The American Quilt

We are a colorful patchwork of humans here in America. Our ideologies differ as much as other factors in our physical and psychological makeups. We are a melting pot that occasionally boils over. We are all immigrants to this land. Native Americans were the first to arrive from Asia and Siberia, followed much later by peoples from Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, and other nations. In that mix there were about 600,000 slaves brought here from Africa with a bit over half of those arriving before 1776.

 

Across the centuries we have developed a strong cultural identity as Americans while often retaining some acknowledgement of foreign heritage. As of our last census in 2010, about 37 million of us are foreign born, another 34 million have at least one parent foreign born, and 230 million are 3rd generation with foreign born grandparents. That's 301 million people within 3 generations of immigration. Consider that the U.S. population during that census was about 309 million, and you get some sense of the flavor of this rich American Stew. By 2044, the United States is projected to become a plurality nation. That is, while the non-Hispanic "white alone" population will still be the largest, no race or ethnic group is projected to have greater than a 50 percent share of the nation’s total population.

 

 

 

This preamble is merely to establish the United States as a remarkably diverse, multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation where people have been immigrating for centuries. Within our borders we have moved around, and the “stew” has been mixed thoroughly. But, also within that amalgam of cultural ingredients, we have developed new identities by region, religion, biases, race, or other factors where some commonality may exist. We identify ourselves by political party affiliation using labels such as Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal, Conservative, etc. We may also be southerners, Bostonians, Christians, Yankees, or almost anything that may be stitched on a ball cap.

 

This brings us to the year 2021, where we have just exited a four-year period of intense national division. This was promoted, in part, by a president who sought gratification of certain authoritarian leanings by using divisive rhetoric and a very loose association with the truth and reality. He exploited that inherent weakness in our nature for his own aggrandizement.

 

This all boiled over after he was voted out of office and decided to make one last attempt to apply an emotional salve on his wounded pride by organizing a group of followers with false claims of a stolen election, election fraud, and a false hope of recovering his position by force. He convinced this group of rabble that he was with them both emotionally and physically, that they would have the support of other unidentified officials and perhaps the military, and that a march on the Capitol to disrupt the final step in the election certification proceedings would bear fruit. Like most of the ramblings of this emotional child, it was all untrue. To put a finer point on it, they were all lies uttered only to bolster his fragile ego.

 

Now, many of his followers feel disillusioned, betrayed, and abandoned. With the “emperor’s clothes” now fully exposed, it remains for the courts to punish these poor disillusioned souls. As with most of the wealthy class, it is doubtful that the instigator will suffer any repercussions for his deeds. Half of the Senate, made up of Republicans, fear the Cult of the former president, and will take no action. Legal jeopardy in the courts remains a sketchy straw that may be grabbed by some enterprising prosecutor, but that remains to be seen.

 

We are now hearing from the right side of the aisle that it is time for us to follow that famous Beatles lyric and “Come together, right now, ...” That would be all well and good and it would be nice if we could mend a few fences and return to a time, if not of total peace, at least to one of civility. For that to happen, I think that those who supported this president in his policy, will need to condemn all acts of violence perpetrated in his name. Included in that disavowal would need to be an outright condemnation of those groups, praised, and encouraged by the former president, who openly attack our democracy, spread malicious conspiracy theories, support white supremacy, and otherwise align themselves with ideologies that are so abhorrent that they need not be listed.

 

 

 

Our American Quilt is tattered and torn and in need of a few stitches, but it can be repaired. I don’t expect to see a monumental Kumbaya moment in our immediate future, but I would like to see a return to civility and respect for one another. That will take movement from both sides. Not a change in base ideologies, but a change in attitude in how we promote our ideas with one another. A repaired American Quilt can provide comfort to us all. I think Linus Van Pelt would agree.

Trump's Defense

One of the several strategies being promoted to defend Trump’s actions on January 6, is that his words didn’t amount to sedition. What that position fails to consider is the target audience. As any marketer or experienced politician understands, you must know your audience. The exact same words spoken to a group of educated professionals will have a different interpretation when they are uttered to a frenzied mass of people, many of whom are dressed in military attire, and who traveled many miles to follow the direction of their Messiah. With a boisterous crowd yelling for blood, Trump merely gave them direction.

The target audience is the critical point here and debunks any after-action wordsmithing analysis of specific content. When the head of a crime family tells a fellow member that someone will be sleeping with the fishes, we all know that a refreshing nap near an aquarium is not being discussed. No, Donald Trump did not specifically tell the crowd to break into the Capitol, destroy property, and attempt to bring harm to his enemies. He didn’t have to. He spoke to a group that was already shouting what they intended to do, and Trump provided his tacit approval.

 

If this is your audience, what you say to them might inspire a response.

 

If this were a typical trial before a judge, that judge would assess the president’s liability by determining the reasonableness of his actions. Were the events that followed the speeches of the president, his hired attorney, his two sons, and other political figures, a reasonably foreseeable risk? The problem with this impeachment trial is that legal decisions will not be made, only political ones. It will not be a rational consideration of the facts, but more a risk assessment of political careers. As a practical matter this upcoming trial will be an airing of our national dirty laundry. It will be an unpleasant task but a necessary one. The outcome is as foreseeable as the riot that followed the president’s Stop the Steal speech.

That Trump’s words, and those of his minions, actually provided the impetus for the riot should not be the question, but it will surely be raised in his defense. This is not a trial for a federal crime. It is an impeachment based on the “high crimes and misdemeanors'” broad umbrella. This should not be a First Amendment issue of free protected speech, but should be seen as a gross misuse of presidential power in a seditious manner.

 

Remember, the image that accompanies this post, was the target audience. Does this look like a group of rational people who will respond reasonably to the admonition that, "If you don't fight like Hell, you won't have a country anymore?" Anyone who has ever dealt with children knows, you have to be very careful what you say around them.