Trump is Not the Problem
Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the reality is that a divided nation is a weak nation. As America becomes increasingly polarized, we must look for ways to reunite these United States. But before a problem can be solved, it must first be identified. For a lot of Americans, there is an obvious place to direct the blame: the presidency of Donald Trump. But what if blaming Donald Trump is only making the problem worse?
In America, we’ve become accustomed to instant gratification. If we are hungry, we can often find a meal in minutes. If we are bored, we can be entertained with a few magical swipes of our fingertips. And if we are sick, we can go to a doctor who will prescribe us medicine to make us feel better. Right now, America is sick, and although putting all of the blame on Trump may make so many of us temporarily feel better, it’s only treating the symptoms of a much greater problem.
It’s comforting to think of elections as cure-alls. If your candidate wins, you feel in control of your life. If your candidate loses, you can rationalize your problems as a stroke of political misfortune. But there is a force that influences the quality of our lives in a much deeper way than politics: our culture. Evaluating our nation’s culture reveals the deep roots of our problems. And as much as you might hate to admit it, Donald Trump’s presidency did not create the toxic, mindless culture of present-day America. His presidency is the product of it.
Donald Trump brags about not reading books. He spends his time trolling social media. There is copious evidence of his daily habit of watching television. He doesn’t think it’s worth his time to exercise. He is by his own admission a philistine, a word our founding fathers never would have associated with the Presidency of the United States. But Trump’s behavior is reflective of how countless Americans, on both sides of the political spectrum, also spend their time. They prefer watching to reading, because it’s easier. They surround themselves with those who reinforce their beliefs rather than challenge them, because it’s easier. And they prefer to digest content designed to distract them from life, rather than face it, because it’s easier. Very simply, critical thinking is not en vogue.
This chapter in modern civilization would be unfathomable to our ancestors. We are planting computer chips in human brains, building quantum computers, and accessing all the information in the world with a click. As a nation, we have the potential to lead humanity into the next chapter of our evolution. But first, we must come to terms with our vapid, self-defeating culture. Donald Trump is the American reckoning for decades of intellectual complacency and fantastical thinking that confuses reality with fiction, science with opinion, intelligence with money, information with knowledge, and fame with success. He is the clickbait, get-rich-quick, fast-food president America deserves.
Many of you may feel like overcoming a culture that is now hard-wired into our daily lives is an insurmountable challenge, but nothing could be further from the truth. Identifying the real problem empowers us to finally change it. Your vote on election day is important, but if you want this country to be reunited, take individual accountability for the culture we all create every time we watch content that worships fame and physical beauty, troll those we disagree with, or click on that link we know is exploiting our most primal of instincts. If we want to live in a nation that values civility and moderation, a nation that is too strong to be ripped apart by the tribalistic seams of partisanship, a nation where independent, critical thought trumps binary thinking, then we must earn it, one choice at a time.
