What Are Americans Unifying Over?

President Biden’s Inauguration. Photo by Anthony Quintano

Now that Americans have a new president in office, pundits and politicians keep asking for unity. Perhaps our friends, family, and neighbors sincerely desire it. But I have to ask, what exactly do we have to unify over?

Our beliefs aren’t unified, and I’m not talking about something as complex as religion. We can’t even agree on the definition of a woman.

We’re not unified over God-given rights. In theory, we may claim to be. But when it comes to peacefully assembling to freely practice your religion, your rights aren’t as important as celebrities filming award shows and singing competitions.

We can’t even agree on when life begins. Or even worse, we won’t honestly acknowledge it because it would lead to tougher decisions on divisive issues.

We can’t even escape our deep partisan divides in the spirit of competition because our sports teams and their commentators have become so politically charged. Movies and television shows are no longer escapes either. While restaurant owners lose everything they own, at least they can find comfort in the fact their favorite TV shows got to film their own special Covid-19/Black Lives Matter arc.

You can’t even buy quality products at your favorite stores because the owner of the company might express an opinion. You may even lose your job over a subjectively offensive tweet after a mob contacts your employer. Do we agree cancel culture is healthy? We can’t even agree it’s real.

Even when we unify over something being egregious, such as the capitol raid, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris throw in an alternative narrative like cops are racist, and the capitol police who bravely helped our Senators, would have treated a BLM crowd of rioters worse!

Americans don’t simply unify because a new administration comes in. I was at the inauguration of President Trump. There were rioters. And even before he was sworn in, there were plots to thwart him.

President Trump’s Inauguration. (DoD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro/Released)

An inauguration isn’t the blood of Jesus; it doesn’t wash away sins. If you’ve been maligned, misrepresented, and lied to by Biden during the campaign, are you supposed to be the bigger person and let it go?

Are we supposed to unify and wish Biden success? What if you’re one of the 11,000 workers doomed to lose your good paying job over the shutdown of the Keystone pipeline? What if you’re a teenage girl who doesn’t want to share a locker room with a biological boy? What if you’re a nun who doesn’t want to pay for abortions?

Are we supposed to believe the Biden Administration wants unity after pretending there’s no blueprint for vaccination distribution, even though it’s obviously taking place and is easy to debunk?

Was the last time we were truly united during 9/11? I’d argue it’s easier to come together over a tragedy if the right leader can inspire people and assure them wrongs will be righted. Whether you love or hate George W. Bush, we’ll always remember his speech among the rubble, promising whoever knocked down the Twin Towers, would soon hear us.

Though President Trump isn’t as eloquent as his predecessors, we were off to a good start at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak. Companies were coming together to make equipment, Americans were making sacrifices, the military was building hospitals, and governors said they were getting sufficient support from the White House. But it didn’t last. “15 days to slow the spread” became a year-long oppressive regime from tyrannical governors and mayors who don’t follow their own rules, the media was on a quest to unseat a president, and Trump often got in his own way.

The tragedy today is that we have irreconcilable differences. I’d like to believe most Americans agree on important issues—like freedom of speech is fundamental and only women can have periods—yet those who hold the levers in power in academia, government, and entertainment are holding all the cards.

When you hear “unity,” do you imagine two parties putting their differences aside to help better the nation? Because that would require meaningful compromises, not breaking a filibuster or impeaching a president already out of office. Their “unity” is about conformity. Biden was the VP under the Obama Administration, and their attitude was: “We won. Elections have consequences.”

I understand the average American wants “unity” because they want to be left alone. They don’t want to be bombarded with politics 24/7 for the next four years like they were during the Trump saga. Frankly, I don’t want that either. We are all fatigued. But if your idea of unity is passiveness, the gatekeepers will transform America beyond a point of no return.

I won’t reciprocate the sort of vitriol I experienced over the past couple of years, but I won’t conform to madness. And if you agree with that statement, congratulations! We’re unified.