America’s clash of civilizations
The clash of civilizations just got very real in the United States. Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential election and his endorsement of Vice-President Kamala Harris to go up against Donald Trump has galvanized the Democratic Party, with a wave of donations greeting the announcement, and prompted an immediate barrage of condescension from the Republican side, with Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, leading the charge.
If Harris does win her party’s nomination, the election will be between a former attorney general of California who is the child of immigrants (from Jamaica and India), and the former president, a real estate developer and media personality whose mother was an immigrant (Scotland), as were his paternal grandparents (Germany). On a more profound level, the clash is between the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and today’s reality. Between the “self-evident” truths that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and the current effort to manipulate the polity to the advantage of a powerful few.
For some, the election of the first woman and first Asian-American president would be confirmation of the power of the United States to unite and make the most of its people, providing equal opportunities for all, while for others it would signal a setback in their push for an oligarchy under a president without constraints.
The contest is between democracy and autocracy, between the drive for equality and the defense of privilege. But it is also playing out at a deeper level. In his thesis, the political scientist Samuel Huntingdon argued that civilizations will clash because their differences are too great, and these are defined, to a great extent, by religion. Much has been said about the merits or failings of this theory since it was first formulated in the early 1990s, as Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were breaking up along such fault lines (among others) and fundamentalist Islam was rising. In the context of an increasingly divided America, though, it is most useful to consider it while looking at the differences in history, culture and mentality on the conflicting sides.
The Democrats are diverse and restless, continually testing the limits of the bonds between them, seeking (though not always achieving) functional compromises. This culminated in their leader having to step down when it appeared that he might not be up to the job of beating Trump. The Republicans, on the other hand, have united in defense of Trump, despite his failings and his bigotry. Because the common denominator of the Make America Great Again movement (from Trump to Evangelical Christians to tech moguls) is loathing of anything that threatens their wish to impose their will on society. And so, one of the two major parties is about to explode in a mushroom cloud of racism and sexism while the other fights to defend rights and institutions. Two worlds in one country.
