Saving democracy requires more than lip service and partisan politics. I reading an interesting article An author who studies diverse democracies shares what he sees as the future of the US. He discusses that there has been a lot of bad behavior but some hope and that in his studies he believes democracy can thrive and succeed in the modern world. We have to learn how to create a conception of how we can rally around certain values and intermingle as different peoples. To me that is the universalism of our American values and how that applies to everyone based on values and merit and not subject to differences of race and religion.
I've seen this attempt to split society through social networks and inappropriate use of a few law enforcement officials on a local level and the coordinated sacking of our capital on a national level. (...before you jump a conclusion I'm 100% in support of law enforcement and many rallied to a higher cause. Some did not.). The smirky selfishness of some exploited their social networks to carve up society and damage opportunities (i.e. a local college that said I was more than qualified and then retracted once they found out I was the "Muslim" guy that the members of their social group were targeting. This is what happens when you have HR departments with officials who are seeking to control institutions and retain/limit access to them. Your quality, character, history, and qualifications don't count. Doctors, veterans, etc...are all discounted. Only your perceived value to a certain group's racial and religious preferences becomes important. It may be illegal but is all to common and often not held to account by local officials. ).
As we intermingle and interrelate we can create shared opportunities and shared perspectives. Some will seek to separate society in hopes of maintaining their distorted position and create power through manipulation of fear and hate. Others will fight to keep us a single people and jump across those gaps to avoid a major split in society (I can walk between the two worlds because I have lived long enough in both to understand their peoples.)
The author is a light left Jewish and I'm a light right Muslim, Catholic, Jew (Meaning I'm a universalist with a cultural Catholic background that lived with Muslims for 20+ years. I adhere to all of them in some ways accepting what I believe is helpful in each.). We are both centralists that seek to create a better world and who have experienced the atrocities of hate. He has lost his grandparents during the Holocausts and me and my children were threatened through group targeting (That isn't the only account I have experienced.).
We can keep our democracy intact and thriving if we can get our political leadership to pull together to work on solving problems versus serving only their political interests. It is us centralist that have the highest American values and yet as a people we often vote for the most radical of society. Biggest Threats, Fred Upton Receives Death Threats, U.S. Can Outperform China.
Some of us fight for our country and people and some of us fight for only their social networks, race, religion and parties. Which are you?
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