OPINION:
It appears that the nation’s population has become too politically divided for its affairs to be managed by two sharply antithetical political parties. Too many are irrationally angry and question whether our form of republican government is still effective or trustworthy enough to deal with our collective problems.
The Constitution, which has guided the country’s progress indifferently for 236 years, is under existential attack. Familiar, foundational words such as truth, liberty and justice have taken on new and conflicting meanings. The promises of public school education and the ridiculously high cost and muddled focus of higher education have impeded the historical progression to a successful and meaningful life.
Minority factions are weakening the country’s unity, and there are signs of splintering. Wealth differences have increasingly become more apparent; the once-comfortable middle class has lost substantial economic strength. The once-dominant moral sense of religious identity is losing ground to the less morally clear, secular humanism. The national culture of obedience to law has substantially lost its esteem, and selective noncompliance has become acceptable simply by fiat.
History tells us that such rapid and largely incoherent social changes are the same indicators that have presaged past domestic conflicts. That poses the question: Is there enough cooperative spirit and strength of will in the country to calm the anger and remediate the path we’re on to civil catastrophe?
It requires an effective answer, because right now, like it or not, after 250 years of stable existence, our nation is in peril.
NORTON RUBENSTEIN
Richmond, Virginia
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