Today is the day America observes Independence Day to make sure we all have a day off to celebrate. The question is: “what is there to celebrate this year?” It should be unbridled, unrestrained. We have nearly beaten the virus; we are opening up our ballparks; we are gathering at our parades, fireworks displays, and backyard barbecues; and yet, it doesn’t feel all that celebratory. We have not come out of the pandemic unscathed. Not only have we lost more than 600,000 of our fellow countrymen, we appear to have also lost every sense of unity. We have managed to color every human action in political, partisan, terms: Wearing a mask, flying a flag, getting vaccinated (or not). The schism has occurred along different fault lines, mostly in search of the better argument on who the flag and the nation belong to and how the nation should be governed.
The schism
is brought to the surface, in broad daylight, when the former President in a
public appearance proclaims that his “successor is destroying our country, and
it all started with a fake election”. Until Trump, it was unthinkable that a
former President would personally criticize his successor in such terms, much
less malign the security and reliability of the American electoral process. With
the terrible tragedy in Surfside, Florida, we have just been painfully reminded
that when cracks develop in a structure the collapse can come at any time. Did
not our most celebrated President warn us that “A house divided against itself
cannot stand.”?
The schism
has crept into our personal lives, by pitching neighbor against neighbor,
co-worker against co-worker, friend against former friend, and even family
member against family member. And what is the dispute all about? It is about
the kind of republic we want to live in. We may have thought that the battle
had been decided when on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted
the Declaration of Independence with the words: “We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the Pursuit of Happiness.” But we now realize that even then, we never
really meant what we proudly professed; that we only accepted that all white
men (not women) were created equal and endowed with the lofty unalienable
rights. The “Big Lie”, that so much dominates our discourse and dispute today,
was with us from the inception of the Republic. And it has remained with us
ever since.
America is
taking its eyes off the ball. At a time that our principles and our economic
and political world leadership are being tested like never before, we stoop
down in internal squabbles and partisan strife. Our politicians refuse to build
a consensus on anything, and we accuse each other of selling out the peoples’
interest for control of the government. Adam Kinzinger, one of the few
remaining principled GOP House Representatives, puts it frighteningly accurate
in his July 2 interview with David Marchese of the New York Times Magazine: “And since we are in this political environment, I would say
internal division is actually the thing that I fear the most right now. I
jokingly say — but I’m not really joking — if China nuked California, a lot of
Republicans would be like, “Good, we can win.” And if they nuked Texas, there
might be a lot on the left saying, “Good, we can win.” I say
that facetiously, but that’s how it feels at moments, and that’s a big
concern.”
When
will we turn back from our wayward ways, and will it be timely enough to avoid
defeat and humiliation? On this 5th of July I find it hard to be
optimistic about the prospects for a miraculous recovery. The elections of 2022
and 2024 are already looming large, the sharks are smelling blood in
the water, and winning, gaining control of Congress and the White House, is all
that matters. Dealing with suffocating inequality, with rampant acceleration of
global warming, and with the Chinese threat, can wait (will have to wait,
because ‘the other party’ cannot be trusted to come up with the right
solutions, so they need to be defeated first.)
This is
the American version of a classical Greek tragedy. At a time of unprecedented
national prosperity, economic and technological strength, America is facing
existential threats, but seemingly unconcerned with a national mobilization
against these threats. If there ever was a good time to mobilize all of our
strengths and unite in an effort to fend off the triple threat we are facing,
it is now. But, unfortunately we appear to be otherwise engaged.
What is
needed in the worst way is a national strategy that spells out the threats
America is facing and crafts a plan to counteract, overcome and defeat these
threats. America needs a strategy that transcends administrations, because
taking the edge off the scope and depth of inequality; managing the human
contributions to climate change and protecting people and property from the
effects of global warming; and winning, peacefully, a contest with China for
world leadership, is a long-term project that can only be completed with
allocation of full resources of time, funding, and – crucially important –
political unity. America will not finish this century in the lead if it cannot
muster all these resources. We know what the enemy is, and it is not ‘the other
party’. Inequality, climate change, and China are, without doubt, the
challenges to meet. There should be no dispute between Republicans and
Democrats about that. They may differ of opinion on how to counter these
threats, but reconciling differences is what the democratic political process
is all about. Will America once more prove to be equal to the task? That is not
a given and it will depend on our willingness and ability to set our petty
differences and partisan interests aside, recommit us to the best of the
democratic process, and put the interest of the People and the nation above all
other considerations.
