The media has shown President Biden and others talking about Americans coming together—i.e., creating or having unity.
But that’s all it is. Talk. We’ve seen no significant action taken to accomplish that.
No one actually seems to be doing anything to promote or encourage bringing people together. Both major political parties and their supporters are locked into their belief systems and desires.
What do Biden and the others mean by unity?
That all Americans come around to their point of view.
Are Americans too opinionated or stuck in their beliefs to achieve any kind of unity?
We think the answer is a resounding “YES.”
Two basic sets of opinions or attitudes prevail. And they are at opposite ends of one or more spectra.
One, on what people call the left, is that America needs to be drastically changed.
The other, on what people call the right, is that America should retain its current systems.
The strong attitudes and feelings on both sides have evolved into hatred of the other. The hatred from the left seems to be stronger, more vocal and “expressive” than that from the right.
Without getting too much into semantics, maybe the toughest part of coming to an understanding of and achieving unity is knowing what unity means.
Unity, as we see it, is a condition or state of mind of everyone in a group of individuals living or proceeding with a single-minded purpose.
Can there be different types or modified levels of unity?
The definition of unity is an absolute. There can be no “partial unity”. Everyone involved in that purpose must be in agreement and working toward a common goal. There can be no division or reservations.
Peoples, nations, religions, and other groups have claimed unity in various ways throughout history.
For example, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, most Americans supported the war. America seemed unified, but there were conscientious objectors and others who did not. After 9/11, there was a large majority of Americans who supported going after Osama Bin Laden in retribution.
Some lesser levels of claimed unity might be where most people are in agreement, but there may be detractors. Is that really unity?
This group of individuals would not necessarily have to be everyone in a nation, religion, or other group. It could involve a large or overwhelming majority of those present. Other individuals may be present who simply follow that purpose, choose not to participate in it, or even oppose it.
A voluntary absolute unity is likely impossible among large groups where freedom of thought exists, where people are able and willing to think for themselves. But the differences don’t have to lead to lawlessness or violence.
Note that this unity definition doesn’t imply any value judgement—as to whether that purpose is considered good or bad on evaluation by either those involved or by others outside.
In a criminal gang, there may be unity of purpose. That purpose may be to rob or kill people or other living things. It may be to destroy existing objects. The Hitler youth may have had unity. But a value judgment by a civil society would label them as negative, bad, evil, or some other related term.
We seem to have political groups today with a similar mindset.
Some appear to believe the way to achieve unity is to pressure or force compliance—even to the extent of using violence or torture. Such a forced attempt at unity has been used in the Soviet Union, China, religious, and other groups. But that violates something which we call a human right—see our previous blog topic—security.
Another way to achieve a goal without initial unity is through compromise. Sometimes you can get part way to a goal by a compromise with the desire to get the rest of the goal at some later point.
This occurred during the formation of America. The goal was to have equality for all. Many southern states were not willing to sign up if they were forced to give up slavery. To proceed with formation of the nation, the founders agreed to a partial solution. Unfortunately, it took a civil war and many other activities since to achieve a written version of equality. America is still working out details to actually achieve equality, but the goal is achievable.
At this point, with the current situation in America, we’re not sure how or when this unity will come about. We are certain it will not come about through the hate, violence, and lawlessness we see now. We can achieve more through love than hate. See our earlier blog.
We believe external forces were involved in forming America. We also believe those external forces are still at work to maintain America’s leadership in the world.