For Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and author of “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels,” this past week has been disturbing – and all too familiar.
“Political violence erupts in America when there is an existential question – who is an American?
Costa asked Meacham, “Are we in a particular time in America when all of this seems to keep happening?”
“And the American covenant is that we live in contention with each other, but we’re not at each other’s throats.”
Asked what our political leaders can do to keep that covenant, Meacham said, “Make the case.
This past week was unsettling and all too familiar for historian Jon Meacham, who won the Pulitzer Prize and wrote “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels.”. He responded, “I believe that we are in a dangerous place,” when asked what the current state of America’s soul was. In American history, a once-upon-a-time has never existed. We will not have a happily-ever-after. However, this is not one of the times that you and I could both agree that we would like to see repeated.
“When the existential question arises—who is an American? Who is entitled to be included in ‘We the people,’ or ‘All men being created equal,'” he said, political violence breaks out in America. “If you look at it historically, violence breaks out when that is tense and when we don’t agree on that. “.”.
It also did on Wednesday.
America was once again rocked by the crack of a gunshot at Utah Valley University. A well-known conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, age 31, was killed while participating in a public debate.
Tyler Robinson, 22, a resident of Utah, was in custody by Thursday.
Kirk was a major organizer in the movement of President Donald Trump and had a passionate right-wing following. Kirk described Trump as “the bodyguard of Western civilization” during the 2020 GOP Convention. He was also criticized for having an incendiary voice, as evidenced by his statement on his own show that “The entire Democrat Party project is how quickly we can turn America into a third-world hellhole.”.
His passing has become the most recent upheaval in a nation that is divided.
Meacham informed Robert Costa, “We don’t want to be in a situation where you pick up a gun because you don’t agree with someone. The nation cannot be like that. Furthermore, it’s something else if it is. “,”.
“It isn’t America,” he said. “It isn’t the America we desire.”.
Since the first of two assassination attempts on candidate Trump occurred last summer, there have been a number of political violence incidents, including the murder of Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in Minnesota, the murder of Israeli embassy officials in Washington, the firebombing of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home, and the murder of police officer David Rose outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Kirk’s murder is the most recent of these incidents.
Meacham was asked by Costa, “Are we in a particular time in America when all of this seems to keep happening?”.
With a “self-evidently,” Meacham answered. “And I believe it’s because we are living in a time when we are discussing not just the methods of politics but also its goals. “.”.
“We are breaking faith with the American covenant when we lose the capacity to engage in argument and dissent and debate peacefully,” Meacham said, stating that leaders and citizens alike must act quickly to fulfill America’s mission. “The American covenant states that although we disagree with one another, we do not put ourselves in each other’s shoes. “,”.
“Make the case,” Meacham said when asked what our political leaders could do to uphold that covenant. Narrate the tale. I believe that history is more important than ever because there isn’t much going on in the present that you would want to say, “Yeah, we want more of that.” What do you want the country to be?
“You want to share Omaha Beach’s story. You wish to share the Pettus Bridge story. The Gettysburg story is what you wish to share. Because in those instances, flawed individuals truly produced a more ideal union. They weren’t superhuman, mind you. “On the contrary,” he stated.
“They barely made it through it,” Meacham said. “,”.
Even though Americans are barely able to survive this weekend, Meacham says we must: “If they can do it, then we can, too, if we decide that this country is about a more perfect union, it is about dissent, it is about respecting each other, and it is not about hunting each other down.”. “.”.
To learn more:.
Jonmeacham . com.
Sara Kugel is the story producer. Editor: Cardin, Chad.
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