I’m going to avoid left and right here, but let’s just run with this thought for a bit. I’m not sure unity should ever be a primary goal. Who are we asking to unite? To use an antiquated term, and in the antiquated sense, shared “virtues” are needed before we can talk sensibly of “unity”, or there’s nothing with which to bind people. Democracy and Patriotism are just hollow terms unless preceded by some virtue that enables them. They are earned, not given. I believe there are still enough people who share certain essential enabling virtues - knowledge, curiosity, creativity, independence, sound judgement, courage, resilience, self-sacrifice - but not so many that we can take it for granted they will easily carry a growing number who don’t. Certain deficits endanger the critical mass needed to sustain a democracy: these are psychical rather than political. All the talk of extreme left and right is misleading in a way.
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