E Pluribus Unum

'United' Is Our First and Last Word.

Achieving national unity among a diverse people has been the realizable ideal of the United States from our start. This essay is one of a series on our current challenges and the road toward our next nationalism. Thank you for your financial support of this project, which makes it possible. If you have ideas for additional items or events for paying subscribers please let me know.

E pluribus unum. (Out of Many, One.) —The Great Seal of the United States

In the era of social media and partisan news outlets, America’s differences have become dangerously tribal, fueled by a culture of outrage and taking offense. For the combatants, the other side can no longer be tolerated, and no price is too high to defeat them. —Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape

Otto Warmbier, a twenty-two-year-old American, travelled to North Korea in December 2015. As he waited in line to depart from Pyongyang airport on January 2, 2016, security officials plucked him from his student tour group.

Warmbier was jailed for allegedly attempting theft of a government propaganda poster. At the close of his criminal trial, he delivered an abject public confession. It was a heartrending spectacle. Among older people, it triggered memories of the brutal maltreatment of American prisoners in the Korean and Vietnam wars of the mid-twentieth century.

The court was unmoved. Warmbier was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor.

Wanton cruelty is the rule in North Korea. What was unexpected was the heedless reaction of some of Warmbier’s fellow Americans.