A House Divided Cannot Stand, or Can it?

I recently wrote of a war being fought, not abroad, but right here in America.  I contended that today’s enemies walk among us.  They wage wars of misinformation and disinformation, weapons designed to foster confusion and distrust among the American people.  They charm us to believe as they do.  They soften our resolve. They divert our attention toward seeking entertainment rather than satisfying life goals through personal achievement and helping others.  And while there are many who recognize and resist their efforts, there are just as many who unfortunately succumb to enemy purposes.  The resulting divisions among the American people may prove the issue of our generation.  Today I build on that theme.

The war our enemies wage against us is a generational effort. To them, the journey is truly the destination. They engineer among themselves the most effective issues to divide us.  They deal them as if cards in a game.  When each receives his hand, he (or she) ventures into our world to play it, the winningest hands being those which create the most discord among the American people, the resultant disharmony simply a tool to garner political power and personal wealth.

As a consequence, America has become a house divided.  And maintaining the divide is how the enemy wins, or hopes to.  America has a long history of political strife.  Americans would be wise to listen to those who in our past lived through the most divisive times of our nation’s history, that we might better bridge our divisions today.

And so for a moment, let’s go back to 1838, when the future president Abraham Lincoln gave one of his earlier speeches.  To the Young Men’s Lyceum in New York, Lincoln spoke on the subject of American division and discord, and offered suggestions that might help perpetuate the American political institutions, which were under assault then much as we witness today.  He noted a great divide developing.  As he spoke, Lincoln asked those in attendance, and for that matter all future generations who read his words, “At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?”  According to the 29-year-old Lincoln, “All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth… could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.”  Lincoln reasoned to his audience that the danger thus, “cannot come from abroad.”  He concluded therefore, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher...we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

Time did not heal the divisions of 1838. Twenty years hence, simmering differences would begin to boil.  Recognizing the danger, Lincoln offered one of his most famous oratories, spoken before the Illinois legislature, one the press entitled, the “House Divided Speech.” As he spoke, Lincoln warned that as a result of the deep divisions among the American people a crisis would ensue.   Lincoln advised those in attendance, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” And he predicted as a result of the crisis, “I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

Although the nature of prevailing issues changes over time, it is noteworthy the many ways the circumstances Lincoln described 160 years ago parallel those with which we deal today.  If we knew where we stood among our differences, and which way the march of history might take us, then, as Lincoln offered during his day, perhaps “we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.”

Lincoln’s prediction that a crisis would be necessary to suture the American divide, one way or the other, soon materialized. That crisis, of course, turned out to be the Civil War.  Many have expressed that civil war might ultimately be America’s destination today.  Is that the case?

I do not presume to know the answer to that question, except to say that, as Lincoln predicted during his time, America appears to be heading toward an event, or set of events, which will confirm or deny our present attitudes, and reset them as a result.  Either the global forces behind the promise to fundamentally transform America will successfully defeat those who oppose them, or those in opposition will emerge victorious.  Either way, our differences today are so broad that, as Lincoln sensed during his time, a crisis may very well be necessary to bridge them.

And so, as a student of history of sorts, I expect that either the forces against President Trump will defeat him, one way or another, and he will leave the presidency before his time is up, or Trump will open the book on those who oppose him, shine a light on their works such that all Americans, and the world, will have the opportunity to understand their un-American goals and methods, and render suitable punishment as their just compensation.

An epic battle is forming.  A crisis will ensue.  The final outcome will determine whether America continues as our founders intended, or whether humanity will “meanly lose the last, best hope of earth.”