A Tale of Two Countries

When Charles Dickens penned his classic historical novel A Tale of Two Cities, he sought to describe the differences between a calm and civilized London and the unrest and upheaval of Paris before and during the French Revolution. His main character, Dr. Alexandre Manette, is freed from the Bastille after serving an 18-year sentence, after which he relocates to England to live with his daughter Lucie, whom he has never met.

Here is the cryptic opening passage of the novel…

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it? Change a few historical and geographic references and the story could be an accurate description of the United States in the year 2024.

Never before in my lifetime have I seen our country so polarized and almost equally divided. It is almost as if the ghosts of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee have risen from their graves to fight once again for the right to determine our nation’s destiny. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand,” Jesus said in Matthew 12:25. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Lincoln echoed in one of his most famous speeches.

In Lincoln’s case, he went on to say that “I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

Truer – and more prophetic – words have never been spoken in American history, because after four long years of war and the loss of more than 600,000 soldiers and countless civilians, it was no longer legal to buy, sell, or own another human being.

Fast forward to 2024, and we are once again a house divided. Don’t believe me? Just look at a recent poll by Statista’s Consumer Insights which shows that inflation is the #1 issue across all political spectrums. After that, however, it is an absolute free-for-all with liberals listing health/social security, climate change, and poverty as their next most pressing concerns while conservatives rank crime, the economy, and immigration in that order. As you would imagine, the rapidly diminishing political center reflects a mixture of the other two camps.

So, where do we go from here? Liberals want more government and conservatives desire less. Liberals want a completely secular society whereas conservatives think we need to return to our founding Judeo-Christian principles. Liberals push DEI and a radical LGBTQ+ agenda while conservatives promote a meritocracy and traditional values. Liberals think that schools have the right to co-parent our children, but conservatives believe adamantly in parental rights.

Perhaps most telling, liberals advocate for abortion-on-demand while conservatives assert that life begins at conception and so, abortion is murder.

You would be mistaken if you think this year’s presidential election pits Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. On the contrary, it is a battle for the very soul and future of America.

The old adage “To the victor goes the spoils” has never been more true.