“A House Divided”… American Division and Unity as Seen Through the Metaphorical Lens of Home Improvement

“He aims his pistol at the sky…wait!”

Today is the 220th anniversary of the (in)famous Hamilton-Burr duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. The following article takes the spirit of this anniversary and that of its eponymous Broadway musical to once again delve into the philosophy of America!

The House of Many

I’d like you to imagine for a moment that a dozen people walk into a house. They love it! It’s spacious and well-built. Its air temperature is great, and all its other utilities are working fine. The home is hurricane and tornado-proof, and no thief would dare burglarize it. The people do disagree on its interior design, though. They squabble over what curtains, rugs, lamps, paintings, pictures, and decor the rooms should include… which way the sofa should face…if hanging or potted shrubbery should be placed on the screened porch. At the end of the day, though, they lovingly laugh and banter their way through a sumptuous communal dinner as they express how lucky they are- despite their differences- to share time together in this wonderful place!

The next day, though, a new crop of visitors checks out the home. They disagree on all the interior design choices, but they also disagree on the home itself. These new visitors don’t just squabble. They rage and scream at each other and foam at the mouth. Some nearly come to blows. These new visitors are divided over the rafters and beams and the indoor plumbing and even the shape of the house itself. “Rip out the floorboards!” one of the visitors demands! “No! The floorboards are fine! The roof will collapse, though, if we don’t soon fix it!” No one agrees on anything. They all hate each other, and, eventually, they all bitterly depart. The house subsequently falls into disrepair!

You may have surmised at this point that these above two scenarios are not actual scenarios but allegories. Allegories for what? America…. of course! It’s wonderful to believe in the old maxim- “Out of many…one” (E pluribus unum). However, if we’re not careful, that can easily become “Out of many…many” (E pluribus pluribus). A diversity of opinions is okay…but it needs something deep and valuable at the center to anchor it!

Shallow vs. Deep

Lincoln’s famous, biblically inspired quote- “a house divided cannot stand”- was famous for a good reason, but it was also far more nuanced than we all may have initially realized. A “house divided” over some things- topical, superficial things- may stand. A “house divided” over its foundations will not. This is a brutal but elegant truth…and one that far transcends geopolitics. A person can survive a flesh wound. An arrow to the heart or lungs is another story. People will likely tolerate a spouse who snores or forgets on occasion to clean the dishes. A spouse who cheats or abandons or abuses their partner is another story.

Sometimes, taking a sledgehammer to the foundations is necessary. It’s extremely dangerous, unpleasant, and severe, and it also frequently incurs a very serious cost…which is all to say- it certainly isn’t a preferable option. But, unfortunately, in some cases, it is the only option! Undergoing chemotherapy is one such case. Proceeding with a divorce (driven by abuse, neglect, or infidelity) is another. The American Civil war would qualify as a third. The brutal, evil, and dehumanizing institution of slavery was very much like cancer. Metastatic, geopolitical cancer. It’s no coincidence that people were so concerned about its spread into western states. Thankfully…fortunately…miraculously…the United States survived this “stage four” illness. There was the enormous cost of 600,000+ lives, but the country survived.

Modern Affluence

Our predicament nowadays is a strange one. This past decade or so has certainly been tumultuous, but not in the way that any past generation would recognize. Extremely sophisticated, on-demand, and instantaneous technologies like smartphones and Uber Eats have distorted our views of realities in ways that are quite terrifying! The “postmodern” conundrum has convinced us that there are an infinite number of ways of interpreting the world. While there is an infinite number of ways of doing so, there are not an infinite number of valid ways. Anyone, for instance, who thinks gravity is a “social construct,” will quickly and quite disastrously figure out that it isn’t if they decide to walk off the side of a building. The same principle holds true for anyone who decides to “quietly quit” or stop paying all their bills or forgo water, food, and oxygen. There’s a good reason many people hate even mentioning any of our modern “third rails” …let alone debating them. An actual “third rail,” after all, will shock you to death if you touch it…and therein lies the answer—death.

The Denial of Death

Ernest Becker’s famous 1973 book “The Denial of Death” brought forth the topic of “terror management.” “Terror management theory,” according to Psych Central, states that “people feel threatened by their own death and therefore adopt worldviews that allow them to find meaning and worth in their lives. Terror management theory deals with consciousness and accessibility regarding thoughts of death.” This concrete explanation may not come as a shock to many people (no pun intended), but it is a phenomenon that people can very easily lose themselves in. Why do you think some people get so up-in-arms about religion, politics, and nationalities?

Becker- posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize (yes, very ironic!)- believed these were all “shields” against the terror of death. Advanced technology and medicine, also, of course, literally protect us from death, though. Your run-of-the-mill case of pneumonia is less likely to kill you than it would your great-great-grandfather. In affluent countries, women are far less likely to die in childbirth than they would be even just 100 years ago. We don’t usually get anywhere near death nowadays. We’re not living on the constant brink of oblivion, and so we can be more cavalier in terms of what we pay attention to…what levels of depth and importance we assign to different issues. The key word, though, is usually. The Covid-19 pandemic certainly put an end to that! Turns out death really is always lurking over our shoulders.

Treading Carefully

Suddenly, everyone realized that, no…as a matter of fact…different issues do carry different weights! The “window curtains” and the “structural support beams” are not both equal in terms of importance. You can dispense with one but not the other…just as you can cut off the branches of a tree without destroying it, but you cannot tear out its roots! People who take very “strident” stances on issues such as abortion, gun rights, education, and immigration do so because these issues are not surface-level political beliefs. These beliefs are deep, visceral matters of life-and-death! Our country needs to recognize the levels at which we approach different concerns and honor and respect those levels accordingly. It’s no different from the way we would respect the power of nature. You can swim in the ocean all you want but do recognize that it contains riptides and great white sharks!

E Pluribus Unum

All that established– the healthy, modern, democratic system that the United States and other countries like it ascribe to is one that needs both ends of the political spectrum. Another, perhaps cornier, way of framing it—it needs both a right and a left wing to fly! “Liberalism” focuses on progression…expanding outwards…adding and rearranging new furniture and, if need be, redesigning the interior. “Conservatism,” on the other hand, focuses on time-honored traditions (“conserving,” as the name suggests). Conservatives want to make sure that the rafters don’t break and that the plumbing and electricity function properly. Liberals, do whatever you want with the furniture. But, if you’re going to take a sledgehammer to the rafters, you better have a darn good reason for doing so. As for conservatives, it’s okay to renovate things now and then (sometimes…it’s necessary).

Hopefully, if America does get back on track, we can return to a more gleeful- and perhaps boring- state of petty squabbles that positively characterize our old maxim: “Out of many…one.”