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We're living through a great divergence in which the beliefs and norms of our society's elite are more and more divorced from the beliefs and norms of ordinary people. This gap is so large that many people feel that their beliefs and values are under assault.
In the 1950s, elites and ordinary people shared many values, including a common enemy and an attachment to shared cultural symbols and narratives. Today's elite (and the institutions they largely dominate) are becoming more and more hostile to those shared symbols.
Many elites, for example, see a commitment to the traditions of the country, to the Founders, and to our (largely European) forebears more generally as uncouth or even racist. They take those heroes' names from schools and sometimes excuse those who topple their statues.
In 1950, most Americans could agree that Thomas Jefferson was a great man, that the free market was good, that Soviet communism was bad, and that Christianity was a positive moral force.
In 2021, Thomas Jefferson is often assailed for being a racist, socialism is pretty popular, and many elites view the Christian faith as a silly superstition that promotes a blinkered and backward moral framework.
Thus our shared myths are gradually decaying. And this creates a sense of bitterness and alienation. Elites more and more see ordinary (white) people as troubled, ignorant souls who need to be enlightened by progressive cosmopolitanism.
And ordinary people more and more see elites as hostile and overeducated outsiders who are promoting foreign values. This great divergence likely will not abate soon. Elite institutions are becoming more progressive, more hostile to the values of the ordinary American.
And ordinary Americans are becoming more angry, more bitter, more ready to burn it down. Although I think there is *some* truth to the complaints of both sides, I largely sympathize with those who still cherish our once shared myths and who are repelled by imperial progressivism.
Many decent people are perplexed by the claim that they must embrace diversity at all costs. They are befuddled that treating people as individuals is actually racist. They are perplexed that conceiving of sex as binary is actually transphobic or sexist.
They are confused that wanting strong borders and disliking illegal immigration is xenophobic. But they have lost the culture war. They no longer have a voice in most of the mainstream institutions that surround them. They don't recognize the New York Times anymore.
It can hardly be surprising that they want to torch the institutions that not only longer represent them but also that actively disdain them and mock their values. Do demagogues stoke this fear and exaggerate the perfidy of the elites? Sure. But it's not hard to do.
And I think those of us who are (in some sense) educated elites should work hard to challenge imperial progressivism. And we should seek to create new, functional institutions and protect them from radical leftism.
It's easy to dismiss a culture war as something that politicians stir up to distract people from their own interests; and, indeed, it can be that. But it's also about the most vital, most spiritual, most important question that mankind can ask itself: Who are we?
Are we a country that celebrates the pilgrims, celebrates Ben Franklin, celebrates Thomas Jefferson, celebrates Abraham Lincoln, or are we a country that trashes them for being white, flawed, imperfect? Are we a country that praises faith and community....
Or are we a country that is skeptical of the small-mindedness of localism? Are we a country that applauds free speech and truth telling, or are we a country that stifles it and promotes noble lies to protect progressivism from "dangerous" truths?
Are we a country that cares more about a person's behavior, his or her acts of charity, or are we a country that cares more about a person's opinions? Is our flag a sacred symbol of sacrifice and shared values, or is it a disgraced symbol of exploitation, oppression, terrorism?
The great divergence will likely grow larger. I certainly have no remedies. I think we should try to understand both sides of the divide. But, ultimately, we have to pick sides; and I pick the side of traditionalism. I think our heritage is pretty awesome and should be preserved.
But I also think preservationists should avoid trolling and other antics that alienate the middle of America. We need to persuade people and to fight. We don't need to mock and repel. Progressives aren't evil people. They simply have a different vision of the good society.
Of course, this doesn't mean we lie down and get run over by the crushing wheel of "progress." We can still yell stop. But we have to do so with a plan, a purpose, and a mission to create a coalition that can actually challenge the hegemony of cultural progressivism.
For in the middle of the great divergence are many ordinary Americans who have been repelled by extremists on both sides. And they should be our audience. It's fun to yell and rage against the left, but it's unlikely to convince the average American.
This battle, this war of competing visions of the country, will likely shape our politics for many years to come. Can the center hold or will the extremists, full of passionate intensity, tear the country asunder?
