KOLUMNI MANY PEOPLE RECOGNIZE how ‘polarized’ America has become. Perhaps you’ve read about that in my previous columns here in the SAM Magazine. On the one hand, it’s true. Washington’s politicians are so divided that nearly nothing gets done in the U.S. Congress. On the other hand, disagreements in Americans’ political views are not new. Differences that are nowadays roadblocks have existed for decades. So, what’s changed? Mean streets of America Finland has remained consistently number one in happiness for seven years in a row while the United States has dropped out of even the top twenty. That’s a big difference and a major change. According to New York Times columnist and author David Brooks, as well as many others, the underlying explanation is that Americans are angrier, and America has gotten meaner. Political discourse is less civil. Debates have become “If that’s what they say, I will say the exact opposite”. It’s not about the issues, it’s about winning and screwing the other side. But it’s not only politics that’s gotten nasty. Daily life in America is less kind than it used to be. Statistics show it’s true The numbers prove how tough it is. Depression, addiction, suicide, and other mental health crises are escalating exponentially. Less than half of Americans give to charity even though more than two-thirds did in the past. Civic groups and churches are dissolving. Large employers undermine unions. Nurses, teachers, police, and firefighters are changing careers because of violence against them. Developments among young Americans are discouraging. College students favor business and entertainment courses over social sciences, humanities, and hard sciences. In 1967, 85% of them said that they were “strongly motivated to develop a meaningful philosophy of life.” By 2015, 80% said money is their primary goal. Social media traps them into broadcasting inaccurate virtual portrayals of their lives for the temporary and transactional use of others to ‘like’ their sham persona in cyberspace, regardless of how mean that’s become. Other measures of anger are seen in statistics about distrust. They show that Americans have lost trust in their political institutions, especially their government in Washington. Unsurprisingly, Americans have also lost trust in each other. Two generations ago, in research that asked people: “Do you trust the people around you?” 60% said they were generally trustworthy. That’s down to 30% and even lower among younger people. Appropriate anger in America Tom A. Lippo is a Finnish-speaking American lawyer. Educated at Yale, the University of Jyväskylä and Stanford Law School, he is the founder of FACT LAW, an international law firm established in 1985. FACT is the first law firm with offices in both Finland and the United States. Tom has been a lawyer in Washington, DC based on Capitol Hill for over 40 years. 14 | SAM MAGAZINE 2/24
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