It looks like it’s the dimming of America, where we can’t disagree, we have to demonize.
During this time of great division in our country I am reminded of a phrase that continued to resonate in post-World War II America when I was growing up in the 1950s, “United We Stand. Divided We Fall.”
The phrase, originally attributed to Aesop in his fables and reflected in the Bible as, “A house divided cannot stand” and again repeated in the Revolutionary War ‘Liberty Song” was what I remembered most from civics classes in school. It encapsulated what I thought of as a core value of America as a child.
Through my formative years our country faced many challenges – from Watergate and Vietnam to political assassinations and race riots in the 1960s. Each one shook that American standard that I was taught and firmly believed in. We came out on the other side of those horrific events tattered but never fully torn.
I fear now that our current dilemmas and divisiveness may be our downfall as our institutional protections are constantly being eroded.
When our current president and governor trade on dividing our country and its people in their rhetoric and policies, consistently demonizing the “other” and clearly showing no understanding of “United We Stand. Divided We Fall,” they do so at the peril of the United States of America. When bombs are mailed to former presidents and other American citizens and the response is “Don’t blame me! It’s not my fault!” – instead of “What can I do to stop this madness?” – I wonder what we have become and where we are headed.
I ruefully ask, where is that bright and shining light on the hill that Ronald Reagan spoke of? It looks like it is clearly flickering and about to die out.
Our only hope is that Americans vote our way out of this. I encourage you all to vote on November 6 and let’s try to restore some sanity to what has become a reality show of a country with no finale in sight.
Patrick Enright
Waupaca