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Opinion - American Kinship
The rise of violence as a means to resolve disputes in American politics is not just reprehensible, but goes against the very principles the United States was built upon.
By William Bishop, June 2, 2021
Image Credit: Getty Images
America is a nation built on ideals, cooperation, and kinship, even if these ideals weren’t always followed: a nation forged in the bonds of revolution with the principle that all could live free and righteously and help bring about a truly representative government.
American democracy, the product of the righteous revolution that brought independence to the first new state in the Americas, dared to experiment with the creation of a system unseen since the days of antiquity. The idea was that the people should govern themselves and decide their own fate, not a king in a far away land ruling with endless, cruel, despotism.
In America, you weren’t persecuted for your beliefs and outspoken ideas, discussion spread across the nation and debate reigned supreme. Something seems to have changed, however. Nowadays, people yell at each other, violence has become all too common, and for a long time there has been a major break in our system. What happened, and how could this be fixed?
A breakdown in any semblance of a constructive dialogue in our country has been present for a long time. Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Since the beginning of the Trump presidency in 2016, political violence, discord, and hate crimes rose significantly, and many exchanged discussion for ideologically driven conflict. Things got bad, and people forgot where we came from. America was built on calm and collected reason, not inflamed yelling and destruction.
Party lines are only that: lines. Not chasms that are so deep they never can be crossed. We have to remember our common dream of America, an ideal of a country championing freedom and justice, of liberty and happiness, where anyone can start over and build a new life for themselves.
As a society, we should do better. To remember, we have to heal and go back to a time when things were more simple, and disagreement wasn’t a cause of violence, but a chance to learn.
The past is filled with those that disagreed and fought on the debate stage over who should be right or wrong, not with their fists, but their words. The election of yore, Thomas’s Jefferson vs Alexander Hamilton, FDR vs Alf Landon, Jimmy Carter vs Ronald Reagan.
These elections were decisive, and there people fought like lions over their beliefs. When the victory was said, though, they allowed their opponent to run unhampered. And while many violent conflicts, such as those over slavery, had to occur, many disagreements can be resolved peacefully.
Because of the opposition nowadays refusing to give any concessions or work with the other side, politics has become a deadlock and we grow closer to authoritarianism and collapse by the day. The unwillingness and stubbornness of the old guard refuses to allow change. We, as the future and the present, have to do something for the sake of the country.
The great debates of presidential races were first available to the greater public through mass media during the 1960 election. AP
What are we? Are we Republicans? Democrats? Independents? No! We are Americans, and we shouldn’t define ourselves by party lines or beliefs. This fosters disunity and doesn’t help the country’s dire situation at all. If we only remembered what we all are at the core, we could get a lot more done.
We are more than party members, we are Americans, and we have changed the world. We invented the plane, the automobile, one of the oldest representative governments, and have triumphed against fascism despite our many flaws.
We are not petty infighters working to forward only the goals of ourselves, and we need to unite, like the days of yore, to show the world how we, as a people, fix ourselves and rise up from the tatters of the current times.
America was built by the people, and it should run for the people. For all our systemic troubles, America is a great place, having been founded with a spirit of freedom and ranking many of its citizens among the most talented and industrious in the world.
Our nation must be one of greatness and progress, a place where the freedom of the individual to speak his mind within respectful bounds should be enshrined above all else. We must combat the failures of our system and reform them so that America survives the turbulence of the times and continues to stride towards the future with greatness and success; not as a fighting mess, but as one nation united in discourse.