Complex question, simple answer: Why have our politics gotten so personal, more about vitriol and hating our president than rational dialogue on things that matter?
One perspective is that we are not, as a society, any longer cohesive. A thousand television channels, million online videos, billion social posts daily – has eroded the understanding we once shared about what actually make us great, has long held us together.
Lack of cohesion – whatever the source – creates downstream effects. For starters, it becomes a way for adversaries to divide us, a national, local, and personal security threat. More personally, it creates – you see it around you – distrust, unease, high anxiety.
Whether in California or Maine, the sense is that we have cracked our foundation, forces at work we hope are reversible when we think about them, but that threaten our future.
The response by traditionalists, those who are Trump, Reagan, Bill Buckley, Russell Kirk, or Edmund Burke conservatives, who rely on faith, family, freedom, and history for compass – is to trust in those exact things, faith, family, freedom, and history, ever more.
The response on the other side of the spectrum, the unanchored, less grounded, and those who are without faith, solace in family, fear of freedom, and misunderstanding history – is to seek security in ideology.
Old definitions of ideology are themselves getting old. If some of the lost, uneasy, and ungrounded crowd go for Marxism, more state power to make them feel better, others are not even that clear. They push with religious fervor single-issue concerns.
Into this pool of modern ideologies, based on abandoning reason, are unhealthy preoccupations or distractions, transgender promotion (no historical precedent), climate hysteria (oscillating between fear of freezing, boiling, and drowning), panic over measles, bird flu, plastics, UFOs, asteroids, closed borders, too little fraud, and too much freedom, now ironically called fascism.
These new ideologies, with the old ones, create zealous devotees, religious in nature. Absent faith in a loving God, focus on family, freedoms, and history, they tend to madness.
So, the main point: Lack of cohesion creates unease, taking people back to their faith or pitching them into this bucket of crazy ideologies, which are in evidence all around us.
Those without critical thinking, self-awareness, reflection on their many blessings, and trust in logic, default to ideology. Feeling they cannot control things, anxiety can evolve into hate.
While some might say that explains extremist behavior on both ends of the political spectrum, the rise of an increasingly violent left is far more common, now dangerous. A leftist is against all traditions, from faith to the rule of law, and anyone who abides by them.
The danger now is that, as the greater population returns to “normal,” wants an accountable, solvent government, secure borders, security, and peace of mind in faith, family, and limited government, ideological devotees get more radical.
They feel a compulsion to defend the ideology, especially if guilty of irreversible damage – such as hurting a child with transgenderism, terrifying children over climate, or the like. Backing them up, in some cases, can be close to impossible. That is dangerous.
Where does all this lead? How do we fix this? To get back to cohesion, a healthy, educated, self-determining society with compassion, resiliency, and mental health, we need to go back to the source – faith, family, freedom, and history.
Thoughtful, grounded, well-educated social cohesion, where individuals are self-determining and self-reliant, is comforting, offers confidence, not fear, affirms history, and produces far less anxiety. Unease is replaced by restored confidence in neighbors.
Social cohesion, built around limited government and constitutional freedoms – is actually enormously comforting. It is also a politically stabilizing force, highly so.
Put differently, if people will return to what really matters – not social media obsession, personal jousting, comparative superficialities, but faith, family, and history, things stabilize. The question is: Can we get back there?
For me, I think we can. Our Founders believed we would get lost, need to occasionally find our way out of the forest to light, so gave us a flashlight: The Constitution. We need to teach respect for it, go back to it for guidance, and then live it out, teaching in the process.
Some try, others resist the light. They prefer dwelling in a dark spot, adhering to one or another corrupt, anti-individual, anti-liberty ideology. Education is surely needed.
Can we survive this storm? Yes, if we can get back to faith, family, and appreciation for America’s liberty-loving history. Then, social cohesion and sanity return. Can we do that? We have to. Liberty binds us, protects us, and keeps us cohesive. Complex thought, simple answer.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
Can we survive this division that started with Obama?. He was the greatest divider. His intent was to destroy America. He, as his wife said, never liked America. But they got stinking rich. And the dem voters still don’t see it. The brainwashing under the guise of COVID protection finished the division in this country for decades. The mandated vaccine orders pitched pro vaxers against the anti vaxers. Turn in your neighbors, family members and friends hotlines were put up. Trans was pushed on us and our children as the norm of the day. Every child was trans. And you parents should forego your parental rights for the Biden regime could raise your child better than you. Lies were told and still are told. Trump is cutting Medicaid. No he isn’t. Not for those that need it. He cuts Social Security no he isn’t if anything he is shoring up more money into the fund by eliminating 8 million checks to people older than 120 years old. All these lies the dems omit the rest of the story. And MSM just repeats it. The same as they lied about Biden’s mental decline or his prostate cancer. The lies what happened at the border, the debacle with the Afghanistan withdrawal. The lies about deporting the criminals here illegally back to their home country. They don’t really care one way or the other. The poor dem sheep that go out and protest these deportations have no idea what they are supporting. They call it in-humane this deportation. No people, these criminals would take the bread you offer them with one hand and kill you with the other. We have become a country of satanic hatred. To destroy Trump and his supporters. They want a country of 100% vote for them. Don’t think, that is misinformation. Remember how they censored opinions on Twitter and Facebook. How they eliminated another social media platform because it was all mis and or disinformation. Only they were the ones doing the mis and dis informing. They don’t really see the Biden family Mafia and his presidency was one big lying puppet theatre. What you saw you had to accept as true. If you didn’t you were called a domestic terrorist. In America, the land of the free because of the brave. We have to be brave once again or we will perish into communism. Or a civil war.
Family cohesion would make an excellent building block.
Cohesion isnt possible with marxists unless we all become marxist. There were once conservative democrats. There was a time when both parties more or less wanted the same results for the country. That time is long gone. Conservatives have been intimidated into accepting the growth of communism. There is only liberty or tyranny. This is a fight for all the chips. Only one side can win. Lets face that and make it our side.
Social cohesion — a large part of the foundation that provides stability . Having reverence for the principles of Faith, Family,Freedom and thinking about the sense of purpose involved in being an American citizen with the Constitution there for guidance. Understanding the importance of Liberty. Placing value on history , a combination of being resourceful, knowledgeable and responsible .Those forces that attack cohesion are wrong and the equivalent of a storm .In the last paragraph you address the matter of surviving the storm very well RBC .And referring to the Constitution as a.
” flashlight” — that’s a good one, I like that comparison. The truth is part of cohesion and that makes for strength and light — defending what is right
RBC, accurate article. The nation is at the fork in the road where one direction leads to recovery and the other leads to destruction. With the populace pretty even, this reprieve that has been given during the past national election needs to be acted upon, but I believe the upcoming mid-term election will reflect the road that this nation will proceed down. The adversary will continue to spread its hate rhetoric to mislead the populace down the wrong road. If this happens, it might be too late.
Some of us don’t have families.
NO MORE DEMORAT INDOCTRINATION IN SCHOOLS /DEMORAT MORON IDEAS TRANS GENDER BS AND SUCH MAGA ALL THE WAY
Ideologic belief, actions and thoughts bring about a lack of a solid foundation in rational thought, an individual not schooled with no understanding of philosophy, and one without a moral compass, a lack of belief in God, a lack of depth and a spurning of the family. It misses an education which promotes developing the whole person [the intellect, the physical, and the spiritual]. Ideology develops and promotes the serf. Lack of cohesion because of ideological poisoning, will lead to revolution which will be required to keep and maintain the tenets of the Declaration and a constitutional republic.
The author keeps talking about history. Whose history? Only white European ancestry history? There are people here from many different heritages – some, unfortunately, unpleasant even here in America. Also, why is disagreement with Trump defined as hate? I feel sorry for the man. He will never be happy. He cannot have everything.