A Polarized Nation
So in my last week of substitute teaching, I have the privilege of presenting the American Civil War. There is nothing in our history that tested the strength of our commitment to the concept of nationhood, of a Union, and of democracy.
It began in frustration, as all of the political “tools” of our Republic led to dead ends. There seemed to be no path to resolution as the Nation was polarized beyond reconciliation. Every compromise, every agreement was made then broken: neither side was willing to commit to a mutual solution. Some even went so far as to propose a war with another power, France, as a “distraction” they could all unite behind. That didn’t work either.
Civil War
It became almost a joyful release to start the war. The nation, both sides; rushed to join “in the fun” of dramatic battle. Soon they discovered the truth of war: that people die in horrible ways. The first battle at Bull Run was more two mobs than two armies, and America realized that it would take so much more time and sacrifice then they ever anticipated.
The years of the Civil War served as a revelation of horrors, posing the question: how much can the people stand. After the pause to train, there was the growing casualties, the “butcher’s bill” as General Grant would call it. First there were the small actions, then larger battles around Richmond. In the spring of the 1862, there was the horror of Shiloh in Tennessee, as thousands died on the grounds around a small church near the woods.
The cost would grow higher. While Shiloh was bad, 13,000 killed, wounded or missing, the fall of 1862 would be much worse. In one day in Sharpsburg, Maryland by the Antietam Creek, almost 23,000 were lost. It seemed like the bottom, the worst. There couldn’t possibly be greater suffering.
Democracy Maintained
But of course, there was. Only nine months later the same armies met again at a crossroads town in Pennsylvania, Gettysburg. 46,000 were killed wounded, or missing there in three days. And while that should have been the end, it wasn’t. It would be two more years. The Virginia Overland Campaign of the summer of 1864 cost almost 55,000 casualties. And the war would grind on. It would be ten months even more after that until the war would finally end.
In the middle of that last year, the states remaining in the Union held a Presidential election. The Army, spread far across the rebellious South, was still allowed to vote. Some came home, some voted by absentee ballot, but all Americans found a way to hold a referendum on Abraham Lincoln, even in the course of horrific battles. We lost a lot in the Civil War, but we maintained the traditions of our Republic, even in the worst of times.
Our World
That’s something we should remember in our COVID-19 world. The current “butcher’s bill” for today’s crisis is 1,347,411 Americans “wounded”, and over 80,000 lost. In the past two months, we have suffered greater losses than Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg combined. To put it in more “modern” terms, we have suffered nearly twenty-seven 9-11 attacks. And we have no reason to believe that we are at the “Virginia Overland Campaign”, that we have reached the bottom. More likely we have only seen our Shiloh, only at the beginning of the cost to be paid for COVID-19. The difference – we hope a vaccine or a treatment can end the bloodletting, rather than the long bloody slog to “herd immunity”.
Meanwhile we too are asked to judge our government. Whatever side of our current polarized politics you hold, we must find a way to allow our democracy to survive, and to hold real elections. The people of Wisconsin showed courage and determination, lining up to vote in a primary held in the middle of an epidemic. The numbers are vague: at least sixty-seven voters became infected after the election, but it’s difficult to determine cause and effect.
Come November
There is no reason to believe we will be in any better condition in November than we are now. Holding a “normal” election, gathering at the polls and lining up to vote, seems an unnecessary risk. But, if necessary, Americans will be courageous. They will mask and glove themselves and stand in line. Some will get sick and die because of it, but that same dedication to democracy that lived in 1864 lives today.
But it is completely unnecessary. We have multiple ways to safely vote, just as those soldiers fighting far away from home in 1864 did. This isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a partisan question; it’s simply American tradition. We must allow Americans to safely vote. It doesn’t even have to be some complicated electronic computer ballot. We did it in the Civil War, we can do it today: mail ballots out, and mail them back in.
Barring some miraculous discovery, we have a long way to go in our COVID-19 crisis. It is easy to become even more isolated and polarized, trapped in our own homes with the bad news constantly droning in the background. But we have our own duty, as much a duty as those soldiers felt in the spring of 1861. We have a duty to maintain our democracy, regardless of the roadblocks our partisan legislatures place in our way. Americans should be able to do it in a protected way, but if not, then we will have to risk becoming a line on “the butcher’s bill”.
We must do it for our country.
