How bad is the division of America? Is our nation destined to fail because of a divide in \u201cfacts\u201d and minds? What direction need we go to find unity once again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the last Presidential Election before the Civil War. America was so divided that there were four candidates and four political parties.\u00a0\u00a0We know the \u201cmain\u201d candidates, Abraham Lincoln representing the Northern (and western) Republican Party, and his Illinois arch-rival Stephen Douglas representing the Northern (and western) Democratic Party.\u00a0\u00a0But the Democratic Party split at their convention in Baltimore.\u00a0\u00a0The Southern Democrats walked out when the Party refused to recognize their right to absolute slavery.\u00a0There was a \u201crump\u201d Southern Democratic Party, led by Kentucky\u2019s John Breckenrige, the serving Vice President of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there was a fourth Party, the Constitutional Union Party.\u00a0\u00a0Their nominee was John Bell, the Senator from Tennessee.\u00a0\u00a0They tried to create a \u201cmiddle ground\u201d, squarely straddling the issue of slavery by ignoring it. They campaigned on the slogan that they:\u00a0\u201c\u2026recognize no political principle other than Constitution of the country, the Union of the states, and the Enforcement of the Laws\u201d.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0While they knew that Bell had no chance of electoral victory, they hoped to deny Lincoln a majority of the Electoral votes, and throw the election to the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They failed. Lincoln won the Electoral College, and in the months before he took office (at that time the new President was sworn in on March 4th <\/sup>– think about that) the Southern states began to secede. In the Senate debate of the time, compromise after compromise was offered to avoid splitting of the nation. But Charles Sumner, Senator for Massachusetts, summed it up best. He believed there was no legislative answer to secession and that those looking to compromise misjudged the secessionist movement. \u201cDeeming it merely political & governed by the laws of such movements, to be met by reason, by concession, & by compromise; whereas it is a revolution.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first question in our current crisis then is this: is there still a Republican Party, or is there a former Republican Party and a \u201cTrump Party\u201d? The answer to that question will determine our next step. Our nation can still find \u201ccommon ground\u201d with the \u201cold\u201d Republican Party. But the \u201cTrump Party\u201d has clearly stated its goal with the insurrection of January 6th<\/sup>. To paraphrase Senator Sumner, they cannot be met by reason, concession or compromise: they are a revolution. And unlike the secessionist movement of the 1860\u2019s, the \u201cTrump Party\u201d not only has its own ideology, but it also has a whole separate world of \u201cfacts\u201d. There is no reasoning when there is no common ground, no common basis of knowledge. No compromise can work when the parties cannot even agree on the hand counting of the votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Biden desperately wants to be the President of unity. And our Nation faces a crisis that requires unity: COVID has already killed more Americans in less than a year than died in World War II. That \u201cbutcher\u2019s bill\u201d is likely to get even worse in the next few months, the \u201cdark hours\u201d before the vaccine can kick-in. There is a solution to avoid those unnecessary deaths. It is in unity: unity in wearing masks, social distancing, and getting the \u201cshot\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Joe Biden will not reach those willing to storm the Capitol and literally hang the Vice President and the Speaker. There are not \u201c\u2026to be met by reason,\u201d they are a revolution. They don\u2019t believe that distance, masks and shots will prevent death. And millions of Americans agree with them \u2013 so how will Biden end a pandemic when they refuse to participate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden is a \u201cman of the Senate\u201d, steeped in its culture of fierce debate followed by compromise and geniality. And perhaps Biden can reach out to the \u201cold Republican Party\u201d of McConnell, Grassley and Portman. But there is also the \u201cTrump Party\u201d of Cruz and Hawley in the Senate, and Gaetz and Brooks in the House. They have sold their souls to the Trump Revolution and there can be no turning back from that choice. How can there be compromise with such cynical and self-serving demagogues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The future of the American experiment in Democracy will depend on the majority being willing to work together.\u00a0\u00a0For the near future there will still be \u201cthe Revolution\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They will be \u201ctrue believers\u201d who cannot negotiate, cannot compromise, and will not concede.\u00a0\u00a0It will be up to \u201cthe rest\u201d; the \u201cOld Republicans\u201d and the \u201cBiden Democrats\u201d to find enough common ground to make America work.\u00a0\u00a0It will be through their success that the \u201cTrump Revolution\u201d will fade away.\u00a0\u00a0Or, if that compromise fails, our Republic will find ourselves like the Constitutional Union Party:\u00a0\u00a0the answer to a trivia question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Death of Compromise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Revolution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n