Reading David French’s NY Times post “Time To Say GoodBye”, I was sad that he would not be sharing his wisdom with the Times audience any more. Further, his analysis of the descent of the US into a sadder, meaner, more pessimistic country rang true to me. It is a good read.
Brooks suggests that we have lost our emotional, material and spiritual home.
Why is that?
25 years ago the attack in the twin towers shook our sense of safety as a nation. Then we had the financial crisis of 2007 where we almost lost our financial system. Times seemed pretty great for the next dozen years. We couldn’t agree on fixes for known problems like immigration reform. So we wasted the good times. Then Covid hit and we had a new threat to our emotional and physical safety as over 1.2 million Americans died. The frustration was exploited in a political game.
We have complicated systemic issues that we need to participate in discussing and addressing. Instead, our politicians look for someone to blame. Worse, our current government officials are bypassing our rule of law and reaping billions in the process.
Our sense of community has been evaporating, and our rule of law is quickly following. Brooks refers to the cult of the individual over the collective and the rush to the lowest common denominator. We used to be able to talk about politics without making the other person wrong. Name calling was a sign that you were a loser. Vilifying people was not acceptable. Now, it is how you get attention.
How do we come back together? We need to have respectful conversations about how we move forward. We must stop the attack and the terrorization of our own communities by our own government. You may not agree with me, but don’t stop talking with me. Please.