The Dogs of Division

“Remember, democracy never lasts long,” John Adams, America’s second president, wrote.  “It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

I can’t help wondering if this process has begun and what, if anything, we can do to turn it around.

This comes from one who has spent his lifetime serving this country – in the military, at the U. S. Senate, and in the community through various charities and books written to teach and promote the values at the heart of America. 

Now, despite my best efforts, I fear all is lost.  The dogs of division have been released and are running wild.  The unthinkable seems almost inevitable.

My concern comes from watching what’s happening around us, the daily drumbeat of disasters on the news, and thinking about them in the context of lessons I learned from two survivors of the holocaust – two people who were dear to me:  Viktor Frankl and Henri Landwirth.

At the time, I didn’t see how the horrors they lived through could ever be repeated here.  It is increasingly clear we ignore that possibility at our peril. 

Gregory Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch, has identified the stages that can cause decent people to commit indecent acts.  He says it starts when a one group defines another as “the other.”  “They” are said to threaten “our” interests.  Discrimination and dehumanization follow, eroding the in-group’s empathy for the other group.

This leads to increased polarization and the belief that – “You are either with us or against us.”  Then true believers are asked to demonstrate their commitment.  “Enemies” are identified.  Leaders of the opposition are targeted.  Death lists are made.  Weapons are stockpiled.  Physical segregation is enforced.  “We” don’t want to live anywhere near “them,” the in-group says.  The out-group is forced into ghettos or concentration camps.  There they are easily targeted, and the massacres and mass murders can begin.

We are not there at the moment; but we are not far from there.  You can see it bubbling up on the streets, seeping up through the sidewalk, and in the great undercurrents and tides of hate flowing back and forth just below the surface.

Let me be clear.  This is not about one side or the other.  For those who may think I am talking to the left or the right, get over it.  A reaction of that nature is just one more manifestation of how divided we have become.  It’s not about “them.”  It’s about us.

No one is exempt.  We all have to recognize our responsibility for the world we are living in.

Take a moment and consider that.  Have you ever seen our society so polarized?  Have you lost friends for political reasons?  Are there people you used to talk to that you now avoid?  When your family and friends gather are there places you just don’t go?  Do you get your information from a single source, or can you switch channels back and forth without getting aggravated by what you hear?

It’s hard to tell whether the acrimony we see in our political system is a cause or an effect.  What is clear is that each side of the political divide believes the other side is evil.  Both sides see the coming election as existential.  Neither side believes it can live with other side’s success.  If the election is close, neither side will accept the outcome without question. 

Inevitably, in that case, the divide will become larger and deeper.  This is a recipe for disaster.  It will take us to a dark place the likes of which we have never seen in our country’s history.

But there is a light in the darkness.  It begins with the recognition that we have a choice, that America is more “bottom up” than “top down”, and that this country will be whatever we are. 

The responsibility is ours, not theirs.  The solution to all the problems we see on the national level starts locally on the personal level with our love and respect for each other, the acceptance of those with differing views, and our denial of the forces that would separate and divide us from one another.