The single most abused, misused and misunderstood word in American politics is “unity.”
All presidential candidates vow to unite Americans. Nearly every pundit and public intellectual laments the lack of unity.
“When America is united, America is totally unstoppable,” Donald Trump declared in his inaugural address. “With unity, we can do great things. Important things,” insisted Joe Biden in his. Kamala Harris proclaimed in her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention that “in unity, there is strength.”
Such statements get to the first problem with the cult of unity: It’s an appeal to power. There is strength in unity, sure, but strength is an entirely amoral concept. Strength to do what?
Lynch mobs are unified, which is why they are terrifying. The namesake of fascism, the fasces, was a bundle of rods representing the idea of strength in numbers.