Fixing America: polarization isn't dead

THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (1/4). Increasing polarization, defeat of the polls and the Democrats... This series of articles aims to present some lessons to be learned from Donald Trump's new election as head of the United States.

As in any struggle, honor and dignity must guide the hand that holds the winning sword. Yet in recent years, radicalism has insidiously infiltrated partisan convictions and the American political arena, transforming public debate into an arena of hooliganism and bad faith. Where once there was a search for consensus and the common good, there is now a landscape of discord, where each side, indifferent to the consequences, seems ready to throw the country into flames to defend its truth.

This despair of reason, this renunciation of common sense in the partisan arena, resonates in contradiction with the American dream, which is gradually being consumed by a terrible confrontation between factions draped in their preferences. American history is replete with internal conflicts, clashes of ideas and fratricidal struggles: from the Civil War to the Tea Party riots, from witch-hunts to domestic terrorism. At every stage, America has always risen again, often bruised and battered, but always resilient.

Growing polarization

Today, the confrontation seems to be intensifying, so much so that it seems unimaginable to reconcile ideals that everything opposes. The specter of phantasmal civil war, violent riots and physical chaos looms large, even as the need for mutual understanding becomes pressing. In this absolute confrontation, America progressively loses its ability to see itself as a "world". a community of destinies intertwined, for the benefit of a gargantuan administration that would like to rule the world.

It was against this backdrop of bitter tension that the election to determine the next occupant of the White House took place on November 5. This crucial choice, beyond mere electoral preferences, represents a moment of truth for the country, an opportunity to redefine its values and draw lessons from previous heartbreaks. At the time of writing, Donald Trump had been elected with 295 electors to 226 for Kamala Harris.

Four years after Trump's crushing defeat, America remains polarized, despite President Biden's deafening and tireless efforts to establish a semblance of unity. His promise to «fix America» resonates today as an unfulfilled ambition, stifled by antagonistic forces that grow more intense as political life progresses. Polarization acts like a malignant tumor, invading every nook and cranny of society, turning every tension into a further metastasis. And as the dream of national unity recedes, the country seems to sink deeper into the clash of extremes, with no one thinking of a possible reconciliation.

Social networks play a pernicious, and in many ways counter-productive, role here: for some inordinate perspectives, Trump is merely a horseman of the Apocalypse, heralding an imminent end. The frenzy with which we consume digital platforms pushes us to privilege appearance, the aberrant, to the detriment of depth and nuance. The weakest minds allow themselves to be captivated by superficial shocks, while those armed with a critical mind attempt to pierce the doxa, to cut through appearances to expose truths that the masses ignore. In this modern, digital arena, polarization is becoming a norm, a way of life where measurement and reflection are suffocated by the urgency of the instantaneous, which makes us consume information in the most shameful way possible: without systematically criticizing its content.

From individual to caricature

The American two-party system, once the guarantor of democratic balance, has evolved into an ideological battleground where excess takes precedence over intelligence. This country, imbued with gigantism and sometimes aberrant superlatives, now reflects this propensity for the spectacular in its very politics. Public debate, once adorned with brilliant rhetoric and subtlety, has been transformed into a permanent spectacle, where every exchange looks more like a show of catch than a healthy presentation of opposition. The values of intelligence and restraint have given way to aggression and appearance, with only one pretention: that of not trying to convince, but to mobilize, and to hell with common sense, as long as you vote.

The Founding Fathers, in drawing up the Bill of Rights, had sought to protect the individual from the excesses of authoritarianism and the excesses of the State, recognizing the harmful effects that tyranny could produce. They understood the need for a natural distrust of power, and devised inalienable rights to enable citizens to challenge authority whenever it abused its power. Today, this ideal seems to have been betrayed, and is no more than a distant memory in an idealized past.

Freedom of opinion, once precious, is now obstructed by reductive stereotypes, distressingly simple. The average American finds himself pigeonholed according to superficial, and often material, preferences that do honor to few of those who abuse them: a single woman with a cat is systematically associated with the Democrats, while a gun enthusiast is, without question, a Republican. The «Everything is political» of yesteryear, initially associated with a certain vision of the left, is now unfortunately adopted by part of the right, anchoring every action, every choice in a logic of permanent ideological confrontation.

This perspective, in the end, generates absurd caricatures, reducing the identity of individuals to mere partisan stereotypes, especially in what they believe they are rather than what they really are. Dividing society along these rigid lines forgets that America is, above all, a land of freedom, where everyone has an inalienable right to their own complexity, free from arbitrary political categorization.

To repair America, debate and culture

How do you fix America? It's not that complicated. First and foremost, we need to rekindle the spirit of debate and a taste for intelligence. The First Amendment, the guarantor of freedom of expression, provides an invaluable institutional framework that allows the most diverse ideas to confront each other, feed off each other and mutually enrich each other. It is through this debate that America can rediscover the richness of difference. At a time when expression is often muzzled by fear of judgment, protecting this freedom becomes a vital necessity for revitalizing American democracy.

Education must also play a fundamental role in this renewal. A recent study from the U.S. Center for Education Statistics showed that nearly 43 million Americans have low levels of literacy. By developing language skills, encouraging critical thinking and supporting academic freedom, the United States can once again become a model of collective intelligence. This fight for knowledge, for reason, is essential to facing the challenges ahead and preserving national unity.

Fixing America requires a return to the very foundations of a nation united by the will to live together, beyond differences of opinion, and to hell with differences, as long as there's unity. It's time for the 47^th President to take up the challenge left unresolved by his predecessor: that of restoring confidence in authentic democracy and cultivating a society where ideas clash but do not destroy each other. Before claiming to «fix» other democracies around the world, America must refocus on itself, on what makes it a land of opportunity and freedom, in order to reconnect with its founding myth.

America's future lies in its ability to harmonize opposites, tolerate divergent opinions and strengthen academic, cultural and media institutions. The task is immense, but America, with its vast resources, diversity and competitive spirit, can triumph over this polarization and regain its role as a beacon of freedom. The road ahead is long and demanding, but for the very survival of its ideals, America has no choice but to meet this challenge with courage and determination, and it is this first battle that awaits the 47.^th President of the United States.

Nabil Djarfi is a graduate in political science and international relations. Parisian by birth, heart and blood, he is a Genevan by adoption..

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