Truly Irreconcilable Differences

 

Truly Irreconcilable Differences?

A Nation Divided May Not Remain Standing

On October 13th, the Pew Research Center released a report examining the degree to which 17 economically advantaged nations surveyed are fractured by serious attitudinal divisiveness… and actually recognize that widening split. The United States came out the biggest loser, so much so that there is a genuine question whether this nation can actually hold together. The report states: “When it comes to perceived political and ethnic conflicts, no public is more divided than Americans: 90% say there are conflicts between people who support different political parties and 71% say the same when it comes to ethnic and racial groups. (Results of a different question asking specifically about conflicts between Democrats and Republicans also found that 71% of Americans think conflicts between the party coalitions are very strong and another 20% say they are somewhat strong. The sense of conflicts between Democrats and Republicans also increased between 2012 and 2020.)

“In terms of divisions between people who practice different religions and between urban and rural residents, again, Americans consistently rate as one of the three most divided publics of the 17 surveyed… Some of these perceived divisions differ by racial and ethnic background. For example, more Black adults (82%) see conflict between people with different ethnic or racial backgrounds than White (69%) or Hispanic (70%) adults.

“Another major axis of division in the U.S. is partisan identification. Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party are much more likely to see conflict between people of different racial and ethnic groups than are Republicans and independents who lean Republican. There are also partisan differences in opinion over whether people who practice different religions or those who live in urban and rural areas have conflicts.

“Notably, however, both Democrats and Republicans share a widespread belief that there are conflicts between those who support different political parties. Democrats and Republicans are also equally likely to say Americans disagree over basic facts. For more, see ‘Americans see stronger societal conflicts than people in other advanced economies.’”

Reacting to the above report, writing for the October 18th Los Angeles Times, David Lauter observes: “Perhaps the most unrealistic of President Biden’s campaign promises was his repeated suggestion that he could bridge the deep gulfs that divide American society… As the anniversary of his election approaches, the U.S. is more split than ever. That’s mostly not Biden’s fault — the social trends that have pushed Americans apart for the last 20 years go far deeper than any president can reach. But it does clearly limit his effectiveness, as Biden has found with the roughly 1 in 4 Republicans who adamantly refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination…

“Pew’s numbers bear that out: In 2012, fewer than half of Americans said they thought ‘very strong conflicts’ existed between Democrats and Republicans. By 2020, that share had soared past 70%... The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have worsened divisions in the U.S. and in other rich countries… On average, in the 17 countries Pew surveyed, about 60% of people say their countries are more divided than before the virus hit. In the U.S., 88% say so.”

It has become so challenging and so divisive that experts, tracking the lessons of history, believe armed conflict, even genocide, are possible given the growing hostile friction that defines the United States today. “Even the title of Alexander Laban Hinton's new book provides a chilling summary of the current danger facing this nation: ‘It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the U.S.’

“Hinton is one of the world's leading authorities on genocide and atrocity crimes. He is the author of 12 books on the subject and directs the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University. He testified as an expert witness, at the trial of Nuon Chea, who was prime minister of Cambodia during the genocidal tyranny of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

“With sober analysis and in assiduous detail, Hinton explores the ways the United States is ‘simmering at a low boil,’ and evinces every risk indicator for widespread mass atrocity crimes. White supremacist organizations and armed militias are mobilized for political action, the Republican Party has declared war on multiracial democracy and right-wing voters have become increasingly radical and hostile, falling into the personality cult of Donald Trump and the apocalyptic cult of QAnon.” David Masciotra writing for Salon.com, July 11th.

Donald Trump’s constant use of incendiary pejoratives to demean his opponents, castigate ethnic and racial minorities and cast blame on non-whites have amplified our differences like no other. “Kung Fu” virus made Asians across the land pariahs to their neighbors. The “fine people” (according to Donald Trump) of torch bearing racists marching in August of 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia were most obviously strong Trump supporters.

In the September 29, 2020 presidential debate, after refusing to denounce white supremacist militia who supported him, Trump urged the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, to "stand back and stand by" at Black Lives Matter protests. After clearly losing the presidential election by a significant margin, on January 6th Donald Trump – who to this day claims he won the presidency – incited his most militant followers to move to the Capitol to prevent his election from being certified by Congress. Trump and his fellow speakers on that fateful day were anything but subtle in their expectations. Violence was clearly an option. Most Republicans in Congress continue to refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden was duly elected as President. The wedges were driven deep.

For those living in the brightest red states or counties, where there are virtually no members of their community who do not support Trump or who believe that the November 3rd election was fairly conducted, they are truly angry… and usually exceptionally well-armed. It does not take a wild imagination to picture a protest going very badly… and escalating to national violence, particularly against blue voters (usually in big cities) within red states. Is the race war that Charles Manson envisioned in his cult’s “Helter Skelter” Tate-LaBianca murders on an August night in 1969? Are we fulfilling his hellish dream?

I’m Peter Dekom, and for those who believe that it cannot happen here, I remind them of something that happened in this country ending 156 years ago: the Civil War, remembering that the number of men dying in that conflict is more than in all other American wars from the American Revolution through the Korean War combined.