SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 – I’ve now started the “War Years” portion of Carl Sandburg’s two-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln. If you want to know “polarization,” read this work. But here’s the thing: the fracturing didn’t happen overnight. The seeds had been sown when slaves were introduced to Jamestown in 1619; when 13 independent colonies debated vehemently the terms of their union in 1787. The harvest of woe began in earnest with the nation’s westward expansion in the early 1800s. In 1854—seven years before the outbreak of the Civil War—polarization devolved to widespread bloodshed as abolitionists and slavery proponents fought over the status of Kansas.
Despite the South’s formal surrender in 1865, the nation remained socially, economically and politically fractured. In many times and places the wounds have healed, but the legacy of division combined with the underlayment of our frontier mentality has perpetuated segregation, anti-federalism, and rugged individualism. Consequently, blacks remain marginalized, guns are ubiquitous, and the market is as free as can be—for all manners of excess as well as for want; as free for losers to lose as for winners to win.
At the Trump House at the Minnesota State Fair, a large flat-screen on the wall projected a bar graph depicting survey results among visitors to the site. The underlying questionnaire contained blatantly built-in biases. It led essentially with the question, “Which RED MEAT activates your taste buds the most?” The pre-determined “issues” included “Fighting Socialism” and “American Values.” Each of these generated a large number of affirmative responses.
I wanted desperately to engage with Trumpsters about these “issues,” but the people were all too pre-occupied having their photos taken next to a cardboard cutout of the president.
“Fighting Socialism”? Really? What in the world does that mean? What is “socialism”? Government spending? And if so, is there a difference between spending on the military vs. the Interstate highway system vs. paying interest on U.S. bonds held by Americans (vs. foreign banks)? Do Social Security and Medicare benefits count? Or is “socialism” government owned/controlled services (think air traffic controllers, snow-plowing of public streets, and public schools) and . . . railroads, airlines and factories (name one)? And what does “fighting” mean? Throwing grenades? Civil disobedience? Voting Libertarian (as opposed to Republican)?
And how, pray/tell do the Trumpsters define “American Values”? Flying extra bombers over the rest of the world? Flying extra large American flags in front yard and back? Adopting immigration laws that are fiercely xenophobic, even in times of labor shortages? Imposing the puritanical creed of evangelicals on us all? Calling facts fake? Putting more animal fat on every plate and a howitzer in every garage?
In my judgment, it’s all worse than silly. It’s seriously dangerous and fans the destructive flames of the legacy of disunity that marks our history. We need to grow up and grow out of our past. The first step is to learn and understand that past.
In short, We. The. People. Need. To. Read. More. History.
© 2019 Eric Nilsson
