Many times, driving up Interstate 26 toward Asheville, I have passed the sign announcing the Eastern Continental Divide. It comes just south of Hendersonville and not far after leaving South Carolina for North. The ridge separates the water flowing east into the Atlantic Ocean from the water that flows west into the Mississippi River basin.
Nor often, or never, has one day’s experience left me thinking about the cultural watershed that created our national situation, like the one we all had this week when the television cameras juxtaposed the former President lying in state in the Capital Rotunda with the President elect holding a press conference. The one was full of reverence and gratitude, the other full of ranting and grievance.
What brought us to this moment in American history?
The year was 1980, and the event was the presidential election, the choice between the incumbent Jimmy Carter and the challenger Ronald Reagan. Carter was the born-again peanut farmer who had served as governor of Georgia and 39th President of the United States. Reagan was the handsome actor who had served as governor of California and desired to be the 40th person to hold the highest office.
Carter’s constituency—southern religious people, Democrats in those days—ditched him for the smooth-talking critic of government: “It’s the problem, not the solution” he famously said. They switched to the Republican label and joined the Culture War against Communists, Liberals, Democrats, Gays, and Blacks.
Reagan won and won big; and what that election set in motion became the biggest political shift in modern America. It ignited the grassroots movement that has brought us to this place, this moment, this funeral, this press conference, this stark reality of what the United States has become.
What did Carter in was race.
Once he assumed power in Washington, Carter led with deep conviction about equality under the law and also about equality of opportunity and recognition. He began the trend of diversifying the federal government: appointing judges that reflect the population they serve, signing legislation that promised prosperity for all, and creating departments that responded to emerging demands (such as Education and Environmental Protection).
But it wasn’t enough: not only because of the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis but also because of the rebellion of the white Christian population who yearned for the yesteryear when their power and privilege was unchallenged. This constituency, centered in the South, pushed back, and took over denominations, political parties, federal courts, state legislatures, and finally, the White House. “Make America Great Again” was the perfect pushback against the freedoms won by minorities, women, and gays. It was the religion-fueled rebellion against equal rights for all that brought us the once and future President, Donald J. Trump.
So it was that the cameras this week broadcasted the result of that watershed election 45 years ago. On the one screen were dignity, respect, honor, and appreciation. Leader after leader took to the podium in the most august of American spaces to eulogize the man Jimmy Carter: his disposition, his service, his character, and his impact—before, during, and after his tenure in the White House.
On the other screen was the unhinged dingbat, ignoring the importance of the hour and embracing a self-created urgency to rant about things that do not matter to anybody: the annexation of Canada, the occupation of Greenland, the control of Panama, and the naming of a body of water. None of these things matter to anybody, except a few wealthy people who are lusting for the money that can be earned and the power that can be welded. It was all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
There is more drama to come, this week and next and for the four years. Many of us are dealing with what one writer called Pre Traumatic Stress Syndrome while Trump and his minions are publicly intoxicated with prospects of power. It won’t be the first time the federal government is overrun with incompetence. It also won’t be the first time that we, the people, suffer.
On the 20th of January, I will get in my car and drive up the mountain from South Carolina into North, passing again over the continental divide, on my way to a luncheon with three other couples, all of us determined to ignore for a few minutes the catastrophe that has befallen our country before we separate again, determined to live a life inspired by the man who lost in 1980 and to join the resistance to the man who won in 2024.
Many times, driving up Interstate 26 toward Asheville, I have passed the sign announcing the Eastern Continental Divide. It comes just south of Hendersonville and not far after leaving South Carolina for North. The ridge separates the water flowing east into the Atlantic Ocean from the water that flows west into the Mississippi River basin.
Nor often, or never, has one day’s experience left me thinking about the cultural watershed that created our national situation, like the one we all had this week when the television cameras juxtaposed the former President lying in state in the Capital Rotunda with the President elect holding a press conference. The one was full of reverence and gratitude, the other full of ranting and grievance.
What brought us to this moment in American history?
The year was 1980, and the event was the presidential election, the choice between the incumbent Jimmy Carter and the challenger Ronald Reagan. Carter was the born-again peanut farmer who had served as governor of Georgia and 39th President of the United States. Reagan was the handsome actor who had served as governor of California and desired to be the 40th person to hold the highest office.
Carter’s constituency—southern religious people, Democrats in those days—ditched him for the smooth-talking critic of government: “It’s the problem, not the solution” he famously said. They switched to the Republican label and joined the Culture War against Communists, Liberals, Democrats, Gays, and Blacks.
Reagan won and won big; and what that election set in motion became the biggest political shift in modern America. It ignited the grassroots movement that has brought us to this place, this moment, this funeral, this press conference, this stark reality of what the United States has become.
What did Carter in was race.
Once he assumed power in Washington, Carter led with deep conviction about equality under the law and also about equality of opportunity and recognition. He began the trend of diversifying the federal government: appointing judges that reflect the population they serve, signing legislation that promised prosperity for all, and creating departments that responded to emerging demands (such as Education and Environmental Protection).
But it wasn’t enough: not only because of the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis but also because of the rebellion of the white Christian population who yearned for the yesteryear when their power and privilege was unchallenged. This constituency, centered in the South, pushed back, and took over denominations, political parties, federal courts, state legislatures, and finally, the White House. “Make America Great Again” was the perfect pushback against the freedoms won by minorities, women, and gays. It was the religion-fueled rebellion against equal rights for all that brought us the once and future President, Donald J. Trump.
So it was that the cameras this week broadcasted the result of that watershed election 45 years ago. On the one screen were dignity, respect, honor, and appreciation. Leader after leader took to the podium in the most august of American spaces to eulogize the man Jimmy Carter: his disposition, his service, his character, and his impact—before, during, and after his tenure in the White House.
On the other screen was the unhinged dingbat, ignoring the importance of the hour and embracing a self-created urgency to rant about things that do not matter to anybody: the annexation of Canada, the occupation of Greenland, the control of Panama, and the naming of a body of water. None of these things matter to anybody, except a few wealthy people who are lusting for the money that can be earned and the power that can be welded. It was all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
There is more drama to come, this week and next and for the four years. Many of us are dealing with what one writer called Pre Traumatic Stress Syndrome while Trump and his minions are publicly intoxicated with prospects of power. It won’t be the first time the federal government is overrun with incompetence. It also won’t be the first time that we, the people, suffer.
On the 20th of January, I will get in my car and drive up the mountain from South Carolina into North, passing again over the continental divide, on my way to a luncheon with three other couples, all of us determined to ignore for a few minutes the catastrophe that has befallen our country before we separate again, determined to live a life inspired by the man who lost in 1980 and to join the resistance to the man who won in 2024.
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