EDITORIAL: America must solve disunity

Dec. 18—Political extremism — on both the far sides of civility — has wracked America.

Former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, a well-respected Republican statesman who served Indiana, decries that disruptive shift. America's dysfunctional government has wounded the respect of our country's values, particularly among other countries.

Coats spoke Dec. 5 as part of a series of fireside chats at Anderson University, led by AU President John Pistole, a former deputy director of the FBI and former director of the Transportation Security Administration. The chats are a wonderful way for the public, which is invited to attend, to learn more about national policy and threats to U.S. security.

In June, the Pew Research Center asked Americans how they feel about the USA. Compared with people internationally, Americans are more likely to view the U.S. as tolerant and democratic and to praise America's role in world affairs, the center reported. But they are less likely to view the U.S. as politically stable and to rate its universities or technological achievements highly.

When asked about political stability, 33% of people in 23 surveyed countries believe the U.S. is more politically stable than other countries, while 17% say it is less stable. Americans themselves take a more pessimistic view: 34% say the U.S. is less politically stable than other wealthy countries, while 23% say it is more stable.

Coats connected that perceived instability to U.S. foreign relations.

"We're not going to solve the threats that may come from China, North Korea, Syria, Iraq and other places unless we join together with other free nations to oppose these dangerous regimes," Coats said.

He is, of course, correct. America can't battle political extremists in other lands without easing our own political divisions. Civility and willingness to compromise must resurface in all levels of government.

Coats opined that Americans tend to unite after national tragedies.

That may not ring true, given polemic reactions to the COVID pandemic and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The surprise 1941 strike on Pearl Harbor came from a clear enemy at the time. Evidence of a defined aggressor didn't necessarily follow the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That was a turning point in expecting a crisis to pull Americans together.

We have grown in our dysfunction — that's what Coats is addressing.

America can't influence the world without solving its own disunity.