How much Americans need to think pro-actively about the conflict in the nation emerged after the election of President Donald Trump in 2016. Many Americans said they did not consider him the legitimate President and felt only disgust and hostility toward him. Democrat journalists published their personal feelings in magazine articles and on their blogs. Many admitted that they wanted to leave the country. A dozen or more prominent celebrities announced that they planned to leave the country. Most wanted to relocate to Canada, others to Australia.
The article "'I really will,' the Stars Who Didn't Move to Canada," by Ashifa Kassam in Toronto and Benjamin Lee in New York, appeared in the British newspaper The Guardian on 22 January 2018, sniffing at those performers who never followed through with their plans. The article continues, "In the first 11 months of 2017, the number of applications by Americans to study in Canada swelled by 29 %, to 3,057." Moreover, unregistered aliens in the U.S. have fled to Canada by the thousands."
The editorial staff at The Guardian also weighd in, saying "America is at a crossroads . . . and the coming days will define the country for a generation. . . . Much of what The Guardian holds dear has been threatened—democracy, civility, truth."
The Guardian article, and the others like it, appeared after the election of Trump and just before the election of Biden. Their dogmatic stance suggests few negotiable positions. Submission to a higher moral principle, or something like that, provides them with many answers, but few questions.
The purity of liberal thought suggests it needs to reconnect with terra firma—preferably on its own turf, to get a reality check, if only of a trial basis.
I only suggest this because none of the articles—so tried and true—say anything about dividing the country to recover Democrat principles independently of the Republicans. The Democrats prefer to seek shelter in someone else's country—reflecting their defeatism more than their values. Why not recover their value system, political prerogatives, and collective trust in a nation of their own? The durability of their principles would ensure that the new nation succeeds.
Democrats judge their value system as superior to the Republican system, but that superiority lacks an independent streak. Their need for self-confidence amounts to a collective faith in themselves—another way of saying that they need a sense of identity as an independent political force. They will need plenty of courage, as well as the sense to differentiate courage from wrecklessness. They need inspiration as a spiritual source of courage to withstand the inevitable blowback from pursuing such a goal; but pursuing nationhood gives them more street-cred than fleeing to other countries.
A Republican Exodus?
I hope to hell not! Reading the articles about Democrats who threaten to leave the country reminds me of my own childhood. When I got mad at my parents, I told them, "I'm gonna wun away from home!" They played it cool—didn't say anything like "Be back in time for supper," or openly jeer at me. Why doesn't someone call out the nation-fleeing Democrats? Tell them to be back in time for din-din? Taunt them about their lack on intentionality, their inability to think big thoughts? Now that Biden has secured his position as President, the Republicans will copy the Democrats and threaten to run away from home.
I have written in earlier posts my belief that the Democrats lack the spirit of '76, the spiritual force in people like Washington and Jefferson that enabled them to create our nation. Except for Jefferson and one or two others, most of the Founders would vote Republican. Nationhood is a Republican concept; we express our love of nationhood with patriotism and saluting the flag. The Constitution as a limiter and enabler of a law-abiding people is a Republican document. It supports a nation of laws and not of men. The Founders feared a straight democracy—rule by the people. They feared the passions and hatreds of the masses, because they understood how one man can dupe civilized people and turn them into a violent mob.
So now that a Democrat occupies the White House, Republicans have to ask themselves what does the Tea Party really mean to them? A chance to destroy other people's property? If the answer is an unequivocal "No!" then the Tea Party as a political entity has to pursue independence, as their ideological ancestors did--even if it entails fighting. If someone asks, "Is all this really worth it?" We have to answer "Hell, yeah, it's worth it!"
Democrats tend to express their feelings very well. Republicans typically hide theirs. Both groups express their anger or angst best when driving their cars. Think of the SOBs on the Interstate who cut you off before you can pass, who drively slowly in the left-hand lane. If you could pull them over and ask them why they do it, they will probably express some anger about the political situation. If you can draw them out, they will tell you exactly what they think of Trump, Biden, Nacy Pelosi, Rush Limbaugh, and the host of other strident public figures. Like the greater political divide they represent, their opinions will fall fairly neatly in one or the other political camp. The media has conditioned them to think in terms of friends and enemies.
Cosmopolitan magazine published a typically Democrat article on 17 January 2017: "I Didn't Like the New President, So I Moved to Another Country," by Rebecca Nelson. The article profiles the stories of four Democrats who lamented the election of President Trump and decided to leave the country.
The article also reports that the 2016 election impacted Americans as more divisive and vitriolic than any that they have experienced. To some extent, the divisions reflect the outlier personalities of the men who stood for the presidency. More than that, however, the election of 2016 witnesses a people with different and exclusive convictions and priorities. They hate to see the political stasis put the brakes on issues important to them. So why not divide the country, so that both parties can get what they want? Perhaps the lust for payback tempts too many people, which a division cannot satisfy, and they press on for more dubious gain.
I vote Republican because I have confidence in the Republican talking-points as the path to wealth, national defense, secure borders, and safe streets. The last thing I want to read is that Republicans have flown the coop, that they take the same course the Democrats took—to wun(sic) away from home, rather than create a nation that suits their needs better. I reiterate that the two political parties can govern themselves better in their own nations than either party can, governing both sides.
Choosing nationhood is really a no-brainer, if you think about it.