Like many of you, I get up each morning and read the news. And like many of you, I guess, I quickly get depressed about our state of being. It doesn’t matter what you read; most of the stories are about dissension, killings, bickering politicians, and the “culture war.” Where is the good news about how we cooperated, got along, and did something worthwhile for all of us? I know many people who have just given up reading the news, following politics, or even voting. It’s sad.
It seems we’ve seized upon our ideologies to a fault. We can’t agree on how to fix our roads and bridges. A nation of immigrants, we’ve become xenophobes. The “nativists” are energized. Our disagreement over guns has paralyzed us. Republicans and Democrats don’t just disagree; they hate each other. Liberals are ridiculed; conservatives are often called Nazis. We don’t trust our elections, and we have lost confidence in the police. Compromise has become a dirty word; a sense of community has broken down. Racial discord has gotten worse, not better. Science is politicized. Universities are derided. Some churches have gotten politically engaged; others have refused to speak out. All of the above have become “politically correct.” Over 500 years of Western progress is being threatened: the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, the Reformation, and constitutional government are under siege.
We can’t blame this state of affairs on the media—radio, television, or newspapers. However overly zealous, biased, or partisan they might be at times, the fault lies with us. We, individually and collectively, are responsible for what has happened. Without our indifference or our participation this new anarchy could not prosper. We need to get a grip. We all put our pants on the same way, “one leg at a time.”