Nearly 170 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand. History has echoed that truth many times, most famously in the slow unraveling of the Roman Empire, not by foreign conquest, but by internal decay, civic distrust, and the erosion of shared values. Nations do not fail at all at once. They falter when they forget who they are.
Today, America finds itself at such a moment.
We are a nation blessed beyond measure, yet uneasy with ourselves. Many Americans sense that something vital has slipped away: respect for law, faith in institutions, confidence in one another. Anger has replaced disagreement, and too often, contempt has replaced debate. This is not the country we were meant to be, nor the one we have been before.
THE IDEOLOGY BEHIND THE LEFT’S EMBRACE OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Politics, once the art of persuasion, has hardened into a blood sport. Extremes on both sides dominate the conversation, leaving government polarized and paralyzed. Cooperation is treated as betrayal, common sense as weakness. One wonders whether leaders like President John F. Kennedy or even President Ronald Reagan would find a comfortable home in today’s political parties.
Yet here is the quiet truth rarely acknowledged: the overwhelming majority of Americans are not extremists. They are moderates, pragmatists, and problem-solvers. They are the sleeping giants of our democracy. They are ignored, frustrated, and increasingly disillusioned.
History offers warnings, but it also offers hope. Rome lost the confidence of its people through corruption, economic inequality, and endless conflict abroad. The burden of perpetual war drained both its treasury and its spirit. The United States has, for decades since World War II, too often found itself in a state of continuous conflict. The costs in lives, resources, and national cohesion have been immense.
At home, Americans see rising crime, overwhelmed communities, and a loss of faith in consequences and accountability. Law enforcement officers, once widely respected, have been demoralized and vilified. The pandemic left deep scars emotionally, mentally, and economically that we are still struggling to heal. Add to this a media environment fractured by misinformation, social media outrage, and artificial intelligence, and many citizens no longer know who or what to trust.
None of this can be solved by slogans. It requires leadership. America needs leadership that values results over rhetoric, cooperation over obstruction, and country over party. Good government is not about ideological purity, it is about solving problems. Both parties would benefit from remembering that principle.
Americans have faced darker hours. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, this nation was stunned but not defeated. The so-called “sleeping giant” awakened, set aside its differences, and united to confront tyranny on two fronts. In four years, the Greatest Generation achieved victory through sacrifice, unity, and moral clarity.
As we approach our 250th anniversary, we should ask ourselves: Are we prepared to lock arms together and march toward a better future?
The time is now for the “sleeping giant” of patriotic, faithful Americans to create a new Greatest Generation with a clear and coherent message to friend and foe alike: America is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
This is not a call to nostalgia, but to renewal. America was built on lawful, orderly processes and shared civic responsibility. We have always believed in liberty balanced by duty and rights balanced by accountability. Those principles are not outdated, they are essential.
The American story has never been about perfection. It has been about course correction. Elections, including the most recent one, are not endpoints but signals. They are messages from people seeking change, stability, and a moral compass. Whether one celebrates the outcome or not, the message is unmistakable: The status quo is no longer acceptable.
The question before us is not whether America will endure, but whether we will choose unity over division, responsibility over resentment, and hope over fear.
THE GOLDEN RULE OF DEMOCRACY: NO MURDER
At our best, we are still what we have always claimed to be: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The road ahead is not easy, but it is familiar. We have walked it before.
The time has come to wake the sleeping giant, not in anger, but in purpose, and march together toward a better future.
Bobby Dyer, Ph.D. serves as the Mayor of Virginia Beach and is a faculty member and Practitioner-in-Residence at Regent University.