Keep Calm, America, and Carry On

When you read this—and I’m always hoping you do—our clamorous presidential elections will be a turbulent footnote in American history. On one side there will be wild celebrations and loud chest thumping. On the other side, dental bills from painful teeth gnashing will skyrocket along with dire predictions of gloom and impending doom. Nothing much new there. We’ve seen it all play out before, in various intensities.

What naturally follows will be periods of we told you so recrimination or buyer’s remorse depending on which horse you bet on to win the race. Here’s a viable alternative. Don’t gloat if your side won. If your side lost, don’t pout. We are all Americans and this is our system including all its warts and wrinkles. Adopt the old British WW II blitz mentality. Keep calm and carry on.

The plain and empirical fact of the matter is that American society, like The Dude in The Big Lebowski, abides. As a guy who has lived through 15 presidential tenures, it’s with some conviction that I predict the lights will not go out across our fruited plains, and America will remain that shining city on the hill. A quick peek at the tens of thousands who are still trying to cross our borders into a better life each day should provide adequate proof.

Despite politicians and the commentariat claiming the contrary, our American sky is not falling, and the end is nowhere near in sight. It helps to ponder that as we approach the 250^th birthday of this exceptional country. We’ve screwed up, sinned, and atoned since the founding of our nation. We survived a bloody Civil War which threatened to destroy our unity. We have meddled in places where many Americans thought we had no business at all and sacrificed lives and fortunes in divisive causes. In the 20^th Century alone, we survived two world wars, a cruel domestic depression, lost two Presidents to assassins, watched the country nearly torn apart by racial violence, and an unpopular war in Vietnam. Social scientists and historians are still counting the deep potholes in our road to the future. But we survive and history tells us we will continue to do so.

In fact, if you’re willing to take a deep, calming breath at this point in the post-election turmoil, you might find that things are going pretty well in the United States of America. And if history is any measure, we will continue to thrive despite obstacles real or perceived. Somehow, we’ve managed to retain our republican form of government which, despite its flaws and loopholes, remains the most effective, equitable, and productive form of governance in the world. Doubt that and you may have been napping when fascist dictatorships fell and worldwide communism imploded. We still have our brilliant Constitution as a guiding light and we retain our Bill of Rights despite regular attempts to eliminate or modify it in one way or another.

Americans are resilient as our Phoenix-like reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strike on our homeland proved. Americans are often easy to dispirit but hard to kill. We fought through domestic crises like the great recession of 2007 and the attendant housing crisis. We sucked it up and continued the march through the COVID pandemic, and stats indicate we live longer and better lives than our grandparents did.

Americans in the society that nurtures them are intelligent and inventive. The next time an urge to cry the poor posterior strikes, check the record of American achievements. We invented lots of important stuff such as the airplane, the telephone, the automobile, and the internet. Don’t even get me started on music, movies, fashion, and social trends that are exported and avidly adopted around the world.

America still attracts worldwide talent because our country offers opportunities like no other nation on earth. The US dollar remains the world’s reserve currency. That’s a reassuring fact even for those citizens who complain they don’t have enough of those dollars when they need them. Our country offers financial, health, and safety nets that are the envy of nations around the globe. It’s good to be an American in a country where even the most destitute still have a shot.

I think a lot about this stuff—and so should you—when we endure intrusive political campaigns like the one we just survived. We are fortunate people privileged to live in a great country. And the end of that is nowhere near our national horizon—no matter what the politicians and pundits try to tell us. That’s the truth, folks. Believe it. And take a cue from The Dude who recommends we relax, be tolerant of others, remain calm in times of trouble, and encourage others to do the same. It’s the American way.

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