The Great Divide: It is necessary and right to be a divided nation

Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.—Jesus, instructing his disciples to prepare for a tumult, Luke 12:51 (New Am. Stand.)

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor.—Elie Weisel, Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Sweden, 1986

The United States doesn’t seem so united now, and that troubles many people.

It doesn’t trouble me. Conversely, it gives me hope and restores my faith in humanity. Division is a positive phenomenon that is necessary as we continue to search for our nation’s moral center.

We’ve probably always been divided as a nation, but since Donald Trump was elected president, I’ve noticed that we are resisting the idea of being on different “sides.” Politicians and pundits plead with us to remember that we’re all on the same side, and that we’re all in this together. This is true as long as we’re in agreement that the Constitution should hold and as long as we commit to upholding our democratic institutions (such as an independent judiciary) and their necessary safeguards (for example, the separation of powers) and principles (justice, say).

If we’re NOT in agreement on those, then we are indeed on opposites sides—and we should be. In matters of conscience, there are two distinct sides, and we must seek to be on the right side.

We talk a lot about political differences, but some differences aren’t political at all. They are moral differences, and the only moral choice is to separate ourselves from those who hold extreme and deeply immoral views while we continue to fight to make our nation a more perfect union.

As the cliché has it: “Everybody’s got a right to his or her opinion!” That’s true, but it does not follow that all opinions are equally valid. Opinions are not valid when they are not based on empirical fact but instead are formed by bad information, unclear thinking, or by outright bias, bitterness, or even hatred. We cannot allow these invalid opinions to shape public policy.

Let’s remember that our nation was born from division, saved by division, and is always improved by division.

The following examples illustrate why it’s important to pick a side and fight for it.

Our nation was born from division

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.—The Declaration of Independence (1776)

Offended and wounded by grievous abuses of due process, such as taxation without representation and illegitimate search and seizure, the citizens of the thirteen colonies aligned with France and declared their independence from Great Britain, improbably winning the resulting war and forming a new nation.

The revolutionaries had split violently from the king, but the conflict didn’t end there. After years of bitter debate and uneasy compromise, the founders emerged with a Constitution.

After a revolutionary war, they had drafted a revolutionary document. Unlike other victorious revolutionaries, they didn’t grab control of the government for themselves with the military as an enforcer. Instead, they vested this enormous power in the lawmakers, who they charged along with the People to be the law keepers.

To build a lasting union, the founders limited the powers of the federal government and separated the powers among three branches of government. By vesting power in the distinct legislative, judicial, and executive branches, they insured against the corruption and ultimate failure of any one entity.

When we view it through this lens, we can agree that anyone who seeks to upset this balance must be stopped. Whether you label yourself a conservative or a liberal, neither philosophy will be furthered if government ceases to function. Instead, power will not rest with one political party but with one person at the expense of liberty.

It’s clear, then, that we should not seek unity with anyone with this goal, whether the goal is outright or a consequence of other actions.

Our nation was saved by division

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.—President Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863, dedicating Soldiers’ National Cemetery after the Union Army victory at the Battle of Gettysburg

Lately, we’re hearing that "this country hasn't been so divided since the Civil War!"

That’s not true, of course. The country has not yet split into two sovereign nations, with several states seceding from the union to achieve that split, resulting in a bloody, devastating war necessary to reunite them.

As catastrophic as the Civil War was, that particular divide, that jus bellum iustum, was a moral imperative. Each Confederate state issued an Article of Secession, stating its justification for seceding from the United States. This reason, of course, was the preservation of the institution of slavery. Many claim that the Civil War was about slavery, while others argue that the Civil War was a fight for states’ rights. Both are correct. The Civil War was fought for states’ rights—the right to own slaves.

Think about that. It was legal—and was acceptable practice—for human beings in this country to own other human beings that they bought from people who kidnapped them from their homes and families. It was legal for men to buy, sell, and trade other men, women, and children and to separate families, to work the slaves to death or even to beat them to death.

We would like to think that no nation can prosper while its practices are so manifestly wicked. Unfortunately, we know that’s not strictly true—at least not in the long term. Still, we might agree that it doesn’t matter whether the nation prospers if it loses its soul. In other words, it’s easy to make a lot of money if that’s all you care about. Financial gain is worthless if it’s ill-gotten, however. The ideal is to be a shining city on the hill and a bastion of liberty and human rights while also prospering. We are falling catastrophically short of that, but it should still be our only goal.

The division that resulted in the Civil War was a moral one. When one side opposes our nation’s founding principle that all men are created equal and are endowed with human rights, the only moral option is the deepest cleft possible.

Our nation becomes more moral by division

If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it.—Sojourner Truth

I would not hesitate to say that it is unfortunate that so-called demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham at this time, but I would say in more emphatic terms that it is even more unfortunate that the white power structure of this city left the Negro community with no other alternative.—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, an open letter he wrote as a response to public criticism by white Southern religious leaders of civil rights demonstrations

The Civil War led to the end of de jure slavery, but it did not end de facto slavery. Racism, solidified in ugly practices and codified in Jim Crow laws, prevented freed slaves and their descendants from voting, owning property, and attending public schools. Public lynchings were celebrated, while police brutality was widespread.

For a graphic reminder of even the most mundane of daily humiliations, go to the square of many Southern towns and note the twin drinking fountains, now unlabeled but a silent reminder of the recent past.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 secured the right to vote for racial minorities, but white women weren’t too far ahead, as the 19^th Amendment wasn’t passed until 1920. These advancements were won not through unity but by dissent, marked by confrontation, civil disobedience, and imprisonment. Overtures for negotiation and discussion were refused. The time for harmony had elapsed.

Attempts at voter suppression and the presence of institutionalized racism and sexism must be similarly resisted in the present as they were then. Liberty is the birthright of everyone. If anyone is denied it, everyone lacks it, whether they know it or not.

Divided we stand

I say, if I can be more sharply divided against those who support policies that I find dishonorable, show me the way to do it. Be wary of people who ask you to stop being divisive. They are sometimes asking you to abandon your principles and stop making their work difficult.

Think about it: Do you really hope to change the mind of a virulent racist? What about with a person who genuinely believes that people who are illegally crossing the border deserve to have their children taken away from them as punishment? Do you hope to have a productive conversation with a person who believes that most women are liars who frequently make false rape claims to punish “real” men who refuse to be emasculated by “femi-Nazis?” Come to that, do you really want to break bread with those who sympathize with actual Nazis?

It is impossible to try to achieve unity with those who don’t share the same values and vision for our nation. It’s possible to agree on values and vision but to disagree about how we might achieve certain goals. It’s also possible to disagree philosophically about such concepts as how much personal liberty we should expect versus how much personal responsibility we owe to the greater good.

There’s less room for debate, however, on whether it’s morally acceptable to take someone’s life, liberty, and property without due process of law. We’ve already agreed that it is not; that was part of the deal.

It’s one thing to have differing opinions on whether corporations should be taxed or how much foreign aid we should offer. It’s another to believe that we should be governed by a king, or that slavery is acceptable, or that adult citizens should not have the right to vote.

Those values are counter to the nation’s interests and founding and governing documents, and we should not seek unity with those who hold those ideas. Instead, we should actively separate from them so that we can fight them for the soul and survival of our nation.

I can think of no better comfort to have in your old age than the knowledge that you were on the side of justice when you had your turn in the course of human events.