In 1975 the comic strip “Pogo,” drawn by Walt Kelly, made its last appearance. Pogo and other denizens of the Okefenokee Swamp were surrogates for Kelly’s surgical dissection of American society. Perhaps Pogo the opossum’s most trenchant line was: “We have met the enemy and it is us.”
Where is Pogo today when we need him most? There are many competing enemies. Nature’s pandemics and environmental catastrophes are forces of massive disruption and destruction. Russia recklessly invaded and devastated a neighbor in a war that shows no sign of ending. And China, certainly as viewed from Capitol Hill, is no friend.
And once again elected officials struggle to pass a budget in accordance with the law and common sense. A former president stands accused of committing high crimes and misdemeanors. And a sitting president has been accused of worse by his political enemies. These and too many other seemingly irreconcilable contradictions strain the Constitution, perhaps as much as in 1860.
Two enemies, however, are very clear and present dangers. Not quite opposite sides of the same coin, both have metastasized from the same source: political extremism. On the extreme left, “Wokeism” is infecting the body politic. From the far, far right, the MAGA (Make America great again) ideology has become virulent. Aside from reflecting the worst types of extremism, explicitly defining “wokeism” and MAGA is elusive.
The origin of “woke” is unclear. It is often associated with African American usage and is a variant of “wake,” meaning to become alert to important social issues. With the emergence of Black Lives Matter in the 2010s, “woke” has come to mean the application of progressive solutions to contemporary social issues. It is used by opponents as a pejorative to describe extreme policies, such as defunding the police, or the achievement of social justice by force.
MAGA was former President Trump’s populist message as the political antibody to cure the ills of a society that could not safeguard the nation’s values. Economic prosperity and equality were at extreme risk abroad and at home. Hence, wokeism and MAGA became the two predominant conflicting ideological distortions engaged in a war for the soul of America even though most citizens rejected this false choice.
What an irony. How we got here is far less important than figuring out how America can employ common sense, decency and good judgment in purging these malign influences that may pose the greatest combined threat to the future of this republic.
But Wokeism and MAGA have captured and are holding both political parties for ransom.
Neither party reflects the values and principles they once held. Woke Democrats are out to impose extreme ideological positions on a society unwilling to accept them — whether on equality, race, gender identification or distribution of wealth. MAGA Republicans have no respect for the law that does not support its preferences.
Since 1775, huge political divides separated and often threatened America. Many colonists preferred to remain under the Crown. States’ rights forced a civil war after which slavery was eliminated. Americans were not in agreement about going to war in 1914 and 1915 or in 1939 and 1940. And since 1972 and before Watergate broke, no president of either party had sustained public opinion ratings as high as former President Nixon’s.
The depressing lack of alternatives for the 2024 presidential nominations is another unmistakable symptom of the nation’s ill political health. Yet, is either party capable of selecting a contender who will reject the dangerous excesses of extreme Wokeism and MAGAism? Until that occurs, Pogo is correct.
We have met the enemy. And it is us. But will Americans rise to the challenge of restoring what once were traditional and proven values and principles? Until that happens, China, Russia and others wishing us harm will run a very distant second to what should frighten us most. Still, who is listening?
Harlan Ullman, Ph.D., is a senior advisor at Washington, D.C.’s Atlantic Council and the prime author of the “shock and awe” doctrine. His 12th book, “The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large,” is available on Amazon. He can be reached on Twitter @harlankullman.