Older Americans worry about a nation coming apart

It started eight years ago with a group of retirees who took a continuing education class at N.C. State University called “Great Decisions.” After class, Jean Johnston of Cary and her classmates would go for coffee and continue the discussion of politics and history that had come up in class.

After the course ended, the discussion continued in a group dubbed “Jeannie’s Coffee Club.” They meet the second Thursday of every month at various locations to discuss various subjects with a friendliness and respect that never varies. Last Thursday, I invited the members to meet at The News & Observer to hear their thoughts on politics today and what’s on the line in the Nov. 6 election.

The group now has 22 members, 14 of whom came to our downtown office from their homes in Raleigh, Cary and Wake Forest. They range in age from 66 to 81. The dates of their births stretch from the presidencies of FDR to Harry Truman. Some of them have lived abroad. Some were executives, ran small businesses or served in government. Almost all of them have come to the Triangle from another state.

They’ve seen a lot over the years, but they’ve never seen the state of politics they’re seeing now. They see their country coming apart, divided into hostile camps. They lived through the social turmoil of the 1960s, but that was about people against institutions. Now it seems to be people against people, they say.

“This is the most polarizing time in my political history,” said John Booth, a retired executive and Vietnam veteran from Cary.

Larry Tombaugh of Cary, a former dean of the College of Natural Resources at N.C. State, said he was taking a fitness class at a local gym when two young men got in a fistfight over the news on the TV.

Joan Keary of Cary said she belongs to a book club, “but the one thing we don’t discuss is politics. You’re afraid to get into a discussion.”

Oddly, the division without has not split this group within. Johnston said that when the group started, most of the members were Republicans, or Republican-leaning. Now, none are. They don’t think they’ve changed. They think the Republican Party has.

They say the drift started long before Trump.

Jim Hammerle of Cary was an official with the EPA, an agency created by President Nixon, when he sensed a shift: “The first indication I was in the wrong party was when Ronald Reagan said government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem. At the time I was with the EPA. We were the good guys. We weren’t a problem except for the polluters.”

George Brooks, a stock analyst from Cary, said the president is making it worse. “It’s the politics of division,” he said. “Nixon was good at it and Trump is a master of it. This is a whole different ballgame.” His wife, Linda, said it used to be different when, after the campaign, a new president moved to the middle. “Usually being elected to the office of the presidency has had a moderating influence,” she said. “That hasn’t happened with Trump. He’s gone farther and farther afield.”

Political polarization is being fed by economic anxiety, said Greg Wong of Cary: “This income inequality is really the risk to our system. The shrinking of the middle class into two opposing poles will be the death of us.”

With age is supposed to come wisdom. But for Jeannie’s Coffee Club the years have also brought puzzlement. Where did the Republican Party go? What happened to one nation indivisible? Why can’t Americans even discuss how to solve the nation’s problems?

What gives them hope? Booth said he’s encouraged by the push to end gerrymandering. Don Dubay said an overhaul of the tax system would ease inequality. Tombaugh said striking down Citizens United could re-balance politics. Others are encouraged by the idealism of today’s young people.

Tombaugh said of the political system, “I think it’s broken, but many of the parts are connectable. We are not doomed.”

One other reason to hope: Every one in the club intends to vote.

This story was originally published October 20, 2018 at 2:34 PM.