Abraham Lincoln was a great patriot before he was elected to the Presidency of the United States. On June 16, 1858, in accepting the Republican party nomination to be their Senatorial candidate in Illinois two years before becoming the standard-bearer in what was to be the most contentious presidential election in our nation's history until the one the day before yesterday, he noted, "A house divided itself cannot stand."
He was speaking about the split in our nation over slavery, and he was absolutely and tragically correct. One hundred and sixty years later that same Union he was murdered trying to preserve is, as I heard on NPR yesterday citing a study from a year previously, rending itself asunder as we sort ourselves out, not as red and blue, not as white and black, or rich and poor, but rather, as urban versus rural.
The former tends to have a higher (and more costly) quality of life and feels constrained by the latter while the latter sees itself pitied and abandoned by the former. Tuesday's election did nothing, absolutely nothing, to help all of us bridge the gap that's becoming a chasm as we talk at rather than speak with one another.
As confounded and angry as I am that anyone could support someone for the office of President as manifestly incompetent as the incumbent, I have to accept that his supporters see me as dangerously disruptive and most disquieting of all, we are both correct. So now what?
Our nation's motto is "E Pluribus Unum," 'out of many, one,' but we've mistaken patriotism for tribalism and decide that while you (whoever you are) may look like we do, you know what it is? You're not one of us. I'm not sure there's a way back to the place we were before but I do know we have to try to find it.
-bill kenny
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