Is This America's Outer Limits?

Have we begun to breach the outer limits of this grand experiment called "America"?

By most metrics, these United States have enjoyed a stellar run at being history's grandest, wealthiest, and most robust sociopolitical unit.  Yet despite having achieved dominance in virtually every significant way, we seem to be coming apart at the seams.

The most recent and obvious of these fractures has been our epidemic of mass shootings, such as the two from this past weekend.  Now, as has become de rigueur, our aftermath devolves into bickering over gun laws, and blaming President Trump's incessant xenophobia for fomenting much of our national angst.

Yet partisanship can't even contain itself.  Liberalism isn't without its excesses, as strident petulance from "the squad" has resulted in - surprise! - calls for restraint among Democrats.  Political divisions seem to be racing ever harder towards the polar opposites of our supposedly "united" states.

Have we become so pluralistic a society that we can't stand it anymore?  Just about every nationality, culture, language, religion, ethnicity, skin color, and political ideology is represented here, making America the most diverse concentration of peoples, ambitions, and worldviews this planet has ever known.  Debates over illegal immigration and racism aside, at least officially, the United States has become what it is today by an epic migration of folks from across the globe, and our Constitution has allowed most of us to say and think whatever we want, and rally others to the causes each of us holds dear.  Some folks think America is a very restrictive place, but those folks don't understand how tolerant America has generally become.

But how far can diversity go before it becomes detrimental?  Obviously, although America is technically open to all, many Americans don't want "all" to come, or to be here in the first place.  Racism has always been a problem here, and in many corners of our country, has been simmering under the guise of political correctness for years.  Pressures are mounting from several sides regarding how open America should be to specific people groups.  Our economy has been built on subgroups of employees who undermine the payscale for legal workers.  Religion has warped many peoples' view of our country's role in geopolitical affairs.  Our populace has never been more highly educated, yet miserly partisanship, empty rhetoric, and plain old fear still drives many decisions and policies.

People who have stuff have worked so hard for it, they tend to hoard it.  People who don't have stuff tend to envy those who do.  And both sides seethe with contempt of the other.  The poor are seen as lazy, and the rich as oppressive.  All while the size of America's middle class - for a brief time in our nation's history, its one moderating faction - is shrinking.

We don't trust others who aren't like us.  A percentage of Americans elected a president who validates our fears and contempt because he models them himself from the vaunted venue of our Oval Office.  Critics chirp away at how self-aggrandizing President Trump is, yet most liberals simply want a leader who will rule just as cavalierly, just with a different template of prejudiced motives and preferences.  Very few folks seek the common good anymore - they seek acceptance for their personal desires and beliefs.  We keep calling it independence, but it's really a brittle form of individualism.

We figure laws will protect us and our viewpoints.  We figure walls will protect our families and our toys.  We figure acerbic rhetoric will shame others into approving what we like and want.  And a few of us will simply grab a gun and try to force our will on others.

Shucks, it's not even like some conservatives see mass shootings as so much of a threat as is tinkering with the Constitution's presumed protections for gun ownership.  Conservatives like to advocate against abortion, ostensibly to protect the unborn who wouldn't otherwise have a voice in society.  But I wonder how many folks facing imminent death at the hands of a mass shooter have a fleeting regret - "I wish these guys didn't have such easy access to assault rifles!"  Why can't conservatives advocate on behalf of folks whose voice in our society is about to be extinguished in yet another mass shooting?

Maybe the altruists have been wrong.  Maybe we can't all literally blend in and get along.  Maybe diversity can only go so far.  Maybe selfish devices cannot be welded together for civic benefit.  So who gets to determine our priorities and direction? 

I could offer up a helpful hint, but even many evangelical Christians aren't eager to go along with it.