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The Divided States of America
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Week of 1st June 2020
The division of America has always been there. This division was once very widely felt that led to the Civil war, and most recently, now as the US lives it under Trump’s presidency. Statistics show that 80% of Americans feel the division. Truth is, Trump didn’t cause the division. Trump’s election was the result of the division that did not just divided America, but polarised America.
As the US burns due to racism and policy brutality, that have long plagued the country, we explore the origin of the division. It could be attributed to democratic politics, to religious believes, economic disparity and just about everything these days.
A very interesting historical take:
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Donald Kettl’s “America is so divided because Federalism isn’t working”
A economic and mostly religious take (which in a way speaks to part of the country that evolved and adapted vs the part that didn’t)
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Bob Abeshouse’s “Why Trump’s America is more divided as ever”
A view of how to spot the division, including using facemasks:
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David Shribman’s “Face masks now define a divided America and its politics”
From the web:
From our Chief Opinionator:
The past and not so clear future of DSA
Images of the riots across US was almost like a repeat of the 1992 LA riot. Just that this time, the name of the black man was not Rodney King, but George Floyd.
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America had always been plagued by division. It was race back then and still is, but it also was due to religion, the idea of immigration and protectionism, the fact that the country was run based on bipartisan politics. It’s either you are not a supporter of one party, you must be a supporter of another party. So it is almost impossible to pinpoint one particular reason for the division, but it is certainly easier to bring Trump into this discussion.
The US was not ready for a non-white, non-religious fanatic, president when Obama was elected. Prior to Obama’s election, at the very least, the US was economically wealthy, everyone was happy and they debated the importance of a cigar in Bill Clinton’s infidelity. When Obama came onboard, he had the mishap of needing to deal with the global financial crisis which was brewing prior to his swearing in. The 10% unemployment rate and collapse of an important industry, the auto industry, caused the Americans to lose something dear to its heart. Obama, race, religion, the democrats were blamed.
Trump was elected because he took advantage of this division, grabbed it and romanticized it. The democrats fell right into the trap. As a foreigner, all we saw was infighting between Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump as two immature human beings. Between Alexandria Ocasio – Cortez and Donald Trump as a woman vs a man. Between Illhan Omar and Donald Trump as a Muslim immigrant vs an entitled 3rd generation white American. American politicians had not been thinking about unity. They have been fighting for specific rights without considering the bigger picture of the country as one.
I don’t have any suggestions for the US to come out of this deteriorating path to destruction, only that they have a lot more issues that they need to deal with in-house, on top of the international meddling that they butt their big noses into. If they want to get their house in order, that is what they have to focus on, and not infect the international community, such as Greater China, with this American originated disease known as Divided States of America.