Will things ever return to the way they were?

Sitting on the porch on a Sunday afternoon, I was reminded of times gone by when after Sunday church and after lunch, there was time to visit with friends and family.

There were four of us longtime friends. After catching up, one remarked about how rapidly things were changing. Was there ever a time in our lives when so many changes were made so quickly?

One of the quartet asked a question that has nagged me since. She asked, “Do you think we will ever return to the way things were before?”

The questioner made no pretense of liking the president, the current administration or what was being done. Recent polls affirm she isn’t alone.

The CNN Poll of polls reports that as of July 30^th President Trump had an approval rating of just 41 percent. 57 percent disapproved of the job he is doing in his second administration. How do North Carolinians feel?

There isn’t much recent North Carolina polling, but the latest two we’ve seen are a Meredith College Poll from April and a Carolina Journal poll from May. The Meredith poll reports that 60 percent think the country is headed in the wrong direction; only 32 percent think it is headed in the right course. 42 percent thought North Carolina was headed in the right direction; however, an equal number thought our state was going wrong. Regarding Trump, 41 percent approved of his presidency, 52 percent disapproved. The Carolina Journal poll had 45 percent approving of Trump’s performance and 55 percent disapproved.

It's not just the hot weather that has made us grumpy and disenchanted. And our angst is not just coming from Washington.

Government operates by “the consent of the governed.” If the people don’t consent, they can theoretically change elected representatives and philosophy at the ballot box. But reality is harder to achieve than theory. The legislature of North Carolina, called, “the People’s Assembly,” but due to some of the most egregious gerrymandering in the country a minority of voters has elected the 170 mostly white, retired, wealthy men, who ascend into power. And because we don’t have term limits, they can remain in power just about as long as they want.

Our legislature has inserted and taken control of most aspects of state government. The Executive Branch, already headed by the weakest governor in the nation, has seen its power diminished and weakened to the point where our state’s chief executive is little more than an administrator who has little input into making policies and laws. And the General Assembly’s unprecedented power grab extends to most every aspect of our lives.

The promise and hope our founders advanced when creating America has been our guiding star. And while we have never lived into the reality of those aspirations, we have strived to achieve them. A nation of optimists, we always believed better times were ahead. The polls cited above reflect that we have become a disillusioned and pessimistic people.

Not too long-ago when a government official or elected representative told you something it could be trusted. We believed they had our best interests at heart. But situational truth is what we often get today.  Facts are fungible and slanted based on who is doing the telling.  Public trust has been breached. We don’t know who or what to trust.

The common good has become an antiquated concept. Those in majority control decide the rights, freedoms and benefits to be enjoyed by those they choose. Charity toward others, fairness and equality are old-fashioned concepts. We celebrate billionaires far more than those who are devoted to serve others

In the Pledge of Allegiance, we speak of “liberty and justice for all,” but to many they are just a bunch of words said by rote, but which we don’t really espouse. Once we strived for unity, believing our strength depended on our being united. Today, partisan divisiveness prevails. The nation we live in today is hardly recognizable from the one we grew up in.

The front-porch question asked about whether things will ever return to the way they were is extremely relevant. And the immediate answer is NO.

Even though we have seen cataclysmic changes just this year, it will take a long time, if ever, being restored. But for this restoration to happen a mighty effort will be required. If we truly want a restoration more will be required than porch-sitting conversation. This will be an “all hands on deck” effort.  We will all have work to do. Our ancestors did it. So must we.

JFK is given credit for asking a question of his time: “If not now, when? If not us, who?”

Those are questions we need asking and answering today.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com