Generation after generation faces its test of conflict management: crafting the Constitution itself, with all its convictions and compromises; balancing local vs. federal power centers; a Civil War exposing fissures in democracy's bedrock; and on and on, battles over rights and responsibilities, suffrage, prohibition, isolation vs. intervention, and then the serial upheavals over justice for multiple marginalized groups-Black, female, gay, trans. Each era is tasked with not only choosing its fights but also deciding how to fight them.
Our current crisis of division, once again manifest as violence, feels shocking but not sudden; the dread has been deepening for years, a defining quality of this century that began with an election that ended in a tie. As our information streams fill with acid, it eats at grace and trust. Americans have always disagreed, exercised muscles of reason and passion to press for progress and a vision for the common good that we don't necessarily hold in common. Do we care more about freedom or equality? Privacy or security? Being a leader in the world or tucked in safely at home with oceans to buffer us? Figuring that out was the heart of the democratic challenge, but the information technologies allegedly designed to connect the world conspire to dismantle the values that process depends on.
The tragedy, but maybe also the opportunity, of this moment is that relative to past brawls, Americans are largely united on key issues-even if you would never know it from the temperature of the debate. "Red states" from Arkansas to Missouri to Florida pass minimum-wage referendums by fat majorities; Kansas votes to protect access to abortion.
Two-thirds of Democrats agree that the situation at the border is a problem; more than 60% of people think it's too easy to get a gun; and about 80% worry about the solvency of Social Security and Medicare.
Denne historien er fra August 05, 2024-utgaven av Time.
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Denne historien er fra August 05, 2024-utgaven av Time.
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NIH budget cuts are causing chaos
THE U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) IS THE largest funder of biomedical research in the world, and its grants create the foundation of basic science knowledge on which major health advances are built.
Zero Day's uncannily apolitical Washington
IN AN EARLY SCENE OF THE NETFLIX THRILLER ZERO DAY, a former U.S. President is visiting the site of a deadly Manhattan subway crash when an onlooker starts shouting about crisis actors.
For the love of voice notes
SOMEWHERE IN THE BLUR OF 2020, AS I SLIPPED OUTside with a mask and running shoes in the early morning to walk around the block, the lilting drawl of a friend's \"Hiiiiii\" nearly stopped me in my tracks.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.As the U.S. Health Secretary
THE SENATE CONFIRMED ROBERT F. Kennedy Jr., one of country's most notorious vaccine skeptics, to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Feb. 13, sparking outrage among public-health experts who worry that Kennedy will harm public health and further erode trust in science and medicine.
THE RISE OF GERMANY'S FAR RIGHT
Alice Weidel's AfD party is making gainswith a boost from the Trump Administration
Net Zero Is Not Enough
AUSTRALIAN MINING BILLIONAIRE ANDREW FORREST'S GREEN CRUSADE
How will your new company, Respin, help women in menopause?
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How we talk about the Holocaust now
VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE ARRIVED AT THE DACHAU concentration camp under low, gray clouds.
South Korea's political drama will produce waves overseas
SOUTH KOREA'S political crisis continues. After President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached and arrested following his aborted imposition of martial law last December, the country's Constitutional Court will now decide his future. Legal experts say Yoon will soon be removed from office and sent to prison.
WOMEN of the YEAR
13 extraordinary leaders fighting for a more equal future
