4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
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PRO-CON
ARE AMERICANS
MORE DIVIDED NOW
THAN IN THE PAST?
AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi
Smoke rises from burning buildings in downtown Washington, D.C., on April 5, 1968 in the wake of looting and burning after the April 4 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Troops were ordered into the downtown area.
AP Photo/Dozier Mobley
A building burns in Washington, D.C. on April 5, 1968.
AP Photo/Bob Schutz
A pedestrian is waved away by a National Guard soldier wearing a gas mask near 7th and
K streets in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 1968. The bayonets on the rifles are sheathed.
PRO: Unprecedented division is
conquering our national politics
CON: US had much deeper
divisions in the early 1970s
WASHINGTON — The United States and protests now.
political landscape is more divided than it has
The deep division, partisanship and distrust
been since the Vietnam and civil rights era of the Nixon and Watergate era echoes eerily in
some 50 years ago and in many ways is even the questions about Trump and his campaign’s
more polarized.
potential involvement with a hostile Russian
The style and content of Donald Trump’s government.
presidency is a major factor in this division and
As a result we now live in a nation where
our country is suffering as a result.
each and every morsel of information is filtered
Division is nothing new in politics or in through the lens of our divisions.
personal life. Since the formative years of our
Anything that contradicts the established
nation, differences existed and infiltrated our view of our tribe is immediately cast aside or
earliest political debates.
even labeled “fake” to feed our tribalism and
Each one of us is divided in simple or per- division.
haps complex ways in our most basic life func-
Along the way, Trump tweets away, fuel-
tions too. At school, at work, in our neighbor- ing this division. He creates confusion while
hoods we take sides and defend our
speaking to his tribe while stirring
positions. We divide ourselves into
anger from those tribes organized
tribes in many aspects of our lives.
against him, furthering the divide.
There are those in private and pub-
And we largely play our role as the
lic life who seek to gain power and
faithfully divided. Democrats and lib-
erals recoil at every turn. Republicans
profit, though, from our natural incli-
nation to tribalism. We must under-
and conservatives cheer or, in the most
DON
stand this and should tread carefully,
repulsive moments, remain silent in
KUSLER
but most of us do not.
approval.
Citizen, candidate, and now Pres-
The division even exists within
ident Trump has spent a life adhering to the tribes. Conservatives are split between the
“divide and conquer” philosophy in his busi- Trump loyalists and those who, even in their fre-
ness and now in his politics.
quent silence, find Trump’s tactics distasteful.
By breaking up and dividing folks to con-
Progressives are divided between the more
solidate his power and scatter the power of his moderate and more liberal wings. These sub-
adversaries, President Trump is playing a dan- divisions are making it even more difficult to
gerous game with our democratic society.
rally against those seeking to divide us.
The lists of Trump tactics and topics on this
Open and honest debate of our differences
strategy are long. Race, economic status, gen- great and small can actually be an empower-
der, political party, social issues and so on have ing process. At different points in our history
we have come out of periods of deep division
all been on his menu and often in ugly ways.
The division spills out into our voting, our stronger, while in others we have come out
social media feeds, and perhaps most notably weaker from the fight.
into how Congress is conducting the people’s
Time will tell how we as a nation move for-
ward from our current division. What do we do
business.
As I write this, immigrant families continue to break the trend and refuse to be conquered?
to be divided, U.S. senators are bickering over
Only when we begin to listen, question,
Supreme Court nomination proceedings, elec- seek understanding and break down the walls
tions are being conducted, and it’s all done of prejudice that are impeding us will we take
under the shadow of the divisions that Trump the first steps in a more positive direction.
seeks to exploit.
Don Kusler is national director of Ameri-
The marches, protests and riots of Vietnam cans for Democratic Action (ADA), a progres-
and civil rights era have given way to marches sive advocacy organization.
NEW YORK — Today, our country is an’s place in society and social justice for
divided along a number of different fault minorities were decried as undermining
lines — the primary one being for or against democracy.
The hippies preached “Give peace a
President Donald Trump. And many of the
policies of the Trump administration are chance” and “All you need is love.” The
“establishment” responded with “America,
equally contentious.
But our country had much deeper love it or leave it.” There was not a great
divisions from 1968 to 1974, when it deal of middle ground, and many a family
seemed the country was at war with gathering descended into acrimony. The talk
itself. Yet the “radical movements” of the among the young was not about “resistance”
Woodstock generation shaped where we are — it was about “revolution.”
And of course, there was the president
today.
The era of race relations exploded in — Richard Nixon — who fed the flames of
open civil rebellion after the murder of Dr. division for his own political gain.
“Tricky Dick” harnessed the power of the
Martin Luther King. Soldiers patrolled the
government — the FBI, the justice
streets of Detroit, Newark and other
and police departments — to cre-
American cities to restore order.
ate enemy lists and conduct illegal
The war in Vietnam was deeply
break-ins, surveillance and harass-
unpopular and millions of people
ment. It was all done in the name of
protested in anti-war marches. When
“law and order.”
President Richard Nixon ordered the
And in 1972, Nixon won a land-
invasion of Cambodia in 1970, the
PETER
slide election, guaranteeing four
nation exploded in protests.
RUSH
more years of upheaval.
Armed
National
But the country did not
Guard troops killed and
come apart. Watergate
wounded unarmed stu-
happened and our gov-
dent protesters at Kent
ernment’s checks and bal-
State and Jackson State
ances worked.
universities.
Students
If you look back at
across the nation went on
the radical ideas of the
strike, closing the univer-
sity system and many sec-
late 1960s that divided
ondary schools.
our nation, many of
them have become main-
On the cultural side,
stream today. The country
the country was divided
moved on.
between the generations.
Our country may be
While the anti-war anger
divided right now, but
helped propel the move-
ment, issues such as mari-
what we can learn from
this particular history les-
juana, long hair, women’s
son is that there is hope
lib and social justice were
for the future.
vehemently argued from
Peter Rush is the
both sides.
author of “Wild Word,” a
Radical movements
— today’s domestic terrorists — such as newly released novel set against the backdrop
the Weather Underground took on the gov- of America’s protest era in the early 1970s,
ernment with violence and bombings. and CEO of Kellen, a nonprofit organization
New ideas about the environment, a wom- management firm.
If you look back
at the radical ideas
of the late 1960s
that divided our
nation, many of
them have become
mainstream today.
The country
moved on.