Thucydides, the ancient Athenian historian and general, claims the fifth-century BC Sparta and Athens war was inevitable because of “the rise of Athens and fear that this instilled in Sparta.” More simply, war is a likely outcome as tensions increase between rising powers and those who are currently ruling and in power. Are we on the precipice of our own Thucydides Trap and is it one of our own making?
Our trap has taken generations to build. A failed and misdirected reconstruction, Jim Crow Laws, congressional district jerrymandering, ongoing voter suppression efforts, the Civil Right Act, and the Black Live Matter movement have collectively shored the frame of the trap. The Republican party controls both the executive and legislative branch in twenty-four states and legislative control in thirty-one; clearly distinguishing it as the ruling party. And yet we are a country divided. The past Presidential election and the slim majorities held by opposite parties in the U.S. House and Senate are manifestations of our divide. The open hostility based only upon race, gender, and /or sexual orientation is played out in the news, and our streets every day. We, collectively, find ourselves struggling with how we got here and how we get out.
Some of the more significant findings of the 2020 American Values Survey by PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute, https://www.prri.org/research/amid-multiple-crises-trump-and-biden-supporters-see-different-realities-and-futures-for-the-nation/) sheds insight and may clearly imply we are stepping on our own Thucydides Trap. It shows Republicans are the only political organization which believes whites and Christians are being discriminated against more than any other ethnic or racial group. More granularly, out of nine groups comprising multiple religious and racial affiliations, only white evangelical Protestants, shockingly, maintain whites and Christians are more discriminated against than Blacks, Hispanics, or Asians. And then, not surprisingly, the white evangelical Protestants maintain the Confederate flag and monuments are symbols of Southern pride and not symbols of racism. Those currently ruling feel they, and their beliefs, are under siege. The spring of the trap is being pulled taunt and the trigger about to be set.
The corollary from the survey is that in total, Americans, collectively by a large margin, believe Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are discriminated against on a daily and systematic manner. Americans believe Whites and Christians are the least discriminated against and the symbols of the Confederacy are racist.
We can escape the Thucydides Trap of our own making by strongly standing together as Americans rather than subsets of the whole. The country’s direction has never been straight and true. We have grown, matured, and changed with the times. We should not feel threatened by change but embrace it and help mold it to benefit the majority of us. The political tents have to be big enough for all of us. The trap is built. The spring is taunt. The trigger set and probably tripped unless we, collectively, decide to recognize the trap for what it is, step away and have the faith and strength of character to determine the best way to dismantle it and do so. #NeverFeartheDream
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#BigLie, #Jan6
simplebender 