I have no preference for either the Democratic or Republican Party, but I do know the laws of human nature.
The refusal to accept the election results that was accompanied by violent protests, claims of election fraud and hateful labeling of the large and diverse public that voted for Donald Trump, mark the end of the long-held Liberal pretense of holding the moral high ground. Not only did Liberals scorn precisely this type of behavior they predicted and feared would come from Trump supporters, they have been acting in complete opposition to the values they feign to uphold.
What America needs most is unity above differences. Violent protests and labeling Americans as racist, xenophobic, deplorable, uneducated people for thinking differently causes separation that endangers the already fragmented American society. The intensity of hatred that has been spewed from demonstrations and prodigious online posts and articles is sufficient to conclude that finally the masks have been lifted.
Understanding Human Nature
This uncovering of the ugly truth is actually a good thing, because just as there are rules in nature, there are rules in human nature, and it’s about time we get to know them. It is precisely because humanity is mostly oblivious to these rules that we see so much chaos and destruction in our world, as well as the cluelessness as to why things happen as they do. The complete surprise about Trump’s victory was just another example of our inability to read the map correctly.
Nature is a complex system that maintains its balance through the symbiosis and mutual complementation of its parts. As part of nature, humanity too must gradually attain this form by becoming consciously connected by mutual care. Humanity is already growing increasingly connected through transportation and communication technologies and the constantly growing financial ties of trade and industry, which have turned the world into a small global village. However, people have yet to adapt to this interdependence and learn to embrace the new era. This change cannot come about if we maintain the current politically correct censorship. By doing so, we are obscuring our innate oppositeness and antagonism towards unity.
It is written, “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21). We all have egos; Freud knew it too. Consciously or not, we all want to be right, to be superior to others, to dominate. Painting ourselves as good and behaving self-righteously actually results in using even greater coerciveness against others whose behavior mirrors what we are trying so hard to repress. So it is no surprise that the Politically Correct culture has become a form of Fascism, forcing people to speak “properly” about everyone and everything, but actually terrorizing and threatening them at the same time, inhibiting civil liberties and free thought.
We do need to become good and loving people, but the path to get there is not through forcing behavioral codes and altering language, but through actual educational practices that connect and change us for the better. In Europe, letting in millions of Muslim immigrants, which has been showing its destructive effects, was mistaken not because people shouldn’t care, or desire a pluralistic society, but because it was done without prior preparation that would allow it to go smoothly.
Because our nature is the way it is, there are only two ways in which very different people or totally opposed cultures can get along. Either they keep their distance from one another, allowing each to live freely as they are, minding their own business, OR they undergo a process of education that allows them to come closer and even to bond as friends who willfully accept their interdependence, because they sense that they actually need one another. This is true for all of us; we really do need one another, but we often cannot see this without a process that opens our eyes to how this connection will help us achieve something higher and greater than what we have now. We have to give people this incentive in order to succeed in truly bringing them together. Otherwise, we are approaching extremely dangerous situations.
We need only take example from what’s happening in Europe as a backlash to its open-borders, neoliberal policies: far-right opinions and attacks are on the rise, Jews have been fleeing the continent by numbers unseen since the 1930s, and Europe’s far-right parties are gaining strength. A similar situation in America under Clinton, who promised to walk in the footsteps of European leaders in terms of migration policies, would have made the questionable acts of hate we have been seeing since the election look like a mere fleeting shadow inflated by the media. Moreover, it is actually Liberalism that can itself turn into Fascism and it was already crossing this line under Obama’s presidency. If we are truly to achieve pluralistic values and social justice, it must be done through careful consideration of human nature and a step-by-step educational plan; for the middle path that transcends the pitfalls of political ideologies can only be reached by tending to the source of all separation and hate- by addressing man’s self-centered nature.
A Much Needed Method
In the whole of nature, there is a balance between positive and negative forces, between giving and receiving. In humankind, the positive force lies dormant, paralyzed under the tyranny of self-absorption. Without a positive force to balance egoistic human behavior, our society becomes a nightmare.
When the forefathers of the Jewish people emerged from Egypt and formed a nation, they did so by clinging to the strict condition of being “as one man with one heart.” From the very beginning, they had instilled the positive force among them, which guided them in everything they did. They fought and struggled, and for centuries succeeded in covering their egos with brotherhood.
The method for covering all hatred with love, as King Solomon put it (Proverbs 10:12), was our weapon against extinction. If the US is to survive as a single entity, it must adopt the principle of covering hatred with love, instead of simply suppressing it until it bursts again, more intensely than before.
Uniting the States of America
The election has revealed how split America is, between its urban population and rural Middle America, two groups with diametrically opposed ways of life. Add to that the increasing racial tensions reported by blacks and Hispanics and the threat of radical Islam causing deep concern, and you’ve got a melting pot about to boil over. This is the America that Trump will need to lead into better times, and he intends to do so as is evident in his recent statements declaring that Americans must come together as one united people. Only by applying a methodical educational process that will unite all factions of the nation will he be able to succeed. Only by acknowledging the differences among the factions of American society and rising above them will the fears of another civil war be quelled. This is crucial for American society, and the success of America is essential for the world.
Featured in The Jerusalem Post