“One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” —U.S. Pledge of Allegiance
Most presidents utter these words: "I want to bring our nation together.” They continue, “I want to be the president for everyone.” We may appreciate their sentiment and want to believe they truly see this as a noble goal, but frankly, in the 21st century those words are vacant from the reality of our nation. Each president rents those phrases in the early days of their administration, but they never truly own them.
In recent times, an unpopular war and an economic crisis under George W. Bush brought division, as did the first African-American president, whose progressive agenda was characterized by the right wing as socialist, a term that surely brings the “us against them” zeitgeist. In 2016 we witnessed one of the nastiest presidential elections between two polarizing candidates. The result was a narrow and controversial victory for Donald Trump. He once proclaimed his desire for unity; since taking office, he's proceeded to seek an agenda so divisive even people in his own party have trouble supporting it.