process. Will we have
an inspirational leader step forward who can promote a rapprochement and at
least respectful dialogue that can lead to unity of purpose and interests?
Right now, it seems that “Trumpists” do not believe in science and objective
facts or reason; and they are driven to distrust anyone who disagrees with them
no matter how much opposing arguments may seem in their own best interests. In
addition, “liberals” do not believe in the intellectual capacity of most “Trumpists”
to grasp concepts firmly grounded in factual evidence, scientific research, and
logical reasoning; and they do not trust that the motivation of “Trumpists” to
be supportive of any common good or principle of social justice. The existence
of a global COVID-19 Pandemic which demands a cohesive and strategic response
designed to protect the people and promote “public welfare,” antagonizes and
exposes the demoralized and weakened state we are in because of the division,
deliberately wrought.
This assessment analogizes our current divided nation and
peoples to the rift of the Civil War, with destruction brought by militarization
of “peace officers” and “public safety” representatives and through gross
distortion of journalistic media, vicious deployment of social media and use of
disinformation instead of rifles and cannon. To begin the process of healing
the division, there must first be a cessation of the public “leadership” that
fosters and incites division. The First Amendment would not support silencing
such voices, but the political process [if allowed to work] can remove the
mantle of authority and take away the megaphone being used to promote such
hatred with amplified volume and effect. The past four years have demonstrated
how quickly and easily the nation can slip back into that primordial cesspool,
yet we can also look back to examples in the past 130 years when the nation has
sought to rise above such base instincts and reveal a higher and better version
of itself and the values to which we aspire, even when unable to fully attain
them. But I would contend that an important first step on that journey of
recovery must be a recognition and appreciation of how truly far we have been
led astray and how far we have fallen from those values of humanity, social justice,
and decency. We cannot fix a problem we refuse to acknowledge.
