Mirsky: In 2016, America Can Do Better Than 1968

As the Republican National Convention gets under way for the 2016 Presidential Election, we have been hearing that the current state of affairs in this country is somehow reminiscent of the turmoil of 1968.

The turmoil we have today is definitely terrible. This very week we have suffered as a nation, horrible, repugnant incidents of violence against our truest heroes, our police officers, who place their lives on the line every day for the general public. But this is not 1968 and all is not lost for America.

The turmoil we are experiencing in America today is the result of massive change in our society coming from the very top. For the first time in U.S. History, we have leadership from a President who comes from a minority group, and many in the opposition political party have resisted that furiously and from the beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency.

Barack Obama’s effective and forceful presidency and the Republican Party’s opposition to it represent a political conflict. We can deal with a political conflict. That’s what happens in democracies when there is a need for social and economic change.

The turmoil today also has roots in our needs regarding national security. We have also been subjected to terrorist attack on our own soil, and I’m talking about the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, during the presidency of Republican George W. Bush. We as a nation have not yet recovered from those attacks psychologically. Like it or not, we live in fear at times. There are some dangerous people out there. There is ISIS. We have faced random acts of violence against civilians in San Bernardino and Orlando.

But the people of the United States of America are marching on. We can defeat those who would threaten us.

We have also, as a society, suffered the economic shock of the real estate meltdown in 2007-2008, which led to great investment bank and banking failures, resulting in the loss of a tremendous, even staggering, amount of economic resources from our economy.

These changes have caused real harm to our country and to our people.

And we are reeling from these blows to American society and social stability.

We need safety and security on our streets. The bounty of America must be shared in a more realistic and practical manner. People need good jobs and affordable health care and proper medical care.

But this is not 1968. In 1968, our dearest national figures, Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were murdered while seeking to promote healing and to end suffering in our society. In April of 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a dedicated proponent of non-violence and the leader of all minority people in America, was murdered in cold blood, shot on a motel balcony in Memphis. In June of 1968, charismatic presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy, brother of the slain beloved U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was himself murdered, on the night of his victory in the California Presidential Primary. Imagine the crushing blow of these two events alone to the soul of America. And this was at a time when television news reporting was beginning to reveal that America was losing a war of unclear purpose thousands of miles away in Vietnam.

In 1968, our nation stopped dead in its tracks and just could not go forward with any confidence or hope. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago was overcome by a police riot that wreaked complete havoc on the national psyche. Our nation had lost its self-respect.

2016 is not 1968, and let’s not wish for a replay of 1968 by any means. The problems of today are problems that can be overcome. We know what the problems are. They involve the problem of mental illness that often goes undiagnosed, and in the 24/7 world of intense news media coverage of every violent event, the combination of mental illness and the easy availability of the most dangerous types of guns can lead to violence.

On an economic level, there is a lack of access to capital on a smaller scale for small businesses and individuals, to allow a larger segment of our society to enjoy the benefits of America, our diversity and our ingenuity.

Our problems involve a need to remain vigilant against the threat of terrorism at home and abroad.

There is always anger in times like these, but we don’t have to let it get out of hand.

Some terrible things have happened this year, but cooler heads can prevail. We don’t need to dredge up the worst remembrances of our national history.

Let’s look forward together to something better.