Doug Lowe, outdated lighting consultant, lives in Concord.

Most Americans are aware that ours is a seriously divided nation. Driving my thoughts regarding this concern is the belief that the Civil War never ended. Although the shooting phase stopped in 1865, the elements that were confronting each other have endured. We have been “The Divided States of America” for scores of years. We are facing the challenge of resolving some issues and allowing our Great Experiment to continue.

This demands an explanation of the differences that divide us. At the risk of over-simplification, bear with me while I lay out my sense of the divide. The traditions of the South are spelled out rather easily. That economy was built on the practice of slavery. It was the work of slaves in the cotton fields that generated the wealth of the “rulers.” Those “rulers” were a dominant minority made up of white Christian men. This group called all the shots. State’s rights were a higher priority than allegiance to a national government.

The North, which was divided on some subjects, was more committed to the idea of a national governmental organization. Religious freedom was accepted and encouraged. Consider the motivation behind “all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.” The Civil War was a test, per A. Lincoln’s words, whether “a nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”

I believe it is fair to refer to the pre-civil war South as an oligarchy. Oligarchy is defined as “a small group of people having control over a country.” It seems fair to ask if oligarchy is the objective of the current leadership of the Republican Party. Answering that question requires the evaluation of the policies they are proposing.

We are now living in the Second Gilded Age. “Gilded Age” basically refers to the distribution of wealth in a culture. Current estimates state that in the U.S. we have 90% of the wealth in the possession of 10% of the population. The first Gilded Age, from 1860 to 1900, displayed a picture wherein the top 10% had 75% of the wealth. That prompted a statement from Mary Lease (famous author and political activist): “Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer the government of the people and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.”

At that same time, Vilfredo Pareto, a Nobel Laureate in economics, opined that a culture is best served when the wealthiest 20% control no more than 80% of the wealth.

This concentration of wealth is a direct result of Republican tax policy. The latest example was Trump’s multi-billion tax cut. Over 90% of that went to the top 10% and corporations. It pushed our national debt to levels of concern.

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The future of the middle class deserves some attention. Coming out of WWII, the U.S. had the largest middle class in the world. There was great progress in public education, civil rights, voting rights, and health care. Emulation of the 19th century South would demand the minimization of the middle class. That in turn is accomplished by concentrating wealth at the top. The poor have never had wealth. Consider the anti-union pressure that is being applied by today’s titans. We now have gig workers and part-time employees. Most of these occupations are without benefits. Is that not approaching a condition that could be labeled white slavery?

Corporations are growing, consolidating, and resistant to regulation. The Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court recognized corporations as citizens. That opened the floodgates for political contributions, mostly from corporations. The cost of running for office went up dramatically.

Another goal has been complete control of the government. At this time the Republicans have the Supreme Court, are very close in Congress, and it appears want to return Trump to the White House.

Christian nationalism is also exerting extreme pressure on the politics now consuming the nation. One of the features of our “Great Experiment” in American democracy lies in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Freedom of religion was chosen as the lead feature of the very First Amendment. This suggests how important it was. For centuries, our European forbears had been ruled by a coalition of the church and the wealthy aristocracy. Is it possible that the forces behind the Christian nationalism effort are also motivated by the desire for a theocratic oligarchy?

Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy, once said (and may have originated) a popular saying in the 1860s: “Save your Confederate money boys, the South will rise again.” Was that prophetic?

I see an ironic twist in this. There are winners and losers. Many of the people most likely to suffer from a continuance of Republican policy are MAGA supporters.

What do you think?