America
COMMENTARY
America Divided? It’s Always Been This Way!
The United States was never particularly united. Yet through it all, we’ve only grown stronger.
I BY MARK MECKLER
t’s fashionable to lament the deep political and ideological divisions in our country. Democrats blame President
Donald J. Trump. Republicans blame the radical left. Pundits point to the breakdown of the family, social insti- tutions, and “decency.” Every faction has a diff erent scape-
goat, but they all share an assumption: Our country used to be united, but now we’re divided and on the verge of civil war. But a review of American history
tells a diff erent story. The United States has never been particularly united. From the colonial period through the Revolution and Civil War and into the 20th century, it has been fractured and divided. Diff erent regions and states have antagonized one another, jockeyed for power and position, and castigated other Americans for a variety of real and imagined faults. Through it all, the U.S. has only
24 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2021
grown stronger. The federalist system our founders instituted was designed to accommo- date division. Our ability to function — indeed, to thrive — within that divi- sion is the key to our country’s success. Division and disagreement metas-
tasize into life-threatening cancer only when an all-powerful, centralized gov- ernment attempts to impose one-size- fi ts-all solutions. Our country is too big and too
diverse to unite around Washington, D.C. If we want to continue our domi-
nance on the world stage, we must stop trying to mold all Americans into a “unity.” Instead, we should work to reduce federal power, re-empower state governments, and get back to the federalist system our founders imag- ined.
Our nation’s history is one of diff er-
ence and division. The colonies were distinct political
units, sometimes more culturally and religiously aligned with their regions
of origin than to other colonies. Travel was diffi cult, which allowed
each colony to retain distinct cultures and economies. The Articles instituted a federal government that possessed no author- ity over the individual states. It lacked the power to tax and the power to raise an army. The former colonists, now citizens
of the individual states, distrusted other states so much that they refused to give those states’ representatives any power within a central govern- ment. Out of this history of dislike and
distrust, and out of a contentious con- stitutional convention in 1787, came the invention of the greatest form of government ever conceived by man for the preservation of liberty: federalism. The U.S. Constitution described a
national government that possessed only the barest power to deal with foreign adversaries, quell intra-state confl icts, and create laws. Its powers were limited and specifi -
cally enumerated to prevent tyranny. The Federalist and Anti-Federalist
debates showed that the old rival- ries and distrust still existed, but the
ALEX SAVA©ISTOCK
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