Today, some of America’s top historians, the likes of Doris Kearns Goodwin and John Meacham, are expressing grave concerns about the future of our nation. Their research has identified strong parallels between the U.S. today and conditions in the 1850s, just before the Civil War, including significant levels of distrust in elections, massive disinformation campaigns, and a rising secessionist movement. Relatedly, in How Civil Wars Start, political scientist Barbara F. Walter offers hard evidence that conditions in America today are ripe for civil war—and suggests that if it comes it will look different from what transpired here in 1861. She writes, “If a second civil war breaks out in the U.S., it will be a guerrilla war fought by multiple small militias spread around the country.” One startling indicator of this is the acute spike in incidence of sabotage on our critical infrastructure across the U.S., including several attacks on power substations across five states last Christmas day.
The truth is, for decades now, America has shown rampant spikes in political obstructionism, incivility, tribalism, distrust in one another and our institutions, and support for political violence. This pernicious, runaway form of polarization has Red and Blue Americans physically moving away from members of the other party and into their political tribes, a condition found elsewhere to be a primary driver of political violence and civil war.
But most of us (upwards of 67%) are actually tired of division. We want peace in our families, calm in our communities, and unity in America. If you’re one of them, you are part of a vast majority of your fellow Americans. The good news is that there is hope, and you have a powerful role to play.
Given that our politicians seem to be severely handcuffed currently when it comes to uniting the country (and are often some of the main instigators of the toxicity), as researchers and organizers of civil discourse, we felt an urgent need to provide everyday Americans a simple first step out of the toxic vortex—a step from pain and fear toward hope and strength. In fact, the process often starts with you and something we like to call the “Political Courage Challenge.”