OUR AMERICAN HERITAGE
AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRESERVING IT
What new challenges will America face as we move forward into the future?
BY MADELINE CRAIG

Following the Presidential election of 2016, our country gained the nickname “The Divided States of America.” During the election, our country experienced divisiveness comparable to that experienced at the beginning of the Civil War. The Civil War began after the South felt they didn’t have a voice in their country, their president Abraham Lincoln was a man whose name didn’t even appear on some Southern ballots, and whose beliefs contradicted their own. Today, the West and East Coasts vote and think opposite of the Southern and Middle states, and there has been hardly any effort to unite each region under common beliefs. In the future it is unlikely that an entire region will decide to secede, but even as we remain united by our border and title of The United States, the divides that we are creating could tear our country apart.

America was built on the desire for freedom and the ability to let individual’s voices be heard. Because of this, most national conflicts arise from groups of people feeling silenced. In 2016, Americans who had felt ignored under the previous administration gained a voice through a candidate that promised to never leave them behind, and to give them a voice. This promise started a movement that resulted in the election of our current president, who won because of the votes from Americans who felt silenced and united to reach their common goal. The results of this election pleased those Americans, but it didn’t erase feelings of being ignored, it switched them to the opposite side of the political spectrum. Two years later, our country has experienced a total split. A split between right and left, between the government and the people. As our country advances towards the future we must face the challenge of these divides and become united as one nation.

In order to overcome the division we see today, American citizens and government must learn three crucial values: adaption, acceptance, and the ability to listen. Our world is constantly adapting to social and political changes; women are speaking out and demanding equality in numbers larger than ever. People of color and other marginalized groups are using acts of civil disobedience to send a message to the American people, a message that inequality is prominent and must be addressed. Young people are coming together to fight for their rights to safety and for a country that accepts them for who they are. In order for our democracy to succeed, it must adapt to the changes that these Americans are pushing for. We must accept that people with opinions opposite of us exist, and that they are still human with the same rights to life, liberty, and justice. Once we learn acceptance for all people, we can unite under the common goal to keep our democracy alive and use it to better our country. Finally, we must listen. No problem will ever be solved if we don’t listen to the afflicted. America was built on voices of hope that dissented from the norm, and we became a prosperous nation. Listening to all Americans can only benefit our development into the future, and it will unite us under the idea that we are all Americans in the pursuit of equality and freedom.