What’s Tearing America Apart
An Observation About Things Gone Awry
You heard it all before, China is beating the US in many areas, Russia is pressing boundaries, and Iran and North Korea are threats we can’t ignore. How much of this is true? Well, all of it.
The geopolitical landscape is extremely complex at the moment. Russia invaded Ukraine; North Korea fired dozens of missiles into the sea last year in a bid to threaten the Korean Peninsula. China’s Navy is larger than ours and they are threatening to invade Taiwan. Iran just enriched uranium to a 60% grade indicating that they will soon be capable of producing a nuclear missile that threatens not only the region but the US as well.
So, with all of this going on, what do we do. Well, you would think that we would be working to suppress all of these threats. Well, you would be wrong. America is on the verge of imploding right now. We have, over the course of the last ten years turned our anger over various issues, into a kind of rallying cry, not to get better but to expose fault. Fault over who or what is responsible for our supposed ailments. The January 6 insurrection, the elections, the fighting, name calling and the constant grind between the right and left has left us wounded, and we are no better for it.
Instead of understanding that our survival and dominance in this world depends on our unity and support for one another and in our government, many of us have turned to tearing each other down. There are those who would say “do not question my patriotism, I am fighting for my country”. They can go on believing that, but the truth is that all this infighting does not make America better. Some Americans are eviscerating the very systems that have served them for over 200 years. Our agencies, courts and government systems are under attack, not by a foreign power but by Americans themselves. The American Dollar is declining, and our defense forces are being asked to do more with less. The Supreme Court is losing credibility, as is the FBI, the President's office and the whole of Congress. Ask yourself, how is that good for any American?
Sadly, America is tearing itself apart. The internal strife and constant bickering serve only our enemies. As we are preoccupied with left-right politics and stupefied arguments, only Russia, China, Iran and North Korea can appreciate these efforts as it has weakened the United States and our standing in the world. Tell me I am wrong, but you will also have to disprove that the US is falling behind in defense and technology to China, and in the projection of power to Russia. Yes, we still lead China and Russia in many ways but the perception about who we are around the world is shifting and it is not for the better.
It will take a concerted effort to change this trend. For one, our elected leaders have to stop attacking each other and instead start leading from the front. Too much of our political debate focuses on conjecture or outright lies, and on attacking our very own government. This kind of rhetoric only hurts us. The administration also needs to tone down the rhetoric and stick to the facts. Yes, they are often under attack from the progressive left and conservative right but that does not mean you join the fray. The president and his cabinet are the last bastion of leaders we can depend upon when our legislative process breaks down. We don't need them to turn into equally divisive stoolies in the face of criticism.
We need to get together as a country and support our administration and most importantly, our process of government. Yes, there are a great many things that we don’t like about it but that has always been the case and we as a country have always persevered together. But not in this case. Today, the vitriol of American politics has permeated every aspect of American life, pitting us against one another and weakening us as a whole.
Yes, we are different, but we have always been different, and yet we existed without destroying one another and our country. We need to get back to protecting that way of thinking and jettison this culture of warring with each other to no end. Because before you and I are members of any political party, we are Americans first. If that does not bring us back to reality, then nothing else will. Because the truth is, if we want to make America great again, we have to start by making ourselves great again. Remember that the next time you think about joining the fray…
