A weekly window on the American political scene hosted by the Monitor's politics editors.

Hope for our ‘more perfect Union’

Not long ago, Americans would take their children to see the president – no matter the party. Now our divisions seem deep, our system fragile. But we as individuals can do our part. 

|
Richard Ellis/Newscom
President Bill Clinton greets supporters – and detractors – at a reelection campaign event Aug. 27, 1996, in Cincinnati.

Dear reader:

The first time I covered an incumbent president running for reelection was in 1996. That August, right after the Democratic National Convention, the Clintons and Gores boarded buses and embarked on a heartland tour through Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I joined as part of the traveling press corps.

What seemed normal then – the candidates and their spouses diving into crowds, shaking hands, posing for pictures – feels alien today. Also remarkable were some of the people who showed up at the rallies, Republicans who had no intention of voting for President Bill Clinton but came anyway, camcorder in hand, kids in tow.

“I wanted my children to see the president,” Lee Elliott, a physician in Fulton, Kentucky, told me. 

Twenty-four years later, America feels hopelessly polarized, seemingly unable to find common ground on anything, from the trivial – buy a sandwich at Chick-fil-A, yes or no? – to the profoundly important, such as how to behave during a pandemic. Large majorities of Americans say declining trust in the federal government, and in each other, is making it harder to solve the nation’s problems, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Books abound telling us how grim things are getting. One recent example, “Presidents, Populism, and the Crisis of Democracy,” readably analyzes the problems, then proposes solutions, including – perhaps counterintuitively – a more powerful presidency, coupled with new checks on that power. That, the authors suggest, could lead to more effective government and reduce populism. 

But building a better American democracy could take a while, if it happens at all. In the meantime, how can we as individuals be part of the solution?

For starters, we can do our part to keep a fraying civil society from getting worse. One answer may be as simple as maintaining friendships, even when opinions diverge sharply.

Listening to others and understanding their concerns can help build, or rebuild, trust. Getting out of our “news silos” can also open up thought. As a political reporter, I have the privilege of talking to people with sincerely held views from across the political spectrum, and can honestly say that most Americans love their country and want the best for it and its people. 

When this strangest of campaigns is over, and we know who has won, the nation will have an opportunity. We can take a deep breath, be grateful for what we have, and then set about making our “more perfect Union” even better.

Let us know what you're thinking at csmpolitics@csmonitor.com. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Hope for our ‘more perfect Union’
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Watch/2020/1021/Hope-for-our-more-perfect-Union
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe