Do we perpetuate division or find path to unity?

Can a nation, state or town truly be a community without mutual respect? In the United States we have a special mission. We have a diversity in our population. We must use that diversity to strengthen our democracy; not divide it. The upcoming election cycle will test whether we perpetuate division or find a path to unity of purpose.

One consequence of intense division is a lack of progress in solving the problems that plague our nation and the world. When a nation is so preoccupied with finger-pointing then cooperation becomes impossible. Isolation breeds excuses. Efforts to defend one’s position, no matter the right or wrong of it, prevents meaningful compromise for the common good. Witness a couple of examples:

We have an imbalance of trade partly because we endorsed free trade and some of our trading partners have failed to live up to the spirit of those agreements. Instead of becoming more competitive domestically, we have begun to impose tariffs. The long-term problem with that solution is that much of our manufacturing is dependent on other nations for parts. Trade is international no matter whether our current administration likes it or not. Tariffs are punitive and disruptive. Suddenly, our farmers are without a giant market because protectionism cuts both ways.

According to those who do head counting, we are an aging nation. Logic would guide one to allow immigration of younger people who are wanting to become productive citizens. Yet, much effort is expended in keeping people out by erecting more walls and additional tangles of red tape. The problem is mostly fear. The old “they are not like us” routine is as old as our democracy. There have always been elements in our ‘country of immigrants” that feared those who seek our freedoms. They keep trying to close our open society.

I could cite other examples. All of them impede the compromises that are essential to democratic way of life. Let’s get this one right for the common good!

Bill Dawson,

Northfield