Without courage, self-government will die
The pandemic seemed to be coming to an end. Now, despite the outbreak of the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, we still see an end in sight, and we tend to view it as a time when we can return to the better years before the massive upheaval of disease and shutdown.
The pandemic, however, and its continuing aftermath have only deepened America’s divisions. The dividing lines and conflicts are profound.
The U.S. Congress reflects our division. The Senate is divided 50-50 and House Democratic majority is paper thin. The legislature is failing effectively to address our accumulating national problems. Despite President Biden’s goals and best efforts to tackle America’s myriad challenges, he doesn’t have the votes.
Polarization prevails and its first victim has been the facts, concrete reality. Even on facts as simple as the viability of vaccinations against a deadly virus. Our current national reality and the norms of self-government that have served us for 245 years have fallen victim.
Now we have broken up into distinct identity groups that inflict or suffer disparagement and oppression. There are the very wealthy who represent Wall Street, the large corporations and monopolies. Next are the educated elites who wield oversize economic and cultural influence. Finally, white Christian workers of the heartland, nationalistic and isolationist.
In his recent book, “Last Best Hope,” George Packer identifies these three groups and recognizes a fourth: Americans under the age of 35 who have rejected the old ways altogether. This generation of young Americans recognizes that the ruling class has failed at national leadership. Theirs is a rebellion from below. They reject the bland, uninspired promises of middle-aged liberals as well as the vitriol of those who supported the election of an openly racist and autocratic president.
These young Americans recognize, often through their own experience, the failing neighborhoods, lousy schools, prohibitively expensive college, street and gun violence, and low-paying service jobs. They have protested police violence and inequality.
They see no progress on urgent environmental issues, on health care reform and affordability, on immigration, on race relations or on reining in U.S. military adventurism overseas. As they struggle for good jobs, they see the rich getting richer.
Provoked by President Trump — our first ever president to resist the peaceful transfer of power, the bedrock of American democracy and the envy of the world — the Jan. 6 insurrection sought to stop President Biden from taking office. When we turn away from our long-standing and proven practices of successful self-government, our democracy and our very existence as a nation are threatened with chaos, anarchy, and suppression of the voice of the people.
Today, as a nation, we find ourselves dealing again with the rapidly spreading delta variant at home and globally, and with renewed mask-wearing and related restrictions, and, again, with widespread and intractable resistance to getting vaccinated. We see new aggressive moves by China for world dominance. At home, overdose drug deaths are surging and gun violence dominates daily news reports.
Meanwhile, in many states, under the thin guise of election reform, Republicans legislatures are passing laws to limit the right and opportunity to vote. The rise of a multitude of laws and resulting contested elections cannot realistically be sorted out by the courts. Chaos and conflict will follow and the will of the voters will fall victim.
These partisans — who repeatedly failed in the courts to overturn Biden’s election — have resorted to extreme remedies at the state level to tip the scales in their favor. Among them, denying or limiting the right and the access of a free people to vote. They continue to sully the very essence of self-government.
The warning signs are abundant. Chaos and conflict have sown the seeds. Without extraordinary courage and active involvement by citizens committed to a government of the people, by the people and for the people, self-government in the United States will die.
Polarization prevails and its first victim has been the facts, concrete reality. Even on facts as simple as the viability of vaccinations against a deadly virus.