Death of a nation?

Although Donald Trump won, the real victor in Tuesday’s Presidential election was good old fashioned American racism… along with a little or perhaps a lot of sexism, as well as hate. One pundit wrote that “to have a black President followed by a woman was too much for the American people.” I think he is right.

But, perhaps, there is good news in the not too distant future. This past election might be one of the last to turn out this way. According to the Pew Research Center, demographics are changing such that by 2055, there will no longer be a single racial or ethnic majority in the United States. The United States will be a majority minority country, with angry, racist white men and women being a smaller percentage of the population. The hope is that the country will survive until then.

Indeed, the condition of this country in 2055 would have been a concern of the late British historian Arnold J. Toynbee. Between 1934 and 1961, he wrote A Study of History, a 12 volume examination of 26 civilizations, depicting why and how they rise and fall. Toynbee found that a civilization’s rise and fall could be determined by how it responded to challenges and solved problems. Those problems could be external, internal or spiritual.

Racism is a problem that this country has not solved and now seems to be headed in the wrong direction. Donald Trump is an unapologetic, indisputable racist who has openly said that he will violate the constitution to discriminate against racial and religious minorities. He ran a campaign fueled by racism. Yet, 59 million Americans voted for him… with full knowledge and little moral compunction.

Toynbee writes that (quote): ‘civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively and the civilization then sank owing to nationalism, militarism and the tyranny of a despotic minority”

If Toynbee were alive today, I think he would say that America has not responded to the the challenge of racism… that, we are in decline now, with the only questions being how long and how soon.

Kent Garrett