Civic Witness Series - Questions from the Attic
What Gives Me Hope?
Civic Witness Series: Questions from the Attic, is founded on a simple premise: the people living through democratic erosion have questions the ‘experts’ aren’t addressing; it is inspired by and in honor of Adia in the Attic. Those questions matter because they provide an opportunity for sharing and documenting what democratic erosion feels like to people living through it. We don’t pretend to have “The Answer” to these questions, but we hope to stimulate the conversation her questions have prompted.
What Gives Me Hope?
I am about to turn 65, which means I will be a part of the Medicare system soon, and Social Security looms on the horizon. These are milestones I once thought of as distant markers in someone else’s life. Suddenly, they are mine. In part because I’m simply growing older, have been retired for several years and have a lot of time on my hands, I find myself reflecting more than usual about the country I have been a part of for nearly seven decades, and what kind of country is going to be left to our two children.
I have always been an optimist. It is part of who I am. I tend to believe that things will generally work out, that people will eventually find common ground, and that even when we take a wrong turn, we as a country can find our way back. That optimism has been severely tested in recent years.
Our two kids are now in their 30s. They have far less faith in our political system than I did at their age, and I understand why. They look at a political system awash in money and influence that caters only to the wealthy, creating unheard of and unsustainable levels of income inequality, and reasonably ask what it has done for them. They cannot afford to buy a home. Health care is extraordinarily expensive. We continue to abuse the only planet we have.
Yet they both have become part of the system and have done what they can to achieve the American Dream, whatever that means anymore. Work hard, get educated, play by the rules. Still, the basic milestones of adulthood as we saw them seem increasingly out of reach. I cannot dismiss their cynicism. In many ways, I share it.
My own professional experience makes the current moment particularly painful. I spent more than three decades working in the national security arena, and I know many of the people who have devoted their lives to understanding America’s place in the world. I know their seriousness, their expertise and their commitment to the country. Watching so much of that expertise dismissed or pushed aside in exchange for witless loyalty has been deeply unsettling.
Foreign policy is not a real estate transaction. Alliances are not business deals. Countries are not simply assets to be bought, sold or leveraged for someone’s advantage. America’s relationships with our allies and partners have been built over decades, sometimes generations, through shared interests, sacrifices and trust. To watch those relationships treated as transactional opportunities, or as vehicles for personal, political or financial advantage, is profoundly disturbing to someone who has spent a career understanding why they matter.
And then there is the corruption and the assault on democratic norms. What troubles me most is not simply that I disagree with particular policies. Democracies depend upon something deeper than elections. They depend upon laws being respected, institutions being allowed to function, facts having some meaning, and political leaders accepting that there are limits on their own power. Watching the unfolding of authoritarianism as each of those norms are challenged so openly and repeatedly should frighten anyone who cares about the country, regardless of party.
At this point, one might reasonably ask what could possibly give me hope. In part, my hope comes, thankfully, from the possibility that the tide may finally be turning.
Trump’s approval rating is now around 33%, its lowest level in the Reuters/Ipsos tracking of his current presidency. Democrats report considerably greater enthusiasm about voting in the November midterms than Republicans, and independents in the same poll favor Democratic congressional candidates by a substantial margin. More revealing to me are the conversations within Republican circles themselves. At the party’s recent midterm convention, Reuters found that even some prominent Trump supporters were questioning whether making Trump the central figure of the campaign is the best strategy.
Of course, none of that guarantees anything. Polls can change. Voters can surprise us. And I have no desire to replace one form of political tribalism with another.
But what gives me the greatest hope is something more basic. I still believe in the American voter.
Americans are capable of making mistakes. As we have seen especially since 9/11, we can be frightened, angry, manipulated and misled. But we are also capable of looking around, recognizing where a particular path is taking us, and changing direction. We have done it before.
Maybe that is the optimist in me talking again.
I am more aware than ever that I am living in the later chapters of my own story. But my children are still writing theirs. I want them to inherit a country in which government can once again be trusted to serve the public rather than the powerful, where our contributions to our families and our society are rewarded at appropriate levels, where expertise matters, where America’s friendships abroad are treated as strategic assets rather than transactional opportunities, and where no president is above the law.
The path ahead is far from clear. But I have not given up on the possibility that we can get there. What gives me hope? Not a political party. Not a particular politician. Not even the polls. It is my stubborn and yes, optimistic belief that underneath all the noise and anger, a majority of Americans still know the difference between right and wrong. And eventually, when it matters most, the American people will figure that out.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and preserving America’s national security institutions.
