American Renewal

MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER

An American renewal is essential, with citizens of all persuasions moving forward together into 2021 and beyond. Moreover, America’s history, character, and global leadership demand it. Firstly, this means that Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, women and men of all races, creeds, and regions, unearth and affirm shared American values. However, those embedded standards have long been under skeptical siege. The polarization of America steadily spread from Vietnam through Watergate to the Clintons. It accelerated during Bush II and Obama to reach a crescendo during the acrimonious Trump era. Civility and compromise, long American trademarks that have secured our experiment in liberal democracy, have vanished. But an indiscriminate and lethal pandemic has relentlessly transcended personalities, along with social, economic, and national security quarrels. Consequently, as Americans sort through their state of affairs and options, they are wise to consider illustrations of genuine exceptionalism from America Ascendant.

DECENCY AND PERSPECTIVE

Consider the principled leadership, foresight, and American renewal of President Gerald R. Ford. Firstly, the respected GOP house leader from Grand Rapids, Michigan became vice president as a reliable antidote for the doomed Richard M. Nixon. Secondly, as president, Ford wisely governed as a centrist. He sought to heal a nation torn apart by Vietnam, Watergate, and the Central Intelligence Agency controversy. Consequently, he was challenged by conservative Ronald Reagan for the 1976 Republican nomination. Moreover, Ford made the courageous decision to grant Nixon an unconditional pardon so Americans could move forward. Putting America ahead of himself, Ford sacrificed his 1976 candidacy (he almost came back to win). But this is precisely the selfless decency and perspective needed by a new president in 2021, who must balance competing globalist and socialist Democrats with each other. Let alone robust, traditionalist Republicans, liberated from the melodrama that enveloped his predecessor.

AT THE WATER’S EDGE

 A bipartisan coalition led another American Renewal to establish an enlightened world order following World War II. Famously declaring that “politics ends at the water’s edge,” conservative Republican Senate leader Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, a reformed isolationist, vigorously supported the foreign policy of liberal Democratic President Harry Truman. Ford’s predecessor and mentor, also from Grand Rapids, boldly announced in his 1945 “speech heard around the world” that the prewar version of America First was history. Vandenberg endorsed the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and NATO.  Together, Truman and Vandenberg led a multilateral liberal democratic and free market response to Soviet hegemony and communism. Likewise, in 1940, Republican candidate Wendell Willkie refused to make the foreign policy of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt a campaign issue. Willkie went on to successfully neutralize isolationists on Capitol Hill and serve as a globe-trotting ambassador for FDR. 

CIVICS AND CIVILITY

Likewise, Democratic senate majority leader Lydon Baines Johnson of Texas formed a constructive working alliance with consequential Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Furthermore, as president, LBJ needed the firm support of Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois and his Republican caucus to pass America’s landmark civil rights legislation. Moreover, many relevant examples of civics and civility abound in American custom. However, today it has become difficult to imagine such cordial and constructive relationships, like Democratic house speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill enjoyed with rival Republican President Ronald Reagan. Or how President George H. W. Bush competently and quietly formed key alliances at home and abroad to win the Cold War without firing a shot. Following the 2016 election, many Hillary Clinton voters believed that Donald Trump was elected illegitimately. The ultimate remedy for Democrats was at the ballot box rather than with a petulant and speculative impeachment exercise.

LEADERSHIP AND TEAMWORK

Similarly, the prudent course ahead for Republicans is legislative duty. Pending certification. Joseph Biden and his probable Republican counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky are poised to step into the roles of their predecessors. A record number of Americans recently voted at fundamental parity for both parties. Furthermore, the people have chosen balance of temperament and moderation of policy over a both a disruptive personality and socialism. As America continues its ascendant trajectory, it is sensible for former president Donald Trump to curtail self-promotion, exaggeration, and media skirmishes. On the other hand, former president Barack Obama should refrain from lectures and America bashing. Americans deserve a coherent awareness of shared national leadership and teamwork that exceptional American leaders once discovered. Although divisions run deep among Americans, there is much more that unites them in common purpose. We require adult leaders in the mold of Bob Dole and Colin Powell.  

OPPORTUNITY FOR PROGRESS

Cynics scoff at the idea that there is now an opportunity for progress. If a president-elect Biden is serious about reconciling a divided nation, he will have to take steps that won’t be popular among Democrats. Such as criminalizing political disagreement or style, which they did with Trump. Like Ford, a positive Biden presidency will govern from the center. Meanwhile, if the senate is run by McConnell, Biden will have the opportunity to do so. Consequently, compromise should not be disagreeable. But will illiberal progressives or stubborn conservatives concur? America remains a pluralistic society, even as the Internet and social media have accelerated polarization. Reforming the criminal justice system is important but so is law enforcement against violence and the destruction of property. Immigration reform and border integrity are both essential. Racial equality is a moral imperative. Americans of good faith can disagree upon the best means to achieve it.

BRIGHT FUTURE

A paralyzed America only serves the best interests of the People’s Republic of China. Beyond the pandemic, competition with dynamic China, not marginalized Russia, is the paramount question facing Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Washington.  Meanwhile, the progressive irresistible force and the conservative immovable object cannot force their will upon each other or the nation. Therefore, the demonization of rivals who disagree politically must cease. Consequently. Biden and McConnell have several immediate choices for cooperation and progress on stimulus, trade, and national security. Furthermore, they must heed the advice of Benjamin Franklin, “America is a republic … if you can keep it.” As Eisenhower candidly told the media before D-Day, without public support and confidence, his armies “would be nothing more than mercenaries.” In conclusion, a president-elect Biden and a majority leader McConnell must persuade Americans that there can be a bright future ahead, including a fresh American renewal.

Images courtesy if the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the Associated Press. To learn more, discover America Ascendant, the Rise of American Exceptionalism. Related articles include NATO Reborn, American Leadership, The Biden Doctrine, America and Britain, America and China and Cold War II.