A new poll from Georgetown University spells trouble for the future of our nation.
According to the survey, the majority of Americans believe we're about two-thirds of the way towards a civil war. When asked to rank political division on a scale of 0 to 100, where '0' is there is no political division in the country and where '100' is political division on the edge of a civil war, most Americans rank our country around 67.
“The majority of Americans believe that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war. That to me is a very pessimistic place,” Mo Elleithee, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, told the Washington Examiner.
Political division is tearing our country apart. The poll also found that a full 77 percent of Americans agree with the statement, "The political, racial, and class divisions in this country are getting worse and our national dialogue is breaking down."
How did we get here? There are many reasons, but expanding federal power has to be at the top of the list.
As Shaun Cammack explains in a powerful op-ed for the online magazine Aero,
When the American people are convinced that the governance of the state rests on a single office, they perceive government as a zero-sum game—one side wins and the other loses. The voters then invest all their emotional and mental energy in their party’s presidential candidate, who, in modern America, is held up as a savior in the face of evil, or as Marianne Williamson warns, “a dark psychic force.” This apocalyptic catastrophization leads to increasingly extreme rhetoric and animosity between the camps.
When the federal government becomes all-powerful, Americans become obsessed with ensuring that their party holds the reins of power in D.C. With such high stakes, they're willing to do almost anything to ensure victory.
A Convention of States can diffuse the building tensions in our country in two ways.
First, it can bring together Americans from both political parties in the effort to call the first-ever Article V Convention. A Convention of States isn't about any particular conservative or liberal policy. It's about allowing states and local communities to decide those policies for themselves. No matter which side of the political spectrum you favor, the vast majority of Americans would rather have local control than federal bureaucratic control.
Second, a Convention of States can decentralize power away from Washington. By proposing constitutional amendments that limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, a Convention of States can remind Americans that our nation was never supposed to be controlled by a large, centralized national government. When D.C. no longer controls the daily lives of the American people, the tensions surrounding national politics will necessarily diffuse.
We're at a turning point in our nation's history. Will we continue to allow D.C. to control the narrative and divide our country? Or will we put the people and the states back in charge with a Convention of States?
If you've decided to support the Convention of States Project, it's time to sign the official COS Petition. You can do so by adding your name below to the list of millions who have already done so.
