History Wars in the Dis-United States

My beloved country is being shredded right down to the family level, and it is killing me. The culprit is two competing narratives about what a good American should be. Both narratives are short-sighted, self-serving, and wrong-headed. Almost everybody uses these narrative constructs to formulate an impenetrable opinion bubble reinforced by the type of social media they stream. Stop! It’s not helpful!
On page 137 of Nations Apart, Colin Woodard describes the current divisive atmosphere: “On one side, there’s a story of America as a country engaged in a perpetual struggle to achieve the universal natural rights propositioned in the Declaration, not always succeeding, but learning from its mistakes. On the other hand, there is an assertion that the American founding was sacred and Christian and that racism, intolerance, and institutionalized discrimination were never serious problems and, in any case, no longer exist today.” There are corollary arguments about guns, religion, and sexuality, but those issues are bifurcated in support of the two core arguments.
Woodard calls this History Wars. When the Left tries to cancel the Right and vice versa, this ongoing banter continues, often in exaggerated, unhelpful, and ineffective ways. You can have your opinions, but you do not have to take them out and parade them around the room to the accompaniment of a brass band. Just listen, nod your head, and say, “I understand how you feel.” You are not your brother’s keeper.
This country is a struggling Democracy, struggling to fully realize our ideals. Acceptance of others is crucial. Tolerance of diverse opinions is the bedrock premise!
When racism rears its ugly head these days, it is often wearing the face of a bigoted individual inappropriately put in a position of authority, and sometimes an event that appears to be racially motivated is only a police officer or ICE agent trying to do their job and doing it badly.
The argument hinges on the question of Institutionalized Racism. The Left claims there is a racist cancer at the heart of the American Dream. My friends on the Right deny that “accusation” out of hand. The truth is somewhere in between.
Those of us who are white and straight should defend everyone’s right to personal freedom, even as it was once famously said, “to the death”.
Our values are stated in the Declaration of Independence and safeguarded by our government and our laws. All men and women are created equal. There is no Second-Class Citizenship here, and there never will be.
Stop whining on the Left and on the Right. You are annoying the Americans who are trying to live peacefully in the Center, the often-silent majority.
Proposed: Let us just agree! Racism may not have been a serious problem for some people in the 1800’s and even less so today, but it certainly was and is for others.
Proposed: If you haven’t already adopted the precept of live and let live, do so!