It’s said that America is the most polarized it’s been in history.
It’s not true, of course; the stretch from the 1890s into the Depression features some very stark social battle lines. The 1828 election was kinda contentious. And you might recall we fought a Civil War once upon a time. Ken Burns even did a documentary about it.
In the past, we’ve fought – usually more or less civilly – amongst ourselves over a lot of things. Slavery was a big one. Approaches to federalism – and yep, that question usually manifested itself in re slavery, for the first fourscore and seven years of our nation’s existence – were a common squabbling point. I suspect it was the topic of the year for the Debate team from 1777 to 1864.
And from the end of the Civil War until the Depression, the gulf between the Haves and the Have Nots was big. Much bigger than it is today, even after five years of Obama exacerbating it for the benefit of his plutocrat pals. No, seriously – no contest.
Of course, the different parts of this country have differed in the past – so much so that two of them spent four years fighting the bloodiest war in American history. The contention? Federalism, economic rivalries, whatever – they all tied back to slavery, one way or the other.
And in each of those conflicts – once the noxious legacy of slavery was extinguished – there was a general agreement; underneath it all, we were undertaking a valid national experiment.
As in “national”, meaning “everyone in the nation”.
I wonder, sometimes.