While not perfect, America is an incredible place that we should be proud of. Somehow, however, we have found ourselves in a political death spiral: the majority of both parties are unwilling to assume positive intent, unwilling to listen/compromise, unwilling to acknowledge any positives from the other side, and are generally just intolerant of each other. The result is a country divided and an ineffective government. Think about it: when was the last time you heard a leader of either party acknowledge anything positive from the other side - from Bin Laden to COVID, it is almost always one side attacking the other. Furthermore, media outlets have exacerbated the situation by leveraging readily available data to target specific audiences, highlight emotionally charged stories, and drive people deeper into myopic viewpoints.
Sitting in the middle of a “woke” movement, with a society more accepting than in any recent time, the irony of intolerant parties unwilling to work with each other is overwhelming. So how did we get to this place? My belief is that we are no longer aligned to a common foundation of experiences, values, and principles.
Jumping back in history, the shared experience of British oppression provided extreme clarity on the principles and tradeoffs colonists desired (1775). Since this time, events like the Civil War(1861) and World Wars 1&2 (1914 & 1945) brought the US to the brink of existence and forced a recommitment to unifying principles and corresponding tradeoffs. It has now been 75+ years (~3 generations) since an existential threat forced us to unite1. In the absence of a common experience/foundation, people have been left to second or thirdhand stories and individual interpretations on the mission and approach to US democracy. The net result is the equivalent of a ship lost at sea and a crew fighting over which way to go. Both anecdotes and patriotism across generations support this belief:
- 75 years/3generations is also believed to be the common timeframe for family fortunes to disappear due to a similar “lost perspective.”
- Patriotism is correlated with proximity to our last major existential threat: 64% of the silent generation (born between 1928 to 1945 –WW1/2 timeframe) believe America “Is the greatest country in the world.” That same belief degrades almost linearly to just 32% for millennials (born between 1980 and 1995).
I have recently seen interview after interview of individuals, often those who are furthest detached from major events, saying they were ashamed of America in one form or another yet were unable to provide an educated, fact-based answer as to who in the world was doing it better or what specific changes should be made. America is not perfect, but we have come along way, are relatively better off than most other places in the world, and America is still a land of opportunity - ask the ~8million+ people waiting for family or work Visas! The fact that people are disappointed yet cannot provide examples of “a more perfect union” reinforces the point that we have lost perspective.
The political mess we see today should not be a surprise. Without a common set of principles and guardrails, both parties are worried about the consequences of an “unchecked” agenda from the other side. Convincing the other party to “see the light” has not, and will not work because it doesn’t address the root problem of alignment. We can, however, leverage the polarization of our country as a catalyst to realign behind a shared set of less contentious, sustainable principles which serve as a foundation upon which bipartisan policy is possible.
I have hope the situation is not as dire as the media and politicians would portray: people probably aren’t as far apart as it appears, each party’s agenda isn’t as dire as the rhetoric would suggest, and people can probably could come to a reasonable compromise in the middle. Both sides will of course always want more, but that’s the of compromise – an agreement formed by each side making concessions.
To the principles…
Foot note 1: While Vietnam and 9/11 were horrific events that impacted thousands and focused the country around an objective, the events did not threaten the existence of the US or force the same trade off decisions as the other events listed.
While not perfect, America is an incredible place that we should be proud of. Somehow, however, we have found ourselves in a political death spiral: the majority of both parties are unwilling to assume positive intent, unwilling to listen/compromise, unwilling to acknowledge any positives from the other side, and are generally just intolerant of each other. The result is a country divided and an ineffective government. Think about it: when was the last time you heard a leader of either party acknowledge anything positive from the other side - from Bin Laden to COVID, it is almost always one side attacking the other. Furthermore, media outlets have exacerbated the situation by leveraging readily available data to target specific audiences, highlight emotionally charged stories, and drive people deeper into myopic viewpoints.
Sitting in the middle of a “woke” movement, with a society more accepting than in any recent time, the irony of intolerant parties unwilling to work with each other is overwhelming. So how did we get to this place? My belief is that we are no longer aligned to a common foundation of experiences, values, and principles.
Jumping back in history, the shared experience of British oppression provided extreme clarity on the principles and tradeoffs colonists desired (1775). Since this time, events like the Civil War(1861) and World Wars 1&2 (1914 & 1945) brought the US to the brink of existence and forced a recommitment to unifying principles and corresponding tradeoffs. It has now been 75+ years (~3 generations) since an existential threat forced us to unite1. In the absence of a common experience/foundation, people have been left to second or thirdhand stories and individual interpretations on the mission and approach to US democracy. The net result is the equivalent of a ship lost at sea and a crew fighting over which way to go. Both anecdotes and patriotism across generations support this belief:
- 75 years/3generations is also believed to be the common timeframe for family fortunes to disappear due to a similar “lost perspective.”
- Patriotism is correlated with proximity to our last major existential threat: 64% of the silent generation (born between 1928 to 1945 –WW1/2 timeframe) believe America “Is the greatest country in the world.” That same belief degrades almost linearly to just 32% for millennials (born between 1980 and 1995).
I have recently seen interview after interview of individuals, often those who are furthest detached from major events, saying they were ashamed of America in one form or another yet were unable to provide an educated, fact-based answer as to who in the world was doing it better or what specific changes should be made. America is not perfect, but we have come along way, are relatively better off than most other places in the world, and America is still a land of opportunity - ask the ~8million+ people waiting for family or work Visas! The fact that people are disappointed yet cannot provide examples of “a more perfect union” reinforces the point that we have lost perspective.
The political mess we see today should not be a surprise. Without a common set of principles and guardrails, both parties are worried about the consequences of an “unchecked” agenda from the other side. Convincing the other party to “see the light” has not, and will not work because it doesn’t address the root problem of alignment. We can, however, leverage the polarization of our country as a catalyst to realign behind a shared set of less contentious, sustainable principles which serve as a foundation upon which bipartisan policy is possible.
I have hope the situation is not as dire as the media and politicians would portray: people probably aren’t as far apart as it appears, each party’s agenda isn’t as dire as the rhetoric would suggest, and people can probably could come to a reasonable compromise in the middle. Both sides will of course always want more, but that’s the of compromise – an agreement formed by each side making concessions.
To the principles…
Foot note 1: While Vietnam and 9/11 were horrific events that impacted thousands and focused the country around an objective, the events did not threaten the existence of the US or force the same trade off decisions as the other events listed.
