After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made

by Ben Rhodes

Sitting there, I considered the gulf that existed between me and this woman, the different worlds we inhabited. We’d both lived with the same presidents, experienced the same cultural moments, and likely made the same watercooler small talk about Super Bowls and celebrity breakups. We shared the trappings of a national identity that could stitch together disparate states, people of different backgrounds and religions. The national anthem. The Pledge of Allegiance. Memorial and Veterans Days to pay homage to the military. Familiarity with the Civil War that had started right there in Harpers Ferry. Pride in winning World Wars and the Cold War. Familiarity with the phrases inscribed on parchment: We the People. And yet her understanding of the course of recent events was entirely different from mine. It wasn’t simply the question of immigration policy. Basic facts—objective reality itself—were different, whether the subject was what happened on a chaotic night in Benghazi, Libya, or the motivations of people like me.