Really? Work It Out Rather Than Fight It Out? Here's a Way

Part VII of a series May 4, 2025

Donald Trump is upending the world order.

We are experiencing a tectonic shift as the U.S.’s role in the world transitions from unifier to disruptor.  On again off again tariffs, loose talk about taking over Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal, distancing ourselves from longtime allies, shutting down parts of the State Department, cutting support to Ukraine, all but eliminating foreign aid, quieting the Voice of America.

This is all part of Trump’s campaign to Make America Great Again, or rather America first, foremost and preferably only.   The emphasis comes at a cost.  Almost by definition, putting country first means we cannot and will not remain the global leader we have been.   And with each new move, the goodwill built up during and since World War II dissipates.

While a good many have taken us being leader of the free world as a given, Trump clearly tapped into a latent resentment on the part of the electorate.  Our Common Purpose’s nationwide public opinion survey on American values, conducted in September, shows that in a head-to-head competition with global leadership, country first is the strong preference not only of 72% of Republicans but also 40% of Democrats and 56% of independents.

The conflict is a classic example of values pluralism, the construct that is the basis for this extensive study by Our Common Purpose.  In short, we have a whole variety of fundamental values that are each important in their own right.  Unfortunately, these values inevitably come into conflict with each other.   This study of the expectable contentiousness now comes to the all-important question of how we can better handle these conflicts when they arise.

Where Trump and others go badly awry is in seeing the question as either/or.  Either we have all of this or all of that.  The dichotomy is a predictable byproduct