The Divided States of America

It has become increasingly clear to me in the days following Election Day of November 3, 2020 that the United States of America (USA) has truly become the Divided States of America (DSA).  As the final counts come closer to being concluded, it seems an astounding 74,222,958 registered voters of the USA opted to choose loyalty to a single man over loyalty to the Constitution of the USA, the governing document that has been the foundation of who we are as a sovereign country for more than 200 years.  On the opposite side of the hardening red and blue wall that now divides friends from friends and family from family, just like what we experienced in the 1860s, more than 81,283,098 registered voters of the USA opted to vote for the Presidential Candidate who represented loyalty to the Constitution.  But, were all of those voters voting for the Constitution or were they voting for a Party?

As my awareness to the existence of multiple realities began to come into focus over the past several months, I have come to wonder how many different realities might exist among the 81 million who found themselves on the same side of the wall as the Constitution.  How many of the more than 81 million would choose loyalty to other things, such as a Political Party or a person, above loyalty to the Constitution like the 74 million on the other side of the wall did?  Can we find a way to dismantle the wall that divides us and keep the USA together, or will the DSA win out in a way similar to the blue and gray division that created the Confederate States of America in the late 1850s into the 1860s?  How many Civil Wars can our Constitution endure before experiencing its ultimate defeat?  Is the Constitution relevant in its current form to sustain us through the remainder of the 21st Century, or should we look for ways to modernize it to better serve our current needs?  For example, does the Electoral College continue to serve the purpose for which it was created more than 200 years ago, or has the world of the Internet removed that purpose?

Like in the 1860s, we can survive the current atmosphere of divisiveness and alternate realities that are driving us apart.  To even have a chance at doing so, however, we must bring families and friends back together by destroying the wall that divides us and finding ways for our different realities to coexist within the same physical plane.  It won’t be easy.  Building and maintaining a democracy was never meant to be easy.  Perhaps our successes of the past have made our lives too easy and we have forgotten how to work hard for the things that matter most to us.  Where do we start?  How do we start?

Restoring a Constitutional Government where elected representatives represent their constituents, the portion of We the People they were elected to represent, rather than a Political Party is likely a good place to start.  Group Think is not the right way to operate a democracy.  Differences of opinion with an accompanying free expression of those differences are an absolute necessity to keeping our nation strong and flourishing.  Consensus isn’t something you can demand.  It must be earned.  It requires hard work and hard conversations.  Does every Democrat in New York State think the same way as every Democrat in California?  Does every Republican in Texas think the same way as every Republican in Montana?  If that isn’t the case, which I suspect it isn’t, then why is it that every Democrat in Congress votes one way on every issue brought before them while every Republican votes the opposite?  We the People have always had more in common than not.  However, the practice of lockstep, Party loyalty trumping loyalty to our Constitution that is enforced by the bully network that is our Congress is doing nothing but adding more and more bricks to the wall that currently divides us.

Since it has become apparent that we are living in multiple versions of reality (fake news/real news, loser wins/winner loses, etc.), relearning how to cooperate and compromise is going to be essential if we are to survive as the USA.  It is necessary to understand that the different realities we find ourselves living within tend to occupy the same physical space.  That means conflicts between realities must be resolved before the realities can coexist.  For example, two people living in two different realities can’t own the same piece of physical property without destroying the property or each other.  We must find a way to connect the realities, at least for a moment, to come to an agreement about how the property is to be used by each.  The complex question here for another time is this:  is there a need to build bridges between realities for greater understanding and cooperation, or can living separate realities without bridges make each of us more prosperous?

The time for a second period of Reconstruction is upon us.  Can we do it again as we did after 1865?  If the Government of We the People doesn’t get down to the business of representing We the People, then I fear the USA will permanently become the DSA.