There's a concept in the United States,which, while it isn't included in the Constitution or Declaration of Independence, might as well have been. It's the idea that the reason why this country exists is because God himself wanted there to be a place for white Christians of European descent to thrive. What other explanation could there have been for the phenomenal growth of the wealth and power of this nation since 1776? Concepts like Manifest Destiny—that it was divinely intended that the American people tame and exploit North America—sprung up. More recently came the concept of American Exceptionalism—that the USA had done so well because the typical American (again, a white Christian of European descent) was an exceptional citizen, of a sort not found anywhere else in the world. For most of this nation's history just such people comprised the overwhelming majority of the population, and the assumption was that they always would.
But that assumption turned out to be wrong. Nowadays a large and steadily growing share of the USA's citizens are not white, or are not Christian, or are not of European ancestry. Many are none of the above. Projections are that within a few decades whites will comprise less than half of the total population. The result has been a distinct anxiety among some white Americans about what the future will bring. Why is that?
Here's my theory: people who experience White Anxiety are subconsciously sensing a threat to the one thing which is most precious to them (and to anyone): happiness. Wealth, love and fame are all just tools to attain happiness. Americans take it for granted that happiness doesn't just grow on trees, no, it must be earned. One way to earn it is by being a 'hard worker'. But in this era of income inequality,working hard often doesn't produce much tangible benefit. A person with a degree, and a career, and a healthy bank account would have little doubt that he or she had earned happiness, but if you're barely keeping your head above water, can you really claim to have done the same? It doesn't exactly feel that way. True hard workers would be rewarded with reasonable wealth and security, wouldn't they?
But there's one last way for some to earn happiness: by being white. That basically makes you 'exceptional', doesn't it? It allows you to indirectly claim a little bit of the credit for the great things this country has accomplished in the past. And that credit can be traded for happiness. But this idea doesn't exactly mesh well with reality. If being white was such a fantastic thing, why are whites seemingly losing their predominance in America? If black lives matter (just as much as white ones do), that would imply that there is in fact nothing special about being white—nothing that a person can use to pay for their happiness. Notions like this set off a subconscious alarm bell in some people's heads. If this were true, where would they get their happiness from then? They'd be cut off from happiness itself—a fate worse than death. So, the message they get from their subconscious minds is that they must not accept ideas like this under any circumstances whatsoever.
What actually causes great nations to rise and fall? Is it mainly the qualities of their people? Or is it largely a matter of luck—do countries sometimes enjoy, purely by chance, good fortune? Has the US done well because it had exceptional citizens, or was it a matter of ordinary citizens who enjoyed the exceptional bounty of a continent's worth of pristine natural resources? And when countries do well, do their people make a habit of convincing themselves that their good fortune is not just luck but rather is a rightful reward which they fully deserve? That would definitely be flattering. It would also justify doing things like driving the natives out of their ancestral homelands—God and/or destiny had obviously given us permission to do this. Has there ever been a powerful and influential nation whose people have nevertheless remained distinctly humble?
I would argue that one of the most fundamental mistakes made by the American people is that we think we have a much larger influence on our fortunes than we really do. We think that life is a fair and equal contest, in which everyone has the same chance and therefore success or failure will be determined entirely (or almost entirely) by our personal virtues and flaws—when in fact it is nothing of the kind. Many Americans have made the classic mistake of assuming that good fortune enjoyed by our country is evidence of virtue on their own part, even though there is no objective evidence of such a thing. And, at a more fundamental level, does happiness really need to be purchased, or is it readily available to whoever is prepared to claim it? A psychologist would argue that anyone who possesses the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing, and has a reasonably healthy mind, has everything that is needed to be happy. Happiness isn’t something that Americans have a monopoly on, after all. Thinking that happiness must be bought is possibly the biggest mistake made by the American people.
So, basically a concept which has gone without saying since this country was born is coming up for re-examination, and has been found wanting. For all our pride, this country has never been anywhere near as perfect as we like to think. The Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal, but as we all know what that originally meant was 'all white males who own property are created equal'. Women, blacks and the poor need not apply. But actual voting rights have been steadily expanded over the course of our nation's history. So, I think that for all the feeling that this country is 'on the wrong track' the truth is that the divisiveness has largely come about because a serious effort is being made to radically improve the nation. But some would rather it not be improved and instead remain the way it is. Because the more equal Americans become, the less exceptional white ones can be.
People often say 'Oh, why can't conservatives and liberals just get along instead of arguing all the time'? Well, I would say they can't get along because the fundamental issue behind our so-called Culture War is one on which there can be no compromise: will the US continue to be a country in which whites continue to be first-class citizens and everyone else is second-class, or will this country finally become one in which all men (and women) really are 'created equal'? And I would argue that this, not president Trump's response to the pandemic, or the state of the economy, or anything else, was the primary issue of the 2020 presidential election (with its record-shattering turnout). And, whether the candidates admit it or not, it will be the primary issue of every presidential election in the foreseeable future.