A new op-ed published in The Washington Post on Sunday argued that America's worsening "spiritual depth" poses a grave threat to democracy in the nation.
Authored by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, and Ian Marcus Corbin, director of the Public Culture Project at Harvard, the op-ed contends that America's democracy "will not last another 250 years" unless the country can overcome the impact of its material prosperity. The op-ed draws on a warning issued by President Calvin Coolidge in 1926 during the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
"The problem feels fundamental; many people, including many leaders, seem unclear about who Americans are as a people, who they want to become, and what kind of world they want to help build," the op-ed reads in part. "This drift amounts to a civilizational crisis of agency, interwoven with an epidemic of addiction. Addressing this crisis will require the nation — as it approaches its first quarter millennium — to reimagine the bounds of public life."
"Our democracy will not last another 250 years if it is populated by communities lacking direction and animated by addiction," it adds. "As Coolidge proclaimed, we cannot rely on material prosperity alone. We must recover the “things of the spirit” — meaning, purpose and reverence for the good — if America is to endure."
