Even though hatred, polarization and unrest accumulates from one day to the next in American society, and even though riots could emerge in relation to a range of issues, I doubt that there will be civil war in response to the elections.
American society has a deep-rooted consensus on its democratic values, and it has made breakthroughs in providing its large and diverse population with equal rights. These same values that most Americans hold will be why I think that they will hold together after the elections in November.
However, the fact that there are questions about whether there will be civil war in America after the elections shows that division in American society is definitely a major problem that needs to be treated. It seems like an impossibility to bring together people with opposing views, and it is true: we cannot solve such a problem on the same level as the problem.
The solution to the increasing division in American society lies not in bringing the opposing factions closer together, nor in tilting people on one side to another. Rather, it is in uniting above the division. In other words, every person has a right to their opinion and can fiercely reject the opinion of others, but above these opposing opinions should begin to emerge a common understanding of the need to unite above the conflicting opinions, that society’s survival and well-being depends on it.
Although it might seem far-fetched that an umbrella of unity will miraculously appear and hover over an increasingly polarizing society, there are two factors that make it possible: one is the growing awareness of how nothing positive emerges from a increasingly divided society; and the other is the need for a nationwide educational campaign, which will raise the idea of how and why uniting above the divisions is more important—for people’s survival, health, happiness and well-being—than giving into divisive drives. Moreover, since America stands on the world’s stage, when its hundreds of millions of citizens start connecting above their growing differences, they will positively influence people worldwide with a similar unifying tendency.
Therefore, after the elections, I would advise the President or President-Elect to gather America’s leaders from every vocation in order to first reach a unified decision on how to make America coronavirus-free. Afterward, I would advise the leaders to select a few cities in different parts of the country as test cases to implement programs aimed at unifying people above division. As test cases, their progress would need regular monitoring and examination in order to see what is needed, through all kinds of situations that could surface, in order to create, sustain and grow a positive unifying atmosphere. There is absolutely no harm in implementing such an experiment. Rather, it holds the potential to create a new model for far-reaching improvements in social health and happiness.
As deepening polarization gives rise to more and more outbursts and anxiety in America, then precisely this bleak landscape can act as the background needed in order to realize a new positive shift. I indeed see a lot of potential in American society, with its pioneering and innovative spirit, its values of equality and freedom of expression, and its vast influence throughout the world, to face the challenge of its social division and realize that in unity everything will become much better.
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