{"id":53203,"date":"2021-01-21T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=53203"},"modified":"2021-01-20T17:47:06","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T22:47:06","slug":"the-prospects-for-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/01\/the-prospects-for-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Prospects for Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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One of President Biden\u2019s biggest priorities, he says, is uniting the country.\u00a0 What are the prospects of that happening?\u00a0 And how might that be done?<\/p>\n

Here is what he said from his\u00a0\u00a0Inaugural Address<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy. Unity. Unity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In another January, on New Year\u2019s Day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. When he put pen to paper, the president said, and quote, \u201cIf my name ever goes down into history, it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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My whole soul is in it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Today on this January day, my whole soul is in this. Bringing America together. Uniting our people. Uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause. . . .<\/p>\n

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To all of those who supported our campaign, I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us. To all of those who did not support us, let me say this hear me out as we move forward, take a measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree, so be it, that\u2019s democracy, that\u2019s America. The right to dissent peaceably within the guardrails of our Republic is perhaps this nation\u2019s greatest strength. Yet hear me clearly disagreement must not lead to disunion, and I pledge this to you I will be a president for all Americans, all Americans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And I promise you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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One of Biden\u2019s first acts as president was to proclaim January 20 a \u201cNational Day of Unity<\/a>.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Uniting our bitterly polarized country will mean reaching out to the 47% of the nation who voted for Donald Trump, many of whom are convinced that Biden stole the election.\u00a0 And if he does, he will also have to deal with the radical wing of his own party, which is also angry and eager for revenge.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Probably the ends of the spectrum on both the right and the left will resist being brought into any kind of union, but the general public is exhausted from all of the conflict.\u00a0 After a series of crises culminating in the War of 1812, Americans had a backlash with the James Monroe administration called the Era of Good Feelings<\/a>.\u00a0 Lots of Americans will crave something similar now.<\/div>\n
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The media will create a distinct change of tone.\u00a0 Without Donald Trump to write about, the news will suddenly become positive.\u00a0 Expect lots of supportive stories about the new administration and the policies it will be implementing.<\/div>\n

Conservative attacks will ease.\u00a0 \u00a0The big talk radio network Cumulous is reining back its conservative hosts.\u00a0 Rush Limbaugh, struggling with cancer, may not be on the air much longer.\u00a0\u00a0Fox will become more of a regular network.\u00a0 Other conservative media won\u2019t get a platform.<\/p>\n

The economy might do very well at first, rebounding from pent-up pandemic restrictions plus repeated government bailouts.\u00a0 This will contribute to the elevated mood, though an eventual reckoning for our\u00a0enormous government spending seems inevitable.<\/p>\n

Americans generally unify behind a common threat.\u00a0 War unifies.\u00a0 The 9\/11 attacks unified.\u00a0 The COVID-19 pandemic might have played this role, except that it has become politicized.\u00a0 Internal enemies also unify, so we must beware of scapegoating.\u00a0 We must also beware of achieving unity by forced conformity.<\/p>\n

As in the original Era of Good Feelings, the sense of unity and co-operation that we might achieve in the short term will likely be superficial and short-lived.\u00a0 We might paper over our problems and our underlying differences, but they won\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

Instead of striving at all costs for unity, we might do better to strengthen our institutional checks and balances to manage those differences and to learn to live together productively in spite of them.<\/p>\n

Do you have any ideas or suggestions for President Biden on how he might fulfill this priority?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration:\u00a0 July 4, 1819 Celebration [the Era of Good Feelings] by John Lewis Krimmel \u2013 Unknown source, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=883323<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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