Tipping Point: Our Great American Challenge

Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, we find ourselves at a time of great opportunity. We can communicate without limits at literally the speed of light, manufacture virtually anything we can imagine, and even change our DNA. We have all of human history and knowledge at our fingertips, and yet we are in terrifying danger of falling victim to fear, hate, intolerance, genocide, murder and suicide in dizzying numbers.

We are facing a changing climate that threatens the lives and well-being of literally billions of human beings. Reason dictates that we make fundamental changes in the way we live. Science-based climate-friendly policies are not a threat to freedom, and yet the disinformation spread by climate science deniers finds an audience in our politics. In the US and elsewhere, we find divided people with radically divergent worldviews, seemingly even different visions of reality, and vastly different interpretations of the role that science and reason can and should play in our future.

The answers can be found in our roots as a nation. The Enlightenment that took place approximately between 1650 and 1830 was a time that promoted the use of reason, the scientific method and progress. The United States of America grew out of Enlightenment thought. Spreading throughout the new world and Europe, the use of reason was politically focused on advancing such ideals as freedom, tolerance, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. All of these are under assault today.

We need to draw a clear line in the sand if we want to avoid sliding further into chaos. Science is not the enemy of a free people. Science and rational action derived from facts is what has allowed our Civilization to progress for hundreds of years. We find ourselves today at a turning point no less profound than the one faced by our nation’s founders. We must find the courage and strength to push back against those who would use fear, hate and bigotry to launch us into a dark future that could overshadow many of the darkest days of our past.

So what does an enlightened future look like from where we are today, and how does America’s experiment in self-governance find a path where reason prevails? The goals of opportunity for rational problem solving are numerous and clear, and can be most easily understood in decidedly American terms: freedom from poverty and food insecurity, universal health care, climate remediation, religious tolerance and freedom, and the return to the rule of law. and constitutional order. Approaches may vary, but it is essential that we find ways to communicate with each other, focus and agree on desired outcomes.

The recent 2020 elections represent the beginning of a long road back for our American democracy. Will we overcome the politics of hate, division and personal destruction? Will we reject false equivalencies, agree on the facts, and let reason prevail? The choice has never been clearer. The forces of darkness are using misinformation to stoke fear and create the false narrative that our choices don’t matter. The truth is that the choice we face is an existential one. Disheartening for sure, but we can choose civility over conflict. We can choose to unite as Americans over partisanship and tribalism. We can choose scientific answers over policy, and we can choose the fundamental truth embodied in the words of our founders: that we are created equal and have been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of life. happiness. We can choose in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln to follow our best angels. Together, without leaving behind any group of our peers.

As individuals, families, communities, and as a nation, we are at a point of no return. There is no way back. Just go ahead. We are facing unprecedented challenges right now. The open question is: who will we choose to become, as Americans?