Let's All Just Step Back From the Brink
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I remember being at a party in 1968, not long out of college, and having some guy bet me $10 that America would be in a full-fledged civil war within 15 years.
Let's see. Sixty-eight plus 15 equals 83. And when 1983 rolled around, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, it was "morning in America," we and most of the rest of the world were at peace, and the country was launching into a period of unprecedented prosperity that would last, off and on, for more than 20 years. Not a civil war in sight.
My young friend was wrong. And he never did pay me my $10.
But had he been crazy to make such a prediction in 1968? In my heart, I had to admit that it didn't feel like such an exaggeration at the time, and that I knew where he was coming from.
I took the bet, but it was mostly a case of whistling in the dark. There were a lot of us back then, including older and wiser heads, who shared in the sense of alarm and anxiety at the state of things and where they might be heading.
After all, 1968 has to rank way up there, if not at the very top, on the list of most nightmarish years in American history. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were murdered. The surprise Tet offensive by Communist forces dashed our hope that we had turned a corner in the Vietnam War. Black ghettoes in several of our major cities had exploded in deadly racial rioting. There were street battles at the infamous Democratic Convention in Chicago.
But, as dark as things looked, we somehow got through that bad spot in one piece, things calmed down, and the fabric of our nation proved more tear-resistant than we had imagined.
I have to keep reminding myself of that all these years later, when we as a nation find ourselves again in an ugly crisis mode. And once more, at this much later stage in life, I find myself troubled about the future of our beloved republic and again wondering if we can keep this train on the track.
On the surface, the year 2010 doesn't feel much like 1968, though we are locked in another endless, no-win war - two of them, actually. True, there are no hippies and hardhats confronting each other in the streets, our inner cities appear relatively calm, and there have been (knock wood) no assassinations. But on another level, things seem worse now than they were then. And at the moment, at least, that light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is looking pretty dim and distant.
I've never experienced such anger, hostility, polarization and incivility as one can feel reverberating through the body politic and across the Web as the election of 2010 nears.
Something about the mood out there is downright scary. Political attack ads have reached a new level of lying loathsomeness. The venomous tone displayed by some bloggers, radio talkers and Web commenters suggests that they already consider themselves at war with fellow citizens. If we can't get ahold of ourselves, it is not hard to imagine things spiraling out of control.
America has fallen on hard economic times, to be sure. But rather than place the responsibility where it largely belongs - on our own shoulders as an irresponsible society that lived way beyond its means for decades - we find it easier to look for simpler answers and aim our hostility at easy scapegoats and nurse sinister conspiracy theories. Hatred of Muslims and illegal immigrants is approaching a paranoid fever pitch.
It's quite a stretch to compare the United States of the year 2010 to Weimer Germany in 1930, as some contemporary observers have done. But there are inescapable parallels: A country with a nagging feeling that it is losing its greatness and its place of leadership on the world stage. A sense of military failure. An economy on the rocks. And some handy minority groups to pile the blame on.
Are we ripe for the rise of another Hitler, as has been fearfully suggested in some quarters? Again, I would bet my $10 against it. But I would do so with greater confidence if we would all take a couple of giant steps back from the brink, dwell more on what we have in common than what divides us, and quit playing so recklessly with fire.
Steve Bouser is editor of The Pilot. Contact him at (910) 693-2470 or by e-mail at sbouser@thepilot.com.
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Comments
OldSpook 2 years, 6 months ago
"Hatred of Muslims and illegal immigrants is approaching a paranoid fever pitch."
And just who was it that flew those planes into the Twin Towers and have made it clear they want to kill all who do not agree with them? Oh yea, that would be those peace loving Muslims.
And who is it that keeps disrespecting our boarders and our laws while screaming how we should respect and provide for them? Oh yea, that would be those upright citizen ILLEGAL immigrants.
One question; why do you presume to chastise people who have neither engaged in unprovoked warfare nor entered our boarders illegally?
JAP 2 years, 6 months ago
I always laugh when someone says we are "failing at 2 wars" because there is just so much ignorance in that statement.
OldPilot 2 years, 6 months ago
Good column.
MikeNC 2 years, 6 months ago
I would not parallel this period of time in America with that of 1930 Hitler and his Brown Shirts harrassing Jews. I rather think of it as Americans feeling they have been highjacked on a "5th plane", Destination, Unknown. The pilot is our President, who has taken us into unchartered waters with extreme idealogies and we're all hoping the seats float, when the crash takes place.
Diane McLellan
teufelhunden 2 years, 6 months ago
Well put, Diane.
blake 2 years, 6 months ago
"The venomous tone displayed by some bloggers, radio talkers and Web commenters suggests that they already consider themselves at war with fellow citizens."
It is amazing the Mr Bouser left out the statement by President Obama two days ago stating "If Latinos sit out the election, instead of saying we're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends".
fugitiveguy 2 years, 6 months ago
Don't forget our fearless leader when he said, "Republicans can come along, they just have to sit in the back", he's such a uniter isn't he.
blessherheart 2 years, 6 months ago
The Republicans don't want a uniter. They fought him tooth and nail from day one. Not one sign of any cooperation. Boehner was here in Moore county last summer and made it quite clear, as he sat at a local establishment three sheets to the wind, that we are going to throw blankety blank monkey wrenches in anything Obama. McConnell has stated that "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” That was their single most important thing to accomplish in this country during these times?
MooreNorth 2 years, 6 months ago
I didn't realize that Frank, Dodd, Fannie, and Freddie were part of a "handy minority group".
madstork 2 years, 6 months ago
And much of the blogger venom is written by one of your columnists Mr. Bouser...one Dusty Rhodes. Perhaps a leave of absence for him is in order to fortify your comments.
dustyrhoades 2 years, 6 months ago
Hilarious. If I posted on here "Steve, you ought to ban madstork, some of his posts are really venomous", you'd be howling about repression and free speech being violated. But IOKIYAR!
Have a nice day.
eflat7 2 years, 6 months ago
I agree with the column for the most part, except i'm not too sure people are "scared" of illegal immigrants and muslims. I think people are just tired of it.
Good read though. Thanks.
intrepidreader 2 years, 6 months ago
"But IOKIYAR! "
As Juan Williams would be the first to point out, what a load of bull. It's obviously quite okay if you're a Democrat, too.
coffecreme 2 years, 6 months ago
@ intrepidreader...Most columnist and contributors to this paper are Republicans
blake 2 years, 6 months ago
@ Coffecreme, Conservative contributors: Cutler, Jefferys, and Wolferman(maybe) Liberal contributors: Bouser, Rhoades, Steven Smith, Kevin Smith, Dunn, Fitzsimon
Check your math.
blessherheart 2 years, 6 months ago
Bouser - Unaffiliated Fitzsimon - Unaffiliated
Easygoing 2 years, 6 months ago
I would say that the comments posted in response to the editorial are proof enough that Mr. Bouser has it just about right. As Winston Churchill said: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
dustyrhoades 2 years, 6 months ago
"read Bouser's editorial's and speak with him. No tax he ever met that he did not support."
Examples, please?
sgmartin 2 years, 6 months ago
Good column. Must say I don't find the Pilot liberal. Will say to many of the writers here....let's try for reasonable conclusions supported by facts. Obama.."extreme ideologies"? Hmm. Obama is a moderate - it's why the left is so frustrated.
dustyrhoades 2 years, 6 months ago
""read Bouser's editorial's and speak with him. No tax he ever met that he did not support."
Still waiting for someone to back this up, becuase I don't recall Bouser discussing taxes, yea or nay, at all.
geoffcutler 2 years, 6 months ago
Here's one. "Yes-We Need a 50-Cent Gas Tax-Now" January 14, 2009.
Bradford835 2 years, 6 months ago
Oh Please, Just like Pelosi with her crocodile tears about the San Fransisco riots when speaking of the Tea Party. Now that it things look bleak for Democrats it's the Rodney King "can't we all just get along" cry. I didn't hear too much of this type of talk two years ago. What I heard from the President was "I won"... NaNaNa.