One vision is based on the founders’ Constitution - written in 1787 and ratified in 1788, grounded in the natural rights and practical wisdom of the Declaration of Independence, interpreted in The Federalist Papers and expounded by subsequent American jurists and statesmen. The consequence of these changes is that today’s America may be leaving the world of normal politics and entering a dangerous world of regime politics - in which our political loyalties diverge more and more, as they did in the 1850s, between two contrary visions of what constitutes the country. Constitution: The document that changed the world Civic charity: 6 times we got it right This mutual estrangement has been going on for a long time, but the pace accelerated beginning in the 1960s and again after the end of the Cold War era. Underlying our cold civil war is the fact that America increasingly is torn between two rival cultures, two constitutions, two ways of life. But it’s not a healthy situation for a country to be in. A cold civil war, of course, is better than a hot one.
In Donald Trump’s words, “We’re in a fight for the survival of our nation and civilization itself.”Īngelo Codevilla was not the first analyst to describe our political disorders as a cold (i.e., nonshooting) civil war, but after him the term resonated. “If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can.” That was one point, at least, on which both sides could agree.
“We live in a deeply divided nation,” she warned. There is the United States of America.”Īt last year’s virtual Democratic convention, Michelle Obama corrected the record. We have come a long way from Barack Obama’s debut on the national stage at the 2004 Democratic convention, when he assured the delegates, “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America.