An Unnatural Divide
The feeling in America today is that we as a people are hopelessly divided. This division seems to be not just in politics, but also in culture, ideology, faith, gender, and generational attitudes. Congress appears to be disjointed, dysfunctional, and incapable of passing legislation designed to address solutions for critical needs of society.
Analysts would have us believe that there is no reasonable expectation that our nation’s problems can ever be solved. We are told as citizens that our only choices are to reelect President Joe Biden to further expand the control of government, or reelect former President Donald Trump to “blow government up.” This conclusion by our national leaders in their woeful depiction of the state of America completely misconstrues the existential soul of America.
Americans see the world through their personal lens of a single universal purpose versus a coterie of specific issues that impede the universal mission. It is this process of a universal foundation in the people’s minds that must be protected that is challenged by special interests which threaten the core fabric about which Americans are most concerned.
What is the evidence that there is a universal foundation in the minds of Americans?
A recent survey research project entitled the America’s Values Study discovered the evidence. The purpose of this study was to explore what does America believe and why does she believe it. The methodology was state-of-the-art. The sample size was 3,750 personal interviews covering all 242 data points of the U.S. Census. In light of what Americans are told about the intractability in society of specific issues, a particular finding is almost shocking.
Ninety-four percent of Americans are proud to some degree to be American. The survey asked this question with these results:
How proud are you to be an American?
Extremely proud 40%
Very proud 25%
Somewhat proud 21%
Only a little proud 8%
Not at all proud 6%
For 94% of the American public to agree in some degree on any issue is beyond
extraordinary. It is astounding. The finding is, to the current national dialogue, as incomprehensible as when Copernicus announced to the Catholic Church that the earth revolves around the sun. Yet, truth always survives once declared.
To understand this consensus requires an analysis of what it is Americans truly hold as sacrosanct. They believe that the one asset, social construct, unit of authority, and safe harbor in which they can find safety under their control, is their family. Regardless of their age, ethnicity, gender, political ideology, party affiliation, philosophy, religion, education, region of the country, or economic standing, family is the number one priority in their life.
And they believe that the United States of America is the one and only sovereign nation in the world that is committed by its Constitution to protect the authority of an individual to govern the morality of their family as they individually determine.
It is not family values that unite us. It is the value of the family. One might ask, isn’t family values in conflict with the value of the family? No, the value of the family is seen as a universal, foundational element of security that allows every individual American the process to deal with divisive issues like family values.
Everything from abortion, transgender identity, government programs, healthcare, education, etc., fall into a completely different category, seen through the lens of society, as specific issues that challenge their authority to protect, direct, and nurture the family, and therefore, its ultimate value as the universal foundation.
Abortion, for instance, is a very important issue. But it doesn’t threaten collectively all Americans. Border security on the other hand is seen by the electorate as a direct threat to every American in reference to the security of their family. The economy is important because it is essential to providing a good paying job to allow the head of a household to support the financial security of their family. That is why these two issues rise to the top of everyone’s concern because they directly impact the universal foundation that unifies Americans. We are all threatened by these two issues equally.
To further explain this concept, reflect on the picture above. What is the distinctive difference between the fields on either side of the dividing wall? Very little can be perceived by the naked eye. Yet, the field is full of different types of vegetation requiring different amounts of nutrients and moisture. If someone were to propose the use of herbicides and certain fertilizer to enhance the growth of clover at the expense of native
grass, this would be metaphorically what is happening in America today. Both the native grass and the clover make up the consensus ecosystem that is the fabric of the field. Herbicides should not be applied without first considering its impact on the overall foundational environment of the coexistence of the plant infrastructure.
The universal foundation of the value of family unifies Americans. The coterie of special issues divides Americans. The universal foundation leads to the acceptance by Americans of equal constitutional rights to govern their own affairs of morality in the individual pursuit of happiness. The coterie of special interests leads to identity politics incompatible with mutual respect for individual rights.
Americans are not threatened by another family’s authority to govern their lives as they see fit. They are perfectly happy to coexist with other families that have different opinions on the coterie of specific issues.
This is what politicians and elected officials do not understand.
The special election in New York to fill former Congressman George Santos’ seat is open political theater on the 94% finding. Interview after interview by national news correspondents reveals what the citizens want from their government. “Why can’t we all sit down together to discuss the issues and find reasonable solutions to that which divides us?” “Why doesn’t government listen to our true concerns?” “Why doesn’t
government understand what is truly important to us?”
The news media then takes these questions, picks an issue from the coterie category and says, this divisive issue of identity politics is what every American should accept as a universal solution. Most elites not only don’t understand the difference between the universal issue and the category of coterie issues, they don’t know the universal issue even exists.
Why?
Because the universal foundational issue unites Americans, takes advantage of local
authority to solve problems, and makes elites less relevant and unnecessary. Coterie
issues not only divide America, they drive Americans to oppose each other, and
therefore, justify the power of the elites to lead divisively.
A majority of Americans do not hate each other. They are not racist. They do not want to
impose their morality on anyone else. Most Americans are happy to lead a peaceful life
respecting each other’s rights and authority over their own families.
In the early 1800s, when European elites still couldn’t understand why the American
colonies declared independence. A national motto was established to summarize the
purpose of the U.S. Constitution. It was to codify the principle that birth is not destiny.
Each family’s authority to govern their own morality is respected.
The motto found under the all-seeing eye on the back of a one-dollar bill is ‘novus ordo
seclorum’ (a new order for the generations). Above the motto is ‘annuit coeptis’ (God
favors this). This is a mission statement for the value of family.
The world depends upon America today as a police force, the chief negotiator for
peace, a free market, the world’s currency, the leading philanthropist for foreign aid,
escape valve for healthcare and international investment, research and development of
new products, innovation and entrepreneurship, and, through immigration, the last great
hope and safe harbor for a better life. The one thing that unites humanity is the desire to
give the next generation a greater opportunity than the one received from the previous
generation.
Whatever concerns we have about issues that divide us, keep to the forefront that which
unites us…
For the existential soul of America is not just our hope, but the hope of humanity.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?
