I appreciate your candid approach to what has been plaguing the American society. It is both poignant and truthful.
However, this is a truth that has been in the back of the minds of almost all Americans. The country was built on the hedonistic pursuit of individual freedom. With that freedom comes the paradox of both being different and yet part of a greater whole. America’s foundation is, as you are closely suggesting, idealistic.
The crux of America in short is that it is built on an idealistic system that will never quite be possible. Diversity will always lead to differences in lifestyles, perspectives, and ideologies. If we really were truthfully equal, we would likely be one, uniform cohort with no sense of individuality. Conversely, too much diversity leads to inevitable conflict.
I find that the aspiration to reach that idealistic middle-ground of individual and united is why the country has accomplished so much progressive thinking in only a few centuries. The real problem of today is not identifying or pointing fingers to what has been, is, and will be wrong, rather the lack of seeking opportunities to resolve issues as they come.
The age of universal information and political movements have allowed us to see all the things that are flawed. But, everyone more or less understands this basic realization. I am proposing that America’s future and the futures of each person’s mental sanity, relies heavily on understanding that problems can be solved, but optimal answers always involve sacrifice.
No one likes the middle-ground. That involves both parties having to surrender something in order to get part of what they wanted. Similar to Utilitarianism, there can be the best answer that does not have to proportionately benefit everyone involved equally. Yet, even that philosophy is flawed in that it is also idealistic. To truly grow and progress, we need to understand this duality of idealism versus actionable change. Calling out what’s wrong or bad is easy and subjective; everyone can do it. Real change will come from those leaders who think deeply about different sides of arguments and collect ways to find that middle-ground while also convincing the parties involved to step away from arguing for the sake of arguing.
If everyone thought like this, America would become a much better place. It comes down to those who seek to find the objective answer, putting aside what they know to be true to themselves, and understand that things only can change through thinking and time.
