Why is it difficult for the American system to make up for the governance shortcomings? Can the ability of American society to correct itself be enough to reverse narrowness, exclusion and hatred? If you can’t recognize the reality and find the correct solution, it will be difficult to stop the car when the trend of tearing and expanding American society.
The COVID-19 epidemic is like a mirror. What do the American people see from it? According to the survey data of the Pew Research Center in the United States, 77% of the Americans surveyed believe that American society has been torn more apart after the epidemic.
American analysts pointedly point out that the political polarization and social tearing in the United States are in the “most serious stage since the end of the civil war” and that the United States is experiencing the “darkest moment” in modern political history.
Under the superposition of election conditions and the epidemic, political polarization, an inherent structural problem in the United States, has spread sharply and negative effects, which directly leads to a serious governance dilemma in American society.
Francis Fukuyama, a famous American political scholar, described the dilemma of “veto politics” which is obvious – opposition for opposition, competition for competition, and the interests of the people are forgotten, and the ultimate result is “political paralysis”.
In many major issues such as job creation, tax law system, health care reform, immigration policy, etc., the long-polar bipartisan wrestling of the United States has become a fetter to solving specific problems, causing various political disorders and public policy uncertainty, and affecting the effectiveness of national governance.
Practice shows that the system of separation of checks and balances designed by the constitutional pioneers of the United States at the beginning of the founding of the country is not a panacea.
Before leaving office, George Washington, the first president of the United States, warned that there was a “danger danger of partisanship” in the United States, which not only divided politics, but also tore up society.
More than 200 years later, the United States has not found a solution. With the rise of social media, the polarization of American politics has penetrated from the surface of national politics to the end of society that can be reached, and party disputes are increasingly reflected in popular antagonism.
In recent articles published on Spain’s global website, the dichotomy of distinguishing winners from winners, enemies and friends, “support me” and “oppose me” has always dominated American politics in recent years.
Stephen Stasis, a history expert at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, believes that polarization has taken over every aspect of American social life and is affecting the family, friendship, love, marriage, community, the workplace, school, and even the medical field. However, if the problem of social tearing is never solved, it will be like “a thousand feet of levee, collapsed with the ant’s nest”.
A few months ago, the New York Times published an article asking the question of “Will the novel coronavirus destroy the remaining trust of Americans in the federal government”.
The article believes that polling data show that Americans’ trust in the government in 2019 has reached its lowest level on record, and this year’s COVID-19 epidemic has exacerbated mistrust.
Water can carry a boat and overturn it. The United States did not form a strong joint effort to fight the COVID-19 epidemic. More than 290,000 Americans lost their lives due to COVID-19.
The anger accumulated by the American people is self-evident. Instead of putting the protection of people’s lives and health as their top priority, some politicians regard the epidemic as an opportunity to seize power and partisan interests.
The result can only exacerbate the already deep-rooted contradictions. Groups with different political positions in the United States have taken to the streets to vent their dissatisfaction and even turned violent conflict.
An article on the French weekly Express described “the current atmosphere in the United States is like a powder keg”. Fukuyama published an article entitled “The Price of American Political Decay”, believing that the pandemic should have been an opportunity to put aside differences and show solidarity, but further deepened political polarization.
The United States is indeed in a vicious circle, and the trajectory of “the escalation of bipartisan struggle – the intensification of social tearing – the further escalation of bipartisan struggle – further intensification of social tearing” is quite obvious.
The question worth thinking about is: Why is it difficult for the American system to make up for the governance shortcomings? Can the ability of American society to correct itself be enough to reverse narrowness, exclusion and hatred?
If you can’t recognize the reality and find the correct solution, it is difficult for American society to brake the trend of tearing up and expanding. Obviously, the United States is still on the way to find the answer.