I started writing this on the day after election day, a day I didn’t think I’d be writing anything coherent, but when inspiration calls, I must answer.
Inspiration came from rural Rhode Island, of all places. I certainly didn’t expect to find it after driving for days through a forest of Trump lawn signs, Trump banners, oversized Trump flags, “Vote Republican” lawn signs, and pro-cop lawn signs. Areas like these are where the American flag feels more like a threat, an omen, rather than a patriotic symbol or mere national demarcation.
Anyways, we were driving when we went under a little overpass. You know, the ones where people put up signs on the fence so everyone on the freeway will see it. This one had a sign that read,
“AMERICA
DIVIDED WE FALL
UNITED WE STAND”
Now normally, when I come across more ~patriotic~ rhetoric, I usually roll my eyes and dismiss it. (Quick anecdote: I got scolded in my work’s DIG group for rolling my eyes at a guy’s propaganda post. More on that group one day!) I almost dismissed this banner as some weak call to inaction, much along the lines of “be kind to each other” and “all you need is love.” I assumed it was another conservative person who hung it up, calling for problematic (read: POC and liberal) Americans to just stop being so divisive.
But as I sat in the car, hours of driving ahead of us, I couldn’t stop thinking about the sign and how it actually rings true. America really hit a turning point in 2016, with Trump bringing out the worst in Republicans and their supporters. His rise to the highest political office emboldened racists and misogynists to bring their bigotry and hate to the surface, knowing they have a free pass to do so. I don’t know about before, since I only became a real, functioning adult in 2016, but it felt like all of a sudden, everything was a tooth-and-nail fight. Talking politics almost automatically ensured a vicious argument, a battle of morality. Basic human rights were at stake at every turn. They still are.
On his own, Trump is a monstrous nightmare. He has shown himself to be a racist white supremacist, a raging misogynist, a selfish elitist, and an incredibly insufferable and unqualified sad excuse for a leader. But what has added insult to injury is to see the pivot the Republican establishment made to rally behind this new player. Evil incarnate Mitch McConnell, for one, really stepped up to the plate, fulfilling his calling as Satan’s spawn. Watching his smug, shriveled turtle face smirk while discussing the suffering that Americans have gone through over the past few months makes me feel ill. He loves having power and withholding both power and literal lifelines from those who need it most. His Republican-led Senate flouts social distancing and mask wearing and goes on vacation while thousands more people die right under their noses.
It’s always been true, but the pandemic has really thrown this “united we stand, divided we fall” view into astonishing perspective. A divided Congress means that stimulus and relief bills don’t get passed when all Republicans can think about is how to keep their money and their power, while Democrats wag their fingers and whine about respectability. They seem to have forgotten they are there to represent and serve the people who voted them in, forgoing any semblance of service in favor of doing whatever will maintain their upper hand. More recently, Trump’s latest tantrum will likely prevent the Biden administration from getting the crucial transition support it needs. American politics has become one personal power play after another that it barely passes as a system that serves its country and everyone who lives in it.
But of course, politicians didn’t get there on their own. Real people voted them up there. Real people looked at Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and said “Yep, I like what they’re doing. I like what they stand for (or at least, what they say they stand for).” Real people decided racism, misogyny, sexism, fascism, rampant corruption and so on were cool enough to continue on with. And that’s likely because those -isms and views, and the legislation that comes out of it all, benefit them best. Or at least they think they do. In any case, people voted selfishly. Not that that’s not within their right to do so; vote with your heart and values, yadda yadda. But that doesn’t make it any less crummy. (Writer Anne Helen Petersen talks about this phenomena of individualism vs. collectivism more at length and eloquently in her own Substack.)
When people vote and act selfishly, especially where the stakes are as high as a nationwide election and an entire pandemic, everyone loses. Supporting and encouraging Trump and his political cronies only hurts America as a whole, which as a result, has become more tangibly and visibly divided. It hurts America as a whole when Biden’s administration gets off to a delayed start without a smooth and civil transition. It hurts America as a whole when the Republican-led Senate blocks yet another stimulus bill from passing. Without full governmental cooperation and support, it seems unlikely we’ll ever put this godawful pandemic behind us. If we do ever make it there, it will undoubtedly be the result of a slow and painful process.
I’m not sure we’ve ever seen America fully united, so it’s hard to picture an America where “united we stand.” But a divided America, the only one that’s ever really existed, is one that has to continue fighting itself tooth and nail. And in that reality, we all lose. Divided we fall. Aren’t we tired of that yet?
💕 she gets it