A Chance to Recommit

It is in most ways a somber anniversary, remembering one of those days where you felt like you literally couldn't believe your eyes. By September 2001, I had been in the Navy for 15 years. During that time, we had had the first Gulf War, and a good number of smaller military actions around the world, but we could be forgiven for thinking that the world was getting more peaceful. George Bush had run on Compassionate Conservatism, the Soviet Union was no more, and China was still a rising power.

All that changed on September 11th. In an instant, we became a nation at war, with all that entailed. It certainly was a different type and scope of war than we were used to - no draft, no sales of Liberty bonds, and the most grievous burden and wounds were borne by the relatively small number of people in our intelligence services and all-volunteer military. And we certainly had learned many lessons from Vietnam - Americans had become smart enough and mature enough to love the warrior even if they hated the war.

We also, for at least a few short months or years, were united as we had not been in a long time. Inevitably, that unity weakened as we faced the challenges - military, economic, cultural - of the following two decades. But instead of settling out cyclically as most things do, things just kept getting worse. Amplified by profit-driven overcommunication, misinformation, and disinformation, what were once ordinary differences between friends and neighbors became endlessly escalating fights, egged on by people and organizations who benefited from the polarization.

It is not hyperbole to say that the 2026 mid-term elections could literally make or break the American Experiment. Many traditional political actors want to keep driving us apart, but Americans on every side of the aisle seem to be starting to wake up to the fact that it doesn't have to be that way. That we can dial down the rancor and the anger and yes, the hatred, towards our fellow Americans. We've seen those shoots of reconciliation start to pop through, if only from exhaustion. As we think back to that rare moment of almost universal unity 25 years ago, let us hope that this year's elections will mark another turning point - one where we turn back TOWARDS each other.