Reality overwhelming American idealism

For 50 years, I have possessed a naive and idealistic view of America as a work in progress, striving to become a more pluralistic, more evolved society. That hope has been replaced by a grudging realism, witnessing our collective movement as a society, to one steeped in lies, misinformation and conspiracies.

These accelerants have become increasingly extreme and are now woven into the fabric of everyday life. The once “most trusted” (and today forgotten) news source in America and perhaps journalism’s last north star, Walter Cronkite, would be systematically attacked and labeled as an “enemy of the people,” as facts are routinely replaced by “alternative facts.”

I have heard the outcry “anger is the new currency.” This organizing imperative now seeps down into local school boards, churches and neighborhoods. Society’s foundational building blocks are being dismantled in the service of power and control. The modern American electorate appears not only comfortable with, but to insist on, leaders adopting this new north star, splintering neighbors and families.

The longstanding guardrails of democracy such as separation of powers, checks and balances and no one above the law have become nothing more than historical concepts. What would Jesus have you do? His teachings are lost and replaced in the tempest by new permissions and imperatives.

Let us get to more important things and get on with the business of choosing winners and losers.

Donald Hane

Wheaton