While in the Navy, I spent some time participating in war games. We simulated geopolitical and military scenarios and then had experienced leaders from within and outside government play roles from the president on down. They made decisions to address the circumstances presented, with the goals of protecting America and supporting its interests. An opposing team acted on behalf of other nations and groups.
My experience with war gaming was that it didn’t provide answers, but insights. I became convinced that when someone in an important role dismisses a proposed action as too difficult, politically unpalatable or because it had never been done before, two questions should be asked: First, if the worst thing happens in this scenario and you look back in retrospect, what are you going to wish you had done to prevent it? Second, will any of the choices that you’re dismissing as too hard, politically unacceptable or unproven look different later?
As I watch the Republican Party move toward stoking the fires of a culture war in our country, I find myself wondering what the results of that war could look like in just a few years. What will we wish we had done today?
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I think many of our religious, spiritual and philosophical leaders will regret not having done more to help us abandon the battlefield by encouraging and practicing greater inclusivity and tolerance. Christian leaders, in particular, will have to ask themselves if they did enough to oppose American Christian nationalism. Did they rise in respectful opposition to leaders and church members who use a literal interpretation of the Bible to frighten people into demonizing others whose actions did them no harm?
Judges and lawyers may well wish they had resisted weaponizing the Constitution and misusing the rule of law to address cultural and religious differences. These differences are often the battle cries in our war. Did they preside over an already litigious society going too far? Did they do enough to protect personal choices that have no impact on others from government involvement? Did they defend both one’s right to believe anything and just as vigorously the necessary limitations on bringing one’s beliefs into the public square and imposing them on others?
Corporate leaders, shareholders and the wealthy may reflect on their support for “reform” efforts such as conscious capitalism and be disappointed that they didn’t do more. Did they really think that encouraging greater social responsibility and voluntary restraint would be sufficient to temper capitalism’s excesses? In retrospect, will they wish they had partnered with the government to provide sufficient laws, rules, regulations and institutions to encourage the best and limit the worst in capitalist behaviors?
Some current and former military members have used the credibility of their service, and the trust that was given them, to try to provide advantage to one side or another in this culture war. I think they will wish they hadn’t become combatants but, instead, had acted as peacemakers, examples and advocates for civility, mutual respect, personal dignity, the rule of law, consensus and compromise.
I’ll be surprised if many of our politicians don’t deeply regret their wins at any cost, their end-justifies-the-means, power-seeking behavior. I also think they’ll wish they had respectfully disagreed and demonstrated leadership when facing constituents who demanded they support actions that were guided by fantasy, not facts, and narrow ideology, not the shared values that a diverse, free, self-governing people must have.
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Many intellectual, think tank, academic and government leaders are trying to help us understand what got us into this war and proposing policy changes that, if enacted and sustained, can get us out of it. Will they regret that they limited themselves to the “art of the possible,” incremental, proposals? A few years from now, will they lament that what we really needed was fundamental change in our societal values and systems of politics, economics, education and use of technology, sustained by leadership and support from the bottom up?
Many of today’s responsible gun owners may well wish they had raised a voice in opposition to those who argue that largely unconstrained lethal weapon possession is a right of every American that the government must show cause to deny. They may yet truly regret the violence that so many guns in the hands of so many makes possible.
It’s hard to imagine the media personalities who are the cheerleaders of our cultural conflict feeling regret. The disrespect some of them show for truth and the ideas and perspective of others is a gasoline they pour on the fires of this war. These individuals show no sign of caring about or feeling responsible for the damage they do, so I wonder if remorse is beyond them. We need to stop rewarding them for such behavior.
President Biden
Joe BidenAmerican held in Russia contracts COVID-19 after denied vaccine Biden defends waiving sanctions against Nord Stream Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE may well regret limiting himself to traditional approaches in promoting national healing and greater unity. He may wish he had given the American people a shock — a real wake-up call — making it clear that if we don’t disengage from this battle with one another now, we’ll all have much to lose, and soon. He could remind us that circumstances in our country can get far worse, and their improvement afterward is not assured. Today, he can lead in creating the time and space for Americans to pause, reflect and make the choice to stop the culture war, listen and re-engage with one another.
The president could call upon us all to start building community and participating as citizens in ways that we must invent. He can point us to the tasks of rebalancing our self-governance, economic system and more. The fact that no president since Abraham Lincoln has asked Americans to undertake anything close to such an effort should not deter Biden, if he grasps the moment. I hope that he does. I hope he asks us to start doing what really will be necessary to heal America — and I hope he asks us to do it now.
John J. Grossenbacher retired in 2003 as U.S. Navy vice admiral and commander of the U.S. Naval Submarine Forces, following a 33-year naval career. He directed the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory for 10 years, overseeing scientific and engineering research in nuclear and other energy resources, the environment and homeland security.
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