[July 24, 2014] Military commanders know that they are personally responsible for what does or does not happen inside their unit and also in “unit cohesiveness”. Leadership at all levels means building and maintaining teams, building and maintaining a togetherness, a cohesiveness that allows the group to accomplish things far greater than any individual can accomplish. The worst thing a commander can be told is that their unit does not act as a cohesive whole. This is why our political leadership was shocked to hear that most voters believe that we have a more divided nation.
U.S. Army soldiers running in formation at Fort Carson, CO. Formation runs are part of unit cohesiveness building.
A Rasmussen Report1 released yesterday found that 67% of voters believe the United States is a more divided nation than four years ago. Just 7% think it is less divided. Most voters blame equally President Obama and Republicans in Congress. The good news is this division is motivating more to vote in upcoming elections.
This is not the first time the nation was so politically divided. It occurred in the 1850s and eventually led to the U.S. Civil War and in the 1960s that lead to riots and large-scale arrests. Not to imply another civil war or violence will occur; that is highly unlikely. But what it does mean is that those divisions will cause significant economic and social disruption. This will be a drag on the economy and we are seeing it with high unemployment rates, in particular among the minority populations. This will aggregate the division among us.
“Doing something about it” means addressing the root causes of the reasons why we have a more divided nation. Many would rather address the symptoms of a divided nation and the causes. The first thing that needs to be is to tone down the vitriolic rhetoric and to improve our attitudes. Then there needs to be a discussion about values. From the values discovery process, a less divided nation will emerge. Is this difficult? Well, yes and so difficult that it is not being done. At least, not yet. Will there be a leader emerge from this unpleasant situation?
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