American at the Crossroads: Ego, Empathy, and the Fight for Our Future

Since I was a little girl, I have always seen the good in people. I do not see barriers, I do not see boxes, I see people for who they are. That outlook has always helped me unite people and walk between different groups without needing to conform. I never needed to attach myself to one identity or friendship circle. Instead, I cherished people for what they are in the moment. Whether we shared a brief encounter or a lifelong bond, I cared for them. Whether they were wealthy or poor, celebrated or forgotten, king or wanderer, my love for people has always been the same. Human life is complex, fragile, and beautiful, and somewhere along the way, as a society, we have forgotten that.

Generations often forget their responsibility to one another. Older generations blame younger ones, yet it is the older who teach the younger. The failures of the next generation are reflections of what was, or was not, passed down. Instead of looking inward, too many deflect and cast blame. This is the root of our current breakdown. When I look at the rise of Trump, the spread of National Christianity, the influence of Bannon and Stephen Miller, and the emboldening of white supremacy, I see a refusal to take responsibility. I see scapegoating and stereotyping replacing empathy.

Scapegoating is the act of unfairly blaming another person or group for problems they did not cause.

Psychology defines it as a defense mechanism, when people project their own guilt or fear onto others. Sociology shows us how scapegoating becomes collective, how communities funnel frustration into blaming outsiders. We see this every day. Republicans shout, “It is the Democrats’ fault.” Democrats fire back, “It is the Republicans’ fault.” Each side scapegoats instead of confronting corruption, greed, and systemic failure. But today, MAGA and the Republican Party bear much of the responsibility for fueling division with propaganda, fear, and manipulation.

This is a form of psychological warfare, which means using misinformation, intimidation, or fear to control how people think and behave. Propaganda, false or misleading information used to influence opinion, has always existed, but social media has magnified it beyond anything we have ever faced. What once stayed around a dinner table now blasts across millions of screens. What was once a conversation is now a spectacle, and what was once dialogue is now division.

Maybe, though, this mass exposure gives us a chance to educate. People have suffered from psychological warfare for generations, often without naming it. The Civil War was fought not only on battlefields but also in people’s minds through propaganda like the “Lost Cause” myth, which rewrote slavery as “heritage.” In the Cold War, McCarthyism destroyed lives by labeling people “communists” without evidence. In the 1960s and 70s, Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” used coded racial fears to win elections.

None of this is new, it is just louder now.

Psychology helps us understand why. Groupthink is when people silence their doubts and go along with a crowd to feel safe. Confirmation bias is the human tendency to only believe information that supports what we already think. An authoritarian personality gravitates toward strongmen who promise order in exchange for freedom. These traits are not new, but social media algorithms now amplify them, creating echo chambers where people only hear voices that reinforce their fears.

I know what psychological manipulation feels like. I came out of an abusive marriage: psychological, financial, physical, and emotional abuse. For years I had no contact with him. I built a support system, I protected my son, and I leaned on my church. But even there, I saw women’s rights scapegoated, and leaders deflecting from their egos. Ego, more than anything, gets in the way of humility and healing. And when ego takes over, empathy dies.

That is how Trump rose as a so-called savior. He promised freedom, but what followed was propaganda and cult of personality. Social media amplified unqualified voices, and millions believed them. Meanwhile, humility was drowned out. In the United States, we have an ego problem. We confuse loudness with truth. That is why even science has come under attack.

People have real concerns about vaccines, about the environment, about whether education and policy actually serve them. These concerns deserve empathy. But instead of honest dialogue, leaders dismiss them. And so people turn to false prophets and red hats. Barack Obama was right when he said much of the opposition to him was racial. Many Americans could not handle a Black president. Let us be frank: if Trump had been Black, or a Democrat, the MAGA/Tea Party movement would not exist in the same way. That truth forces us to confront bias and influence in America.

As I travel this country, walking through both cemeteries and living communities, I hear fears more than anything. “I cannot pay my bills.” “Biden’s choices worry me.” “I do not know how to stop judging others”, "My child is not getting a good education", " My doctor is not listening to me they only care about the book instead of seeing me"... So many dialogues. Not all great to be frank. Especially in the racist dialogue. That will be another blog post because it is time we stop teaching our kids racism, and look in the mirror at ourselves to be better humans.

These may be painful, but they are real. Psychology calls some of this inter-generational guilt, when people feel shame or carry blame for actions done by their ancestors. Sometimes it becomes false guilt, when someone accepts responsibility for things beyond their control. This guilt is often weaponized, used to divide us further instead of building understanding.

History teaches us empathy, or what happens when empathy is absent. When Christopher Columbus landed, not in North America but in South America,he brought devastation: disease, conquest, and genocide. There was no attempt to listen or value others. Instead, greed and ego ruled. That lack of empathy echoes through colonization, slavery, Jim Crow, and every injustice since.

That is what breaks me when I walk through graveyards across this country. I see soldiers of every war, flags placed to honor them, headstones of firefighters and police officers, recipes carved in stone to pass down traditions. And I whisper: I am sorry. I am sorry we destroyed the country you fought for. I am sorry we stomped on what you sacrificed to give. Propaganda existed in your time too, but so did courage. And yet here we are, dishonoring it all by fighting each other while MAGA/Fascists/Confederacy/National Christianity/Other leaders twist our Constitution toward authoritarianism.

It breaks my heart. This is devastating. It is psychological warfare, and it is eroding our empathy. It is hurting every citizen, even those who voted for it. Every generation inherits scars from the last. Alcoholism, broken homes, trauma. We all carry something. Healing is slow, imperfect, and painful. But healing cannot come from scapegoating, from boxes, from blame. Healing comes from empathy, from choosing to see humanity in the person across from you, no matter their vote, their color, their past, or their status.

Take the environment for instance. For decades, we have known we are poisoning our own home. Al Gore warned about it in An Inconvenient Truth. Instead of listening, people mocked him for his mansion. His personal hypocrisy became the scapegoat, and the message was ignored. But environmental concerns are real. Global warming is the long-term rise,, or inconsistency in Earth’s average temperature due to human activity, especially burning fossil fuels. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing the greenhouse effect. The result is climate change: rising seas, extreme weather, shifting ecosystems, health crises. NASA confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record. The World Health Organization reports that air pollution already kills 7 million people a year. In the U.S., climate disasters cost hundreds of billions annually. Yet MAGA Republicans still deny it, protecting corporations instead of children (It isn't just MAGA over the years. It has been all sides of the aisle). That is not leadership.

It is betrayal.

This is where propaganda wins. People are fed up, but instead of demanding better, they vote for worse. They vote for someone who mirrors fascists like Putin and Hitler, someone accused of fraud, exploitation, cruelty, and worse. And I cannot wrap my head around the fact that even bikers, who fight against pedophiles, stand beside this man. They excuse it because he is white, because he is rich, because he has blinded them.

Step back, and the cycle is clear: ego over empathy, deflection over accountability, propaganda over truth. Our ancestors fought for freedom, but too often they also taught division. They raised us to be influenced easily. Unless we break the cycle, unless we return to empathy, humility, and truth, we will pass the same destruction to our children.

I am deeply concerned for the next generation. My empathy goes out to them beyond words. My heart breaks for them. I will do what I can, through actions, through planting seeds with words, to help us think critically. I do not want glory. I want change. I want us to be better to one another as citizens.

Founding Fathers who shaped the American framework of liberty: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Gouverneur Morris, Roger Sherman. They were not saints. Many were slaveholders, many were elitists. But they built a framework bigger than themselves. And over generations, women and men of every race and background have fought to expand that framework toward liberty and justice for all.

That fight is not finished—it continues with us.

I know this is heavy. I know it is not easy to read. But my prayer is that you will share it anyway. Share it with your family, your neighbors, your loved ones; even those in red hats. Because they are human too. And sometimes all it takes is a seed, a spark of truth and empathy, to help someone wake up.

Resources and References

• Barack Obama on race in America – NPR

• Scapegoating, definition and history – Britannica

• Psychological warfare – Britannica

• Groupthink – Verywell Mind

• Confirmation Bias – Britannica

• Authoritarian Personality – Oxford Reference

• Intergenerational Guilt – APA Dictionary

• Sociology Overview – ASA

• Global Warming and Climate Change – NASA

• Air Pollution and Health – WHO

• Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth – Climate Crisis

• Project 2025 – Heritage Foundation

• History of Columbus – History.com