Memorial Day, Patriotism, and the Search for American Political Consensus
Political polarization is an easy trap to fall into. While setting the national debt ceiling is clearly too dangerous to leave to Congress, I agree with President Biden and have been impressed by his skilful efforts to reach a compromise to avoid default. I don’t like parts of the bill, but I admire the efforts of the President and Speaker to reach a compromise. I learned to find and value consensus, even though my political consciousness was born out of protest and civil disobedience. About half a century ago, when I was a high school student in Brooklyn and later college in Indiana, I was an antiwar activist helping to lead protests against the Vietnam War. During my senior year, I was the director of the James Madison High School Coalition to End the War. In Franklin, Indiana, I helped organize a candlelight march to the Johnson County courthouse in silent protest of the war.Later, some of my war friends and neighbors came home, some wounded, and humiliation Serve them. Some never came home. I never changed my mind about war, but I did change my mind about warriors.i started to understand us shared A sense of responsibility inspired by John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Beginning in 1977, my sense of service took me to work in and around the US Environmental Protection Agency for about two decades. This led me to direct the Master of Public Administration program at Columbia University since 1985. Their work has led them to risk their lives in the service of this people. Their sense of duty and service is deeper and deeper than mine because they were prepared to give their lives for this country and I was not. Over time, I started to see and understand this. I am disappointed and frustrated by the way veterans are treated when they return home from war. Fortunately, in recent decades, most Americans have learned to separate fighters from the wars they fought in. We often and rightly honor veterans for their service. I work at an Ivy League school, which has the largest number of veterans of any Ivy League school. I enjoy teaching veterans because, more often than not, they are thirsty for knowledge, don’t take education for granted, and contribute their life experiences to my public policy and management courses.
As the grandson of Jewish immigrants, I can’t help but love the opportunities and protections America affords my family. I see all the flaws, including structural racism, extreme income inequality, and recurring anti-Semitism. Yet on Memorial Day, I stood on a street corner next to my summer home in Long Beach, New York, applauding first responders, high school bands, and veterans of the American War. My love for this country runs deep. I don’t wear it on my sleeve and rarely talk about it, but I remember my grandparents talking about being kicked out of Russia and Poland and the horrors they left behind. In the early 20th century, no one traveled far and wide for sightseeing. It’s a dangerous journey because the alternatives are far worse. I see the potential for these horrors to unfold in the United States due to the extreme force Donald Trump unleashes when he destroys the Capitol on January 6, 2021. But then I saw hundreds of mobsters prosecuted and their leaders jailed for years. Maybe Trump or DeSantis will find a way to pardon these people, but I hope not. Despite the strain on our system, I remain optimistic that the forces of kindness and unity in this country are stronger than the forces of hatred and division.
On Memorial Day, we remember those who gave their lives for this country. We honor those who risked their lives to serve. We all have different ideas about wars in America and what it means to protect this country, but at some point, our elected leaders — despite our flawed representation system and electoral college — decided we had to fight. These dedicated individuals answered the call. This sense of responsibility and service deserves recognition and respect, so we do. Veterans today do not face the distrust and abuse that many Vietnam-era veterans faced.
My point is that we need to learn from the extreme political polarization and emotional experience of the Vietnam War and do today what we learned to do with our veterans. Honor their service and find a common cause and shared values. Today, too many people view those with opposing political views as evil, flawed human beings. This is what it felt like to be a Vietnam Veteran. It was wrong then and it is wrong today. Although I’m a political scientist by training, I don’t view the world through the lens of partisan politics. I look at my neighbors in Long Beach, and when I compare them to my neighbors in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, I know their political views can be very different. But I also know that many of their core values are very similar. They value family, friendship, community, achievement, charity, kindness, self-reliance, and the safety of their loved ones. Many are immigrants, children of immigrants, or like me, grandchildren of immigrants. My Long Beach neighbors showed their patriotism and flew the American flag in their homes; many of the rest of us don’t wear flag pins but keep our patriotism in our hearts.
My area of expertise is environmental policy and sustainable development management. The current US Supreme Court keeps throwing out EPA rules that narrowly interpret US environmental law. Their decisions were wrong, but the laws they interpreted were designed for another world. These laws are nearly half a century old, and economic and technological developments require updating them. Paralysis in Washington has made it impossible to update these laws, despite broad consensus on environmental protections. This leaves them vulnerable to narrow and short-sighted interpretations by the ideological supreme court. The consensus behind environmental protections makes it unlikely that any of these laws will be repealed by Congress. We see a similar paralysis in US immigration policy. Most Americans understand the value of immigration, but the current process creates suffering, injustice, and illegal activity on a massive scale. But just as immigration policy has become outdated and failed, the monetization of division and the pressures behind political polarization make it difficult to build public policy on our shared values. We saw this in the debt crisis, but in the end, we also saw that when we got stuck, the power of consensus somehow managed to defeat the power of dysfunction. So far, we have managed to avoid the self-destruction that comes with ideological extremes.
As we wave our flags this Memorial Day, perhaps we can all call to mind the sense of patriotism that so many of us feel when exposed to America’s many alternatives. We recently saw basketball star Brittney Griner singing the national anthem while standing instead of kneeling.According to reports jermel hills exist Atlantic Organization:
“For the first time in 579 days, Brittney Griner played an actual WNBA game, and on Friday night in Los Angeles, she did something the national TV audience hadn’t seen her do in a long time: Phoenix Mercury The center stands for the national anthem. She stopped the practice in 2020, but resumed it after returning from a 10-month prison sentence in Russia. “One of the good things about this country is that we have the right to protest,” said the journalist after the game. When I asked her about it, Greiner said, “You have the right to have an opinion, to ask questions, to challenge and to do all those things. [After] Everything I’ve been through means so much more to me now. I’m literally caged and can’t stand the way I want to…and many other situations. To be able to hear my national anthem and see my flag makes me absolutely want to stand up. “
Griner’s actions are based on learned experiences, which thankfully few of us can fully understand, but it’s easy to understand her desire to represent the flag. The 2024 presidential campaign has already begun and is unlikely to feature a search for common ground. The last presidential transition lacked the traditional elements of a peaceful transfer of power. The Failed Uprising of January 6day Then came President Trump’s rude and willful departure from our nation’s capital. As we approach the upcoming presidential election, Trump and his supporters are still vying for the last one. Trump is emotionally incapable of accepting defeat — watching him lie in the 2020 election is both horrific and pathetic. A quarter of the nation supports his attacks on our institutions and traditions. But most Americans are weary of it, and despite this dysfunction and dissonance, many are searching for a sense of togetherness and leadership that represents our shared values and shared sense of community. Of course I am.
