The motivation to write this piece springs from a visceral and nagging feeling that the current breakdown in civil political discourse is eating away at the very core of our democracy. The failure of politicians and the general public to seek compromise has converted us into a “rude and crude democracy” which threatens the prestige of the United States as an effective model of true democratic processes.
Talk to nearly anyone about the political divide currently tearing the nation apart and he or she is likely to tell you it’s not a divide; it’s a chasm, deep and growing ever wider. Clearly, this is no ordinary time for the nation. We need to reinvest and reconnect with each other and we need to fear less and understand more. But it’s not the first time our nation has been in a deeply dysfunctional state.
On June 16, 1858 Abraham Lincoln, then the Illinois Republican Party’s unsuccessful candidate for the US Senate, delivered his “House Divided” speech. In pertinent part, Mr. Lincoln’s speech warned us that a house divided against itself could not long endure. Three years later the nation erupted into a bloody civil war.
And so here we are 160 years later. The nation is being tested again. Politically speaking, America is in a political quagmire and in serious need of political therapy. Our citizens seem to drift further and further apart with each passing day. Political therapy is what folks seek when they are confused, agitated and divided over the political and social state of the nation.
The first task of political therapy is to make us aware of what is going on. So, let’s start by opening our eyes to the fact that, as a nation, we are in troubled waters. Left unchecked, this malaise could sink us. So, instead of glossing over our divisions, I say we need to squarely face them. We need to identify them and to try to understand why they exist. The reason for this is quite simple. You can’t solve problems that you can’t identify or understand.
By definition, the nation’s liberals and conservatives have always had sharp differences of opinion. However, today the divisions between Democrats and Republicans appear unbridgeable. Both sides have adopted hardened, inflexible and intractable political positions. The daily barrage of invectives may lead us to conclude that confrontation and rancor are products of the modern era. But this would be an oversimplification of history. The truth is: Democracy has always been messy; controversial issues always generate strong feelings and our politics have always been rough and tumble.
For example, there are hard-line politicians, of various stripes, who denounce compromise and encourage the public to applaud and emulate such intransigence; yet political decision-making does not lend itself to such certitude. To establish and maintain peace, the country needs to return to collective and collegial political debate. In the early days of the American Republic, such political discourse was thought to be the heart of democracy. It was expected that the civil clash of opposing positions would encourage citizens to keep an open mind and change their opinions when logically persuaded to do so.
The difference from earlier periods and what makes the problem more pervasive now is the fact that today everyone has a megaphone and all political opinions can reach massive audiences instantaneously. The sound bites of ubiquitous tweets, blogs, and online reader comments require no knowledge of the issue at hand; error or disinformation incur no consequences. We must relearn how to humanize and civilize political discussions and we must relearn how to judge for ourselves. But to make informed judgments, we must allow our minds to be opened and enlarged by the facts.
So, as citizens of this great nation, we need to take the first step and open our eyes to the world we are actually living in. The evidence is all around that we are headed in the wrong political direction. There are brush fires everywhere. The first step of political therapy is becoming aware and honest about what is actually going on. As a fellow American who is on this train with you, I believe we must band together to stop the train from continuing down this track. The light at the end of the tunnel may be a train coming in.
We’ve always been proud of being a solid functioning democracy but at the moment we are a nation deeply divided. What I hope this article will accomplish is to add to the political dialogue about civility in political and social discourse and to encourage each citizen to commit him/herself strenuously and immediately to improving civil discourse as a tool of democracy and to exercise civic responsibility by casting a vote in November.
The United States came into existence because of religious and heritage plurality. The country’s plurality in the twenty-first century includes an entire spectrum of skin colors, ethnic groups, beliefs, languages, and cultures. In a pluralistic society, people hold varying views, and that very diversity is an inherent strength. In a country anchored in compromise and diversity, discourse among people of good faith must be allowed to flourish.
Ricardo Inzunza, a native of San Diego, California, was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) by President Ronald Reagan. During his 8-year tenure, his office was the central source for the development, implementation, and oversight of all immigration service policies and practices. Now as CEO of RIA International, Ltd, Ricardo is often asked to serve as a business consultant to clients such as the World Bank and the Peoples Republic of China.