The Real State of our Union

By law, the President must provide his version of the State of our Union to the Congress and citizens. By custom, Presidents of both parties tend to tell us that the state of our union is strong, and our current president was no exception the other night. And to some degree, this assessment is true. Our citizens are still the most generous in the world by far. Our nation is doing more to combat disease and death in Africa than anyone else. Our citizens remain incredibly productive in order to maintain a standard of living and job creation that remains the envy of the world. American scientists are making fresh discoveries all the time, and our level of care for the sick remains unrivaled in the world. In these and many other ways, the state of our union is indeed strong.

But it is also true that the state of our union is on far shakier ground. Our nation is no longer united on much of anything, and the national fabric is in great danger of being severely torn. Bitterness and acidity have seized control of our politics. The 3 branches of government no longer work together for the common good, but actively try to undercut each other. Legislators fight with fellow legislators. Cabinet members sharply squabble with fellow Cabinet members. Higher courts routinely scold the rulings of lower courts.

It is common to blame politicians for operating in a detached fishbowl and accuse them of being out of touch. It has been routine to say that the severity of partisanship in DC does not accurately reflect the mood and comity of the country. But if this was ever true in the past, I have my doubts that it is true today. I happen to think that more and more, our politicians are accurately reflecting the increasing bitterness of citizens toward other citizens. During the 2004 campaign, John Edwards said that we increasingly have 'two Americas'. I disagree. I think there are many more Americas than that in the US. Americans of all stripes have very different ideas about who the good guys and bad guys are. Our lust to find villains and vilify them is not just a DC phenomenon. For some, the 'radical religious right' is the chief villain. For others, it is the 'godless liberals'. For some, the big villains are big oil or the 'greedy drug companies'. For others, it is the trial lawyers and 'Hollywood lefties'. I wonder how it feels to know that regardless of whether you're a preacher, a feminist, a lawyer, an actor, a businessman, a stay-at-home mom, a Caucasian, an African American, a young person, a retiree, or anything in between, somebody thinks you're the villain. The 'brother against brother' mantra of the Civil War has found its reality in today's national climate.

This phenomenon is a chicken-and-the-egg dilemma. Are the citizens following the lead of the politicians here, or is it the other way around? And since politicians are in fact citizens, and many citizens are politicians (albeit not vocationally), where does someone start on the loop in order to prescribe some remedy for our deteriorating national fabric? Our public discourse is not governed by thoughtful listening and respect of others, but by a WWE smackdown mentality that assumes that disagreement equals sworn enemy. I don't know if George W Bush really listens to those who disagree with him, and I'm very certain that many people who can't stand Bush long ago stopped listening thoughtfully to him. In some ways, it reminds me of how the Brits and their Royals often relate to each other.

There is no government program that can turn this tide. There is no piece of legislation that could be passed that can restore respect, dignity, and shared comity to our national purpose. The solution lies with the citizens of our union. As long as we substitute stereotypes and simplistic bullet-points for substantive, respectful, and thoughtful discourse, the state of our union will continue to deteriorate. Folks from all stripes hold many fellow citizens in disdain, and it shows in how we treat each other. The 24 hour press accentuates the partisanship, and before long, we as a nation can't have a civil discussion about much of anything. The press will never take responsibility for the mostly damaging role it has played in the cultural Balkanization of our country, so it is left to us to repair the damage.

I love America, but I'm not one who believes that America should be fought for at all costs. When America loses the ideals of its national fabric and purpose that longed made it a beacon of hope for millions around the world, America becomes unworthy of fighting for. There was once a time when people understood that in a free society, there will never be universal agreement about anything - not even close. It was with this understanding that people could disagree with each other and still consider each other as good Americans worthy of respect, loyalty, and dignified treatment. This has been lost, and we must get it back. The only way it's gonna happen is for us to take ownership over the role we have individually played in the coarsening of our culture - and repent. 'Love your neighbor' is a divine command that keeps civilization from unraveling into chaos. For us to merely parrot it does not give it power. We must live it tangibly and radically, regardless of who our neighbor is. To do anything less is to reduce the greatest commandment to the hollow rhetoric it has become in our culture.