BRACK:  Some tonics to soothe an unhappy America

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  The big takeaway from a month-long trip to 13 states during the midterm elections might sound simplistic, but it has a deeper meaning:  the United States of America is an unhappy country.

Unhappy because of the widening division between Republican and Democratic leaders, who often don’t seem like they can stand being in the same room.

Unhappy because of people who don’t talk politics with new friends or coworkers for fear that they might be judged based on their politics – and lose a new acquaintance.

Unhappy because of a morbid obsession by the left and right with whatever President Donald Trump says on Twitter or what he does on any given day.

“People feel that they shouldn’t be feeling like that – that there should be a greater sense of oneness in their country and I think that has been a feature of America in times past,” observed Australian pundit Bruce Hawker who interviewed more than 130 people on the trip to make a documentary about the midterm elections.

“Now they miss that (oneness) and I think it’s a discombobulating feeling for a lot of Americans.  They really feel affected adversely about it.  I think they’re also exhausted by the constant conflict, and that’s not a good thing.  I suspect it’s going to keep going for the next two years.”

Perhaps a big part of the problem is that people have been focused since the 2016 presidential primaries on the “America” part of the nation’s name, not the “united” part.

America has always been great, one South Carolinian told us during the filmmaking trip that stretched from Arizona to South Carolina to Minnesota to Pennsylvania.  So, let’s work on the “united” part again.

Leaders in Congress should embrace bipartisanship.  They need to show they can work together with issues that unite, not divide.  Some examples:

Infrastructure.  Let’s pass a measure to repair decaying infrastructure – the roads, bridges and physical structures that make commerce flow.  After wildfires in the West, floods in the Northeast and hurricanes in the South, there’s lots of infrastructure work to be done to keep America competitive.

Criminal justice reform.  There are signals the president and Congress are much closer to getting real criminal justice reform that would relax the tough sentencing requirements that warehoused tens of thousands of non-violent offenders in costly federal prisons.  There are better ways to punish them without tearing apart families’ lives.

Living within our means.  Congress needs to rein in spending and provide more balanced taxing so the country can live within its means.  The alternative? Borrowing more billions from the Chinese, which puts our country more at risk.

Trade reform.  While federal tariffs aren’t popular with businesses in big trading states like South Carolina, congressional leaders can work with the president to get better trade deals and enforce the laws on the books to protect the country’s economic backbone.

Immigration.  Congress has worked for years on practical ways to reform legal immigration.  Let’s focus on that to make progress, and not get caught up with the rancor of illegal immigration.  Take baby steps on this issue to get some success.

The responsibility for soothing Americans and working to unite the country doesn’t rely only with government.  The media and regular people need some reforming, too.

First, the media can chill out a little about every presidential tweet.  In fact – and this won’t be popular in journalism circles – it might not be a bad idea for the White House press corps to stop going to daily briefings.  The president already has an instant news channel (55.7 million Twitter followers).  Instead of providing free coverage of daily White House rants, reporters could start covering more outside of the White House.  In the cabinet agencies, there’s more than enough fodder.

Second, people at home and work could try to have more media-free time.  If you can turn it off for a while, it might help you relax some.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.”

We may not need more kittens, but we need Congress to get along and do their job to unite the country.

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