The Enemy
We have met the enemy, and it is us.
Pogo said that in 1970. A cartoon possum nailed the dark heart of American life better than most politicians ever manage.
But the idea wasn’t new. In 1838, Abraham Lincoln stood up in Springfield, Illinois, and tried to warn us. He was 28 years old, lanky, and intense, and he saw exactly where the real danger lay. He said:
“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.”
Lincoln’s language is old-fashioned, but the truth isn’t. He was telling us that no foreign army could destroy America. If we went down, we’d do it to ourselves.
Fast forward almost two centuries, and here we are. The internet has become the perfect machine for letting us turn on each other. Lincoln feared mobs with torches and pitchforks. We’ve got Facebook groups, Telegram channels, and comment sections. Same poison, more efficient delivery system. Morons can now find each other.
The internet didn’t invent conspiracy theories or hate. It just poured gasoline on them. Ideas that once would’ve stayed in a mimeographed newsletter passed around in church basements now reach millions in seconds. Lies spread faster than facts. Anger spreads fastest of all.
As Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
Foreign actors poke at the cracks, sure. Russia, China, Iran—all trying to make the divisions worse. But they’re not the real problem. We are. We’re the ones clicking and sharing. We’re the ones insisting the other side isn’t just wrong but evil. We’re the ones refusing to talk to neighbors because of yard signs.
I live in Florida. My neighbors steal my yard signs and still will not talk to me.
Lincoln said we’d either live through all time as a nation of freemen—or die by suicide. Right now, it feels like we’re halfway through writing the note.
We have met the enemy—and it’s us. The only question left is whether we’ll figure that out before we finish the job.