U.S. will continue to be a divided nation
There is one obvious conclusion that can be reached by watching the 2020 presidential election — America is a divided nation.
About a third of the nation is solidly Republican. About a third of the nation is solidly Democrat. Finally, about a third of the nation is neither.
Getting the votes of this last group determines the results of any national election.
Many Americans who get their news from 24-hour cable news channels think this is a new phenomenon. It is not.
Covering any news story in 30-second or a minute does not allow for much historical perspective. Since television is a form of entertainment, those who produce it don’t add much history for fear of boring people. That is how television works.
Here is some important American history to understand:
The United States started as a divided nation. When the 13 American colonies began moving toward revolting and breaking free from British rule, about 40 percent were for it. About 20 percent were still loyal to England and opposed it.
The other 40 percent were too busy making a living to care about politics, but that changed because of these three things:
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament to pay for the expenses of the French and Indian War.
Until then, each colony decided how much in taxes to impose on its residents. People felt they had control over taxation.
The Stamp Act was so unpopular that there were riots in America. Benjamin Franklin convinced the Crown to rescind the Stamp Act, but it made many people mad and pushed them toward the independence movement.
The English government decided it could not allow the colonies to get away with its opposition to British rule. Parliament voted to assert its authority over the Colonies by taxing goods from England bought by the Americans.
The government on the other side of the Pond ordered the establishment of a board of customs commissioners to stop smuggling of goods from other countries into America.
The American colonies struck back by organizing a boycott of the taxed British goods. The famous Boston Tea Party later happened because of this.
In an effort to crush colonial resistance to English taxes, the British sent its army to occupy Boston.
In March 1770, tensions between the British occupiers and colonists in Boston reached a boiling point.
A crowd of about 200 colonists verbally clashed with seven armed British troops. It got out of hand and the British soldiers fired on the crowd. Three men were killed and two others were seriously injured.
Things escalated from there until America declared its independence from England. The American Revolutionary War followed.
While people joined together to fight the British, the new nation was divided again after the war over what kind of government to establish.
Some wanted George Washington to be the king of the just-birthed United States of America. Others saw the problems a monarchy caused and wanted a leader elected for a specific period of time.
The addition of the Bill of Rights was a compromise to work out some of this disagreement.
While a compromise was eventually worked out, this division has been there since then.
Here are some examples:
The United States was so divided over slavery that a civil war was fought.
The question of “should woman be allowed to vote” once divided this country.
Before World War I there was a much debated question of “Should America stay an isolated nation or become a player on the world stage?”
Before World War II, most people opposed America’s becoming involved in the war in Europe and the Pacific. The bombing of Pearl Harbor changed that.
The issues of abortion, gun control, the death penalty, illegal immigration, socialism or capitalism, government run healthcare, and LBGTQ “rights” are hot topics today.
With so much to disagree on, there is no doubt the United States will continue to be a divided nation.
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