Political Epidemic - Neil Woodhall

“Quest for the New Normal” has a goal. All true quests seek something important for the entire community. It’s never easy. The goal is to establish a place for dialog, where we can consider ways of restoring a sense of civic normality, after living in the midst of a severe political epidemic for such a long time.

By way of contrast, when you hear someone say, “I guess that’s just going to be our new normal,” that’s not quest-like. It’s simply becoming resigned to the fact that something changed and there’s not much you can do about it.

Covid is a medical crisis that will eventually sort itself out. At the moment, a lot of people are wondering how they’re going to cope with a hybrid work week, which probably conflicts with their children’s school schedule. That’s a Search for a new normal.

Covid has become a medical crisis wrapped in a social crisis. As long ago as 1905, the Supreme Court ruled that it was legal for the government to mandate immunization. In 1922 the Supreme Court allowed school systems to require proof of vaccination for students. Until recently, all of this was perfectly normal.

For reasons which I find impossible to comprehend – vaccines have now divided our nation into mutually hostile camps. Each side considers the other side the enemy. That is not a workable civic norm. Healthy nations need to do better.

Talking to Our Neighbors

Rage has taken over our nation. Covid did not create this rage, but it certainly made it worse. Matters which have been festering for decades were laid bare during our pandemic stress. America cannot be run on rage. America should be run on a sense of mutual responsibility to community.

I’ve seen America angry before, but I don’t recall it ever being this frenzied. During the sixties there was turmoil, which frequently erupted into ferocious rivalries. Riots in burning cities were common, east to west, north to south. This time it’s different. There is something ominous and disturbing in the atmosphere.

When Doctor Salk discovered a vaccine for polio it was accepted by the majority. Polio was eradicated because we cooperated. If Americans had refused then, as they do today, then we would still have polio among us. Nobody has a “right” to kill and cripple their fellow citizens by refusing sensible guidelines.

There is no big government program capable of fixing rage. It is impossible to legislate anger out of existence. We The People are the only ones who can legitimately turn this around. We need to convince ourselves that we already have the necessary tools. The most effective tool in a democracy is talking to our neighbors. That normalizes us. We stopped doing that. We started talking to “our” internet instead.

Unless we deal with these epic social problems first, then our own personal goals will become dreams deferred. America has mass shootings almost every day. That is not normal. Commuting with mass shooters on the loose is not a situation we must meekly accept.

Grappling with a slippery menace of this nature is a true quest. If we are going to tame this political pandemic, then we must find a new normal.

Personal Lives

What is the source of this disquiet? One plausible idea that’s been circulating is that people have lost control over their personal lives, so they reject society. I can relate to that. Opportunistic politicians come along and use resentment to get elected. Propaganda machines on the internet follow up by monetizing fear and cranking up hate.

Our personal lives should be under our control. That’s the key. One big problem is this – we haven’t been facing up to our community responsibilities. Democracy requires continuous maintenance.

There’s a saying going around. If a person is willing to work, and they have a full-time job, yet they still can’t support themselves, then the system is broken. We don’t want a socialist solution for that. We don’t want totalitarian enforcement of that. We, as citizens, should accept that this problem is within our reach. What is stopping us from taking control of our lives?

I make no claim to have grand answers, but I will tell you what I believe. I was born in the 1940s. Lodged in my memory are seventy years of American history. The problems we face today have roots far deeper than anything I have ever personally seen. Our immediate troubles emerged in the aftermath of World War Two. Deeper roots extend back to the Civil War era. A few persistent problems stretch all the way back to the American Revolution, then into the colonial period before it.

America has been a fabulous success. That shows that we have the proven ability to rise above our current gridlock. During our search for solutions, we must also consider the world around us. Everywhere on this planet we find overcrowding. International rage more than matches our own in many countries. We are not alone in our anger and isolation. Opportunities abound for our future, but we are not taking advantage of them.

Medium Sized Disputes

When our Constitution was written there was no such thing as big government, and it was not possible for big companies to exist. Today there are one hundred and thirty-three Americans for every citizen who was alive in 1788. Five million corporations surround us. I can’t imagine how many government departments we have. Things have changed.

I’ve worked for big government. I’ve worked for big companies. I have no regrets. My opinion is that they preserve what is “big” because bigness is the only thing they genuinely understand. Someone needs to take charge of our medium sized disputes. That someone is us. The biggest problem we face is that human nature is often intractable. Government is necessary because human nature is … well, it is what it is.

I’m not one of the big people. None of my friends are on any of those big people lists. Who’s going to help us preserve our way of life?

Well now – that would depend on who we imagine “us” to be, wouldn’t it? I grew up on the Great Plains and in the Mountain West. We were the grandchildren of the pioneers. I went away to college in the New York Metropolitan area. That’s back east. The dominant cultural groups of my personal life are now at war with each other. I’m torn. We’re torn. Let’s fix this.

The question is not whether we can get this done. We can. The question is – where do we start?

Dying Towns

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been through a lot of dying towns out there between the ocean coasts. It’s an eerie feeling. You can sense the slow decay. You can see it in the eyes of those people staring back at you. This is their natural home, and they mourn its passing.

Much of our national anger springs from local resentments. Big media doesn’t understand little towns. Big government doesn’t understand little towns. Big companies don’t understand little towns. Millions of Americans understand. It’s our soil, our memories, our ancestors, our way of life, our safeguard in a cold and cruel world.

If a politician wants to get elected, then the “Us Versus Them” trick works most of the time. The fact that this is bad for America doesn’t stop the politicians. Gerrymandering turns the whole mess into an ongoing assault, which wipes out any possibility of honestly determining what the Will of We the People actually Is.

Abraham Lincoln described our system this way, “The legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all or cannot do well enough for themselves. But in all that people can do for themselves, Government ought not to interfere.”

These words of Lincoln’s have guided my thoughts for decades. What I have learned, the hard way, is that those pleasant-sounding concepts require enormous skill to put into practice. During this current social crisis, I have begun to wonder if both sides are totally, tragically wrong. If that is the case – Americans can trust no one.

This quest is not a movie with a happy ending. We need to write our own script.

Left Out of the System

One thing is guaranteed. A blog called “Quest for the New Normal” will not solve the big problems. The role we should play is to take our sampling of bloggers and carve out a forum for exploring workable midsize solutions. If we’re lucky, some among us will come up with an approach worth passing along to people who know how to turn good ideas into good solutions.

I feel left out of the system. Everybody I know feels left out. Maybe you feel left out too. That lack of trust hurts us. Without trust, systems collapse.

There is one thing I am certain of. Unless we distance ourselves from partisan rage, the politicians of both parties will continue to manipulate us. We The People are the ones who should be in control, through the mediation of our elected representatives. How shall I put this … evidence is slim.

Rev up your quest engines.