on Sunday, new york times article was suggested Many Americans are “rethinking whether they want to celebrate Independence Day.” The article cites his YouGov survey that only 56 percent of American adults planned to attend the festival. The article is about liberals who claim they no longer want to celebrate their country because of recent Supreme Court rulings and the systemic racism allegedly exposed by the Black Lives Matter movement. It was full of stories.
The idea that a holiday marking the founding of our great nation should become political football was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
As a country, we are becoming more and more fragmented. We are losing sight of our commonalities and beginning to look less like one nation and more like two disparate tribes barely interacting. Democrats shop at Whole Foods. Republicans shop at Chick-fil-A. Republicans buy trucks. Democrats buy Prius. blue collar workers Probability is high While they support Trump, those with advanced degrees are overwhelmingly Democrats.
We are also separated on a geographical level. In 1980, just Four percent of Americans lived in “landslide counties” (ideologically homogenous counties where the president’s margin of vote deviated from the national total by more than 20 percent). In 2020, that percentage was 35% for him. Democrats outnumber Republicans in places like Seattle. perfect 8 to 1. There are more and more politically homogenous communities, and we don’t have to interact with or acknowledge the existence of political opponents if we don’t want to.
Even our holidays have become partisan.support same-sex marriage historically high 71% of people may think that Pride Month is the time for people across the aisle to come together.But like a photo of a man with a leather collar whipped or slapped With the proliferation of Pride parades, many people began to feel that Pride Month had become just a partisan festival.Even gay conservatives like Brad Polumbo lamented Too much of a pride parade.
of wall street journal sum it up: “If it feels like Republicans and Democrats live in different worlds, it’s because they live in different worlds.”
This division in politics, geography, and lifestyle may be why Americans are increasingly supporting national divorce. according to Axios, “One in five Americans say they support a ‘national divorce’ that splits pro-Republican and pro-Democrat states into separate nations.” Much like married couples, we lose sight of the similarities that bind us together. Instead, all we see is our (admittedly very real) differences.
To save a marriage heading for divorce, many marriage counselors recommend regular dating. These are opportunities for partners to rediscover what brought them together in the first place and forge new ties of friendship and connection. Perhaps we should do the same as a country. A series of dates where we get together.not as social justice warriors As Trump supporters, Reds, Blues, libertarians, but simply Americans. Instead of ignoring our differences, we focus on our commonalities: our love for children, our desire for safe communities and good jobs, and our admiration for the founding ideals of this nation.
As we watch the fireworks explode in the air and remember the different men and women who came together to build this great nation, today might be the perfect time to start.
Julian Adony Writer and marketing consultant. Economic Education Foundation.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
