We may well be a disunited nation nowadays — widespread July 4^th celebrations notwithstanding. 

Sure, we might all be Americans… but there’s a distinct sense that our political conflicts have grown into something more than mere disagreements about how best to address our collective challenges. A new poll from the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics shows just how suspicious Americans are of those with whom they disagree — and, by extension, just how divided we have become. 

About three-quarters (73 percent) of voters who identify themselves as Republican agree with the statement that “Democrats are generally bullies who want to impose their political beliefs on those who disagree.” An almost identical percentage of Democrats (74 percent) expressed the same view of Republicans. 

To be fair, in both cases, it’s difficult to see how such suspicion of “the other side” isn’t somewhat warranted. Both parties have their own “woke” constituencies — armies of fanatics who root out those they see as political heretics and insist on ideological conformity. 

Even beyond the progressive and conservative “cancel culture,” however, much of today’s politics seems to be far more about fundamentally altering the way we live with each other than merely managing agency budgets or organizing postal routes. 

During the pandemic, for example, both Democrats and Republicans routinely used the power of government to impose their politically driven worldview on entire populations. The idea of allowing individuals and businesses to chart their own course and evaluate their own tolerance for risk was anathema to political leaders during the pandemic — and so mandates and regulations quickly took on distinctly partisan shades. 

Democrats, convinced vaccines were a universal good, moved to require proof of vaccination for tasks as benign as eating in restaurants, going to the movies or returning to school — even as it became apparent vaccinated individuals could still spread the virus. Republicans, skeptical of such mandates, moved in the opposite direction — prohibiting private companies from setting their own policies on vaccination requirements. In both instances, government power was used to cajole, coerce and compel Americans into responding to the pandemic in a way that the partisans in charge believed was “right.”  

Such use of government is hardly anything unique to the era of COVID. Prohibitionists of various stripes have long pushed policies to regulate or legislate Americans into certain lifestyle choices. From the “war on drugs” to smoking bans to limits on sugary drinks, the practice of saving people from themselves by narrowing their freedoms has been a staple of the professional political class for decades.  

Part of the problem is that the basic principles so many Americans claim to revere are simply not as sacrosanct to our political philosophies as we would like to otherwise imagine. While electeds and activists pay lip service to principles such as freedom of speech, individual autonomy, and democratic self-governance, their actions often demonstrate just how disposable such convictions are when it is politically expedient to abandon them. 

“Fake news” and “misinformation,” for example, has been extolled by members of both major parties to lobby for various forms of control over speech. Bodily autonomy was a primary concern to Republicans when talking about vaccinations and to Democrats when debating abortion, but not the other way around. Even democratic self-governance is decried when it frustrates one’s preferred political objectives—such as when the Supreme Court rules against the executive branch’s sweeping regulatory efforts.  

With “first principles” in seemingly short supply among our political leaders, is it any wonder most Americans have such unflattering opinions of those with whom they disagree? Political intolerance — and by extension, political division — has long been on the rise. And with it, so too has the ability to use government to run roughshod over the objections of political minorities.   

Whether it be through regulatory mandates, tax policy or spending priorities, government today has a profound impact on our daily lives — and the result has been an increased politicization of virtually everything. From school curriculum to healthcare coverage, many of the most important aspects of our lives are governed by the whims of those we elect to office. Unfortunately, those we elect to office are often the worst kind of political opportunists, cultural scolds or peddlers of partisan outrage — the type of political actors who are all too eager to leverage power as a way to reward their supporters rather than expand human freedoms more broadly.  

It’s therefore unsurprising our political landscape has become a collection of fractious, contemptuous political tribes bickering over who gets to set the rules by which everyone else must abide. 

Today, we are indeed disunited as a nation — but not because we merely hold divergent political perspectives or prefer different policy prescriptions. Rather, we’re disunited because we fear that those with whom we disagree are intent on forcing upon us a less-free version of America. 

And, unfortunately, much of the time we seem to be proven correct.

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding consultant based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He is the former communications director for Nevada Policy Research Institute and has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary as a columnist, political humorist, and radio talk show host. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.