Societies need ‘Queen-like’ glue

“Enough with the Queen!” By Monday morning, Howard Stern was sick of the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Granted, we’d been in a 24-hour news cycle on her impact, the history, the arrangements, and the anecdotes since she passed last week. 

There was a lot of other stuff going on, too. Ukraine staged a wildly successful counteroffensive against Russia; California is just coming out of a record-breaking heatwave only to be lashed by a tropical storm; according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis, roughly 60 percent of Americans will have an election denier on the ballot in November; candy colored fentanyl is coming across the Southern border; and the classified materials at Mar-a-Lago saga continues. And those are just a few of the meaningful news stories worth our attention. 

The Queen’s death stopped the clock for a moment in which we took note of how much she was a valuable cultural touchstone. 

There is so much that was remarkable about Elizabeth II, but perhaps her greatest impact was the continuity that she provided for her people at home, abroad — and including us. She served to hold up a standard of civility, virtue and service for all of us. Even for those who eschewed the monarchy entirely, she was a sort of cultural glue that held civil society together.  

Though we never had a Queen — and worked very hard to ensure that — we, too, had a shared framework for how we saw the world. From the Constitution to basic norms of civility to viewpoints on American exceptionalism, America seemed to have a shared perspective, even if just in theory or aspiration.   

This isn’t true any longer. You can see that come to life in how we treat important issues like climate change, elections and elected officials, free speech, health care, and immigration. 

From rising temperatures and sea levels to expanding Antarctic ozone holes to record flooding to disaster displacement, climate change is wreaking havoc. But only for some. Over 80 percent of Democrats see climate change as a critical threat, while just 31 percent of Republicans say the same. This, in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave in California that threatened the power grid because the high temperatures and droughts reduced the state’s hydropower by 48 percent. California could not even look to other Western states for help because of the impact of heatwaves and droughts on those states, too. You’d never know that by listening to Republicans who would rather bash Gov. Gavin Newsom for wearing a fleece than address what’s right in front of us: a crisis that will shut down our way of life. 

We are facing an existential threat to our system of democracy and elections, thanks in large part to Donald Trump, election-denying candidates, and violent extremists. Or, that’s what Democrats, most independents, and 25 percent of Republicans think. And at the same time, 70 percent of Republicans don’t think Joe Biden is the legitimate winner of the 2020 election and accuse President Biden of being anti-Republican for condemning MAGA Republican extremism. How can that kind of chasm be repaired if we don’t share a common language of democratic elections any longer?

Most agree that the Constitution is a good thing, at least in principle. But on a seminal issue — free speech — things look bleak. Only 34 percent of adults believe that Americans enjoy freedom of speech completely, and 84 percent said it’s a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem that Americans do not speak freely for fear of retaliation and harsh criticism. College campuses are one of the worst environments for free expression. High-profile conservatives such as Ann Coulter have had their college campus speeches canceled because of student backlash. Accusations of big tech “censorship” come regularly from conservatives, and we’ve seen book bans in conservative states, including Texas. We’re a free-speech mess in America. 

Is health care a human right? The health care debate in America hinges on the answer to that question. Just a few months ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his “Medicare-for-All” bill again, arguing that it isn’t acceptable that over 70 million Americans are either uninsured or underinsured. The public option has always been the best solution, and a key component of ObamaCare and now “BidenCare.” But the GOP remains opposed to a public option, even though it’s popular with supporters, because it will hurt the private insurance market and potentially hurt rural hospitals, both talking points of the pharmaceutical industry. They also continue to talk of repealing ObamaCare with no plan to put in place. 

We’re living in two different worlds when it comes to immigration and protecting the Southern border. Republicans would like to talk about our border crisis constantly, laying it at the feet of President Biden, as well as the influx of fentanyl from China via Mexico. Americans agree there’s a crisis: a majority see an “invasion” at the Southern border. With no solutions in sight, and the Biden administration continuing to support ending policies such as “remain in Mexico,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken to busing migrants to sanctuary cities including New York and Chicago. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has called the busing strategy “racist.” None of this gets us anywhere towards a safer, secure border or more streamlined immigration system. It’s another lost opportunity for unity because of split perspectives that cannot find a way to meet. 

Our deep divisions on issues including gun safety reform and abortion — especially after the introduction of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) 15-week abortion ban — are mostly caused by political games designed to win elections, not address the existential struggles we face. And while there is no quick solution — or perhaps no solution at all — we’d certainly benefit from shared points of reference or even baseline attitudes. 

The Queen provided that. She was a cultural uniting figure. She was a figure beyond party or even personality. All that was true, whether you liked her or not. 

In juxtaposition, America has no throughline. And we could really use one about now.

Jessica Tarlov is head of research at Bustle Digital Group and a Fox News contributor. She earned her Ph.D. at the London School of Economics in political science. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaTarlov.