We often hear pundits bemoaning the sad state of America. Congress is embroiled in gridlock and nothing is getting done. Let’s put aside, just for the sake of this little missive, that Congress getting nothing done may be a very good, rather than a bad, thing. After all, it was our most astute political observer–Mark Twain–who said: “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” Let us also ignore that the very structure of the Constitution foresees, indeed, embraces gridlock. It is an integral part of our system of checks and balances, and if we don’t like it, we can throw the bums out of office. Apparently, we like it. At least, for the moment, the form practiced by establishment Republicans, though the rise and surprising staying power of Donald Trump’s candidacy strongly suggests more and more Americans are developing a very strong “throw all of the bums out” sentiment.
What remains is the worthy observation that Americans are indeed a people divided. One can argue that it was Barack Obama that drove us apart. Despite his rhetoric about uniting all Americans and ending gridlock, he has surely and unmistakably done the opposite, and more quickly and devastatingly than any before him. He was not, however, the only president or force involved in our current state of philosophical and cultural division. The media bear substantial blame, as do both political parties. And so do we, common Americans, for listening to nitwits, thugs, race hustlers, politicians and con men and for not taking the time to be truly well informed. We know vacuous celebrities well, but don’t know the men and women whose philosophies and decisions regulate our very lives.
As Twain made so beautifully clear in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, con men cannot con an honest man.
The Freddie Gray case provides a stark example of the division roiling the body politic. So too, but to a much lesser degree, did the Trayvon Martin case, but not in ways one might suspect.
We are divided in a variety of ways: race, tribe, nationality, sexual orientation, environmentalism vs. civilization, vegans vs. carnivores, cat fanciers vs. dog lovers, “safe space” seekers vs. sentient beings, and in more additional ways than one can count. But what counts most, what divides us most is the chasm separating those that support the rule of law, and those that support social justice.
