Mending our Broken Table

Unity and prosperity built on a foundation of resilience and repair

Illustration by New Rules Media and DALL-E.

America feels fractured, with economic struggles, political divides, and social tensions undermining the promise of the American Dream. Decades of stagnant wages and rising costs have left many feeling disillusioned. Yet, beneath the cracks, there remains a shared desire for a better future driven by common-sense solutions.

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WASHINGTON—Whether it’s the partisan politics, the growing chasm between the rich and the poor, or the everyday challenges preventing the American Dream from being realized, this country feels broken today. It is taking a toll on our physical and financial well-being, our relationships with friends and family, and our belief in government and democracy. This didn’t happen overnight; it’s been years in the making.

For decades, Americans, much like citizens of peer nations worldwide, have seen their purchasing power decrease. Salaries have only increased modestly, while the cost of living has increased substantially, especially on big-ticket items like education, housing, and health care. Individuals are forced to do more (or the same) with less or cut back, which has forced them to delay life milestones, like creating a family or purchasing a home—a first-time mother's average age is now 27, and a first-time home buyer's average age is now 38, which are historic highs.

The post-pandemic years saw record levels of “greedflation,” especially at the grocery store, where, according to the USDA, prices jumped 25% on average. This rightly caused a lot of anger, which was directed towards incumbent political parties in democracies worldwide rather than at companies actually raising prices to fatten their bottom lines and please shareholders.

According to ABC News, nearly every incumbent party worldwide lost seats or was removed entirely from power this year. Interestingly, there wasn’t a prevailing ideology that took hold other than voters wanting change. The liberal Labour Party took control in the United Kingdom, for example, while the conservative Republican Party won in the United States despite the two having vastly different ideologies.

“The problem that Trump tapped into… it is a problem so much bigger than inflation for two years. It is a five-decade stagnation in decline and American living standards,” noted Kathryn Edwards, a Washington, D.C.-based economist, on TikTok. “It is a structural failing of our economy.”

More Alike than Different

Economic distress opened the door for provocateurs in politics and media to lean into wedge issues that divide us, like reproductive and trans rights and immigration. The social media ecosystem, driven by its algorithms, rewarded those who stoked outrage and fear and undermined our institutions. Our media bubbles reinforced bias and led us to believe that our family and neighbors were against us—the so-called “enemy within.” The result, according to Gallup: “A record-high 80% of U.S. adults believe Americans are greatly divided on the most important values, while 18% believe the country is united.”

Yet, research consistently shows that Americans are united by a shared desire for a better future and common-sense solutions to pressing challenges. A Pew Research Center survey this year, for example, found that nearly three-quarters of Americans—across political and demographic lines—agree that creating economic opportunity is critical for future generations. Shared economic prosperity is central to America’s ethos and necessary for its survival as a democracy.

“For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy,” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared during his 1941 State of the Union Address, in the waning days of the Great Depression and less than a year before entering World War II. “The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple.” Americans fundamentally desire four freedoms, he argued: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Despite the narrative of division, most Americans do, in fact, believe that we want the same things, according to Ipsos research released earlier this year. “Despite this enduring sense that America is divided interpersonally, most Americans feel that other Americans want the same things out of life as they do,” they wrote. “The goal is not a red or blue; it is one that most Americans agree on.”

What’s Broken Can Be Fixed

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places,” the famed American writer Ernest Hemingway wrote in his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms, capturing the raw essence of resilience through adversity. This powerful line is part of a larger reflection on the inevitability of pain and the varied ways people respond to it. It speaks to the universal truth that hardship is an inescapable part of life, yet true strength can emerge in the process of healing.

Though written in the context of war and loss, Hemingway's words echo a philosophy deeply aligned with the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken objects are repaired with gold, transforming them into something new and beautiful. His perspective suggests that the places where we are broken can become sources of strength and character, offering hope for those who can endure and for the future. For Hemingway, much like in the art of kintsugi, the cracks in life’s veneer were not to be hidden but embraced.

These themes of resilience and repair are also foundational to the American story. In his 1853 book Democracy in America, the French aristocrat, diplomat, sociologist, political scientist, political philosopher, and historian Alexis de Tocqueville captured an enduring truth about the United States when he wrote, “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” His words are a reminder that resilience, repair, and, to some degree, reinvention, not perfection, are at the heart of the American experiment.

Wars, economic upheavals, and social injustice have tested America’s core ideals throughout its history, and today is no different. Yet, time and again, the country has found ways to confront its shortcomings by coming together, even when the odds seemed unsurmountable. America’s greatness is rooted in the ongoing collective effort to address its imperfections, to bridge its divides, and to strive together toward a better future.

“Democracy is hard,” said Secretary of State Madeline Albright in 2000. “It requires sacrifice, compromise, and a willingness to engage with those who think differently from you.”