America is Devolving and Civility is Dying

Photo: Rebecca Florence Miller 

Over the last decade I've become just as troubled by the way our country handles controversy as the controversies themselves. I don't know if this means I'm maturing or getting "soft". The pleas we hear for unity are drown out by the noise of hostility.

People are looking at each other with malice in their hearts and distrust in their eyes. It saddens me to see us devolving. I read social media posts everyday from people who are actively rooting for the further unraveling of our social fabric. There are people preparing for an actual war. Ironically, many of the people pushing for a new "Civil War" are the same ones who found themselves on the losing end of the cultural and ideological wars. 

America changed. America is changing. America will continue to change. The train of history doesn't have a pause button. The future doesn't care if we are prepared for it or afraid of it. We are never going back. This reality is triggering for some.

Much of the pushback against diversity and social justice movements I've studied is rooted in fear and anger, but more fear than anger. 

Fear and anger, from a neurological perspective, are very similar. Someone afraid of you will hurt you just as quickly as someone who hates you. A lot of people spreading hatred do so out of a lack of understanding. It's easier to hate someone than address the preconceived notions and prejudices inside ourselves. Hatred in the heart and mind has a way of manifesting itself in the real world. 

We have regressed as a society and the causes are many. Truth has become our enemy and comfort is too often found in narratives that fit our world view. We use to have utopian dreams of everyone loving each other, now we should push for just tolerating each other. 

Impeachment Means Nothing!

For the better part of four years rational conversations about politics have been almost impossible. Part of the problem is the deep distrust and dislike large swaths of America have for each other. The other big problem is our collective inability to agree on a set of facts. We can't agree on anything.

I've written over fifty articles about Donald Trump. They've been published in newspapers, magazines and a variety of online publications. With that said, I've read and written more about him than I've ever wanted to. This has been exhausting. There was a period of three months where I stopped writing about politics.

I admit that I find him to be loathsome. I despise him. He's a habitual liar. He's one of the most disrespectful and arrogant people I've ever covered. I dislike him. I can't believe someone so disloyal and vindictive continues to be the recipient of all the forgiveness and protection bestowed on him.

Donald Trump has been forgiven for saying and doing things no person of color could ever get away with. Many of the same white Evangelicals who never forgave Barack Obama for wearing a tan suit or having black skin have forgiven Donald Trump for blatant racism, sexism and xenophobia. 

Donald Trump has been credibly accused of sexual harrassment and assault by almost two dozen women: forgiven. He has admitted to grabbing women by the pu$$y: forgiven. Donald Trump admitted to paying off an adult actress he was having an affair with while his wife was pregnant: forgiven. He was recently held culpable by a court for defrauding charitable donations for kids with cancer: forgiven. Donald Trump has trashed John McCain and John Dingell: forgiven. 

He was right when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it. There are people who could watch him put a baby in a microwave and ask what did the baby do first? 

Impeachment won't move the needle. There isn't anything Donald Trump could say or do that will turn his base against him. Half the country is celebrating while the other half is plotting revenge. The Senate will acquit him. This had to be done, but it does nothing.

A Practical Response To Sanctuary Counties

In the last few weeks I’ve seen numerous social media posts soliciting online support for the creation of 2nd Amendment sanctuary counties. Many of these posts are shared out of sincere concern over potential restrictions to the right to bear arms. Some are purely partisan vitriol. Either way, this is another issue in which well intentioned people end up screaming past each other.

For the record, I support the right to bear arms; as Malcolm X once said, “A man with a rifle or a club can only be stopped by a person who defends himself with a rifle or a club. That's equality.”

However, I part ways with the idea of creating 2nd Amendment sanctuary counties. This isn’t personal and I don’t think people who support these petitions are bad. I have practical reasons for my opposition.

First, the Second Amendment already has limitations that have been codified into law. Fully automatic weapons haven’t been available in this country for over 30 years. We should move forward with this fact squarely in our minds. Any debate about future limitations should be rooted in the fact that the door to limitations has been open since the 1934 National Fire Arms Act.

Second, the creation of 2nd Amendment sanctuary counties does not protect businesses or citizens. This is a feel-good form of activism. There is nothing in any of these petitions that grants immunity to any of the signers. In essence, this is protest without action. You showed up said you were upset, but didn’t do anything to affect real change.

Lastly, the consequences for not following any legislation passed in Richmond would fall squarely on the shoulders of local elected officials. None of the signers of these petitions would be forced to make the decisions or face the consequences elected officials, Commonwealth Attorneys and/or Sheriffs would face.

Hypothetically speaking, imagine a piece of legislation is passed in Richmond calling for the ban of semiautomatic weapons in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Who honestly believes our political class would risk their livelihoods, pensions and/or freedom to oppose any law deemed Constitutional?

The next time you see your elected representative, sheriff or commonwealth attorney ask yourself: would this person risk their mortgage or go to jail for my right to bear arms?

The majority of candidates in local races run for office without declaring their political affiliations. We’re supposed to believe politicians too politically calculating (or afraid) to tell us their political beliefs would stand in the gap for us with something more important than their next election on the line?

I’m glad to see so many people engaging in the public square. I believe in protest. Successful protests have broken the back of some of the most egregious evils in our country’s history. However, every protest that’s ever bore fruit required sacrifice. Signing a petition without any practical or actionable plan isn’t sacrifice.   

I wish more of you were concerned about Constitutional Rights when the 4th Amendment Rights of your fellow citizens were being trampled by stop-and-frisk policies. I empathize with the distrust many of you now feel towards government and law enforcement. I stand in solidarity with you, but this isn’t the way.

How Should We Think About Impeachment?

Impeachment hearings are here whether we want them or not. The next few weeks, like all of the weeks before them, will be full of misinformation and half truths. 

There will be concerted efforts made by politicians and members of the media/entertainment complex to smear and attack people: most of whom none of us have ever heard of.

Some of you will feel a knee jerk reaction to defend politicians and/or public figures you identify with. This is a natural instinct; I'm not asking anyone to transcend their humanity. I'm asking each and everyone to use their commonsense. Think about all of this in a clear and simplified way.

Ask yourself: 

1. Who has more motivation to tell the truth: someone under oath- who potentially faces perjury or someone outside of the legal scope of this investigation- who doesn't face any consequences for their words?

2. Why would so many career civil servants risk their pensions and their family's economic future to come forward?

3. Would you feel differently about any of the sworn statements or testimony if it were given about a politician you didn't identify with?

4. What do all of the investigations, guilty pleas, and convictions say about this White House?

5. Who benefits from the way you feel?

There will be people trying to convince you not to believe what you are hearing and seeing. There will be people ascribing the most insidious motives to their fellow citizens. There will be people, with a history of lying, trying to convince you they are telling the truth. There will be people trying to convince you that loyalty to ideology and political affiliation are more important than loyalty to the principles of truth and justice.

Donald Trump's innocence and guilt has already been decided by a majority of the country. There are people on both sides of the aisle who won't be swayed by any evidence that challenges their beliefs. We know this, but it shouldn't stop us from thinking critically about this process.

The next few weeks will be a test of our collective integrity. We will either call a thing by its name or we will twist ourselves into knots to avoid speaking the truth. We will invest our intellectual horsepower into substantive dialogue or we will chase every distraction waved in front of us. We make this choice as individuals and collectively.

Our judgement won't come from our peers in this moment, but from the progeny we bequeath this country to. This thought should dictate how we move forward.