A few hours after the results come in, the winner of the 2020 presidential election will come on stage, thank his supporters, perhaps thank his rival for a tough race, and promise that he will be everyone’s president, not just of those who voted for him. But when a country is divided as deeply as America has become today, I’m not sure any president can patch it up.To make America one again, you need more than words; you need a common goal. When people of differing views share a common goal their different viewpoints contribute to its attainment since they can cover more angles, look at things from different perspectives, and reflect problems that the other side did not think of before they materialize. But when each party sees the country as its own possession and wants to exploit it to promote its own interests, you’re bound to deepen the chasm and exacerbate the anger.
Currently, America is en route to mayhem. There is utter mistrust between Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives and Progressives, and blacks and whites. Generally, America has become a country where every decision you make puts you in agreement with half the country and at odds with the other half, even if you don’t want to be at odds with anyone. It seems as though there is no middle anymore, only extremes.
Four years ago, there was still a faint veneer of respect between the two parties. Today, no one even bothers to conceal the odium. I am all for frankness, but when you take pride in your derision of another and do not intend to mend it, you are sowing wind, and you will reap the storm.
It seems that everyone has forgotten that unity is not built out of similar opinions, but out of different views that unite around a common goal through mutual concessions. If the benefit of the United States were the goal of both parties when they come to present their cases to the public, it would have been a very different election campaign, and the whole country would be in a very different situation than it is in today. But when power is the goal and the voters are the staircase to the throne, politicians will not miss a step as they trample their way to the top.