The Reconstruction Era, following the Civil War until about 1900, challenged the country to reconstitute the Union North and the Confederate South into the “Re-United” States.
History gives this effort mixed reviews. The South experienced crushing punishment for supporting slavery and resented the new laws leveled against them. The North feared the freedmen integrating their cities, taking their jobs and spoiling their culture.
With great resolve, Congress passed three constitutional Reconstruction amendments that changed the course of history. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th defined citizenship rights and equal protections for all Americans, and the 15th secured the right for all eligible citizens to vote. The struggle to internalize the tragedy of the Civil War led to the 100-year Civil Rights movement and continues today as we seek to afford peace and justice for all members of American society.
On Nov. 5, 2024, tiny Anson County voted Republican for only the second time since the Reconstruction Era. Settled along the Pee Dee River in 1750, Anson County’s population is 22,500, the median income is $42,000, 98% of the residents are U.S. citizens and 40% are black.
What were they thinking?
The conservative sweep of the 2024 election has demonstrated a desire to peel off the layers of accumulated bureaucracy. Americans want to be confident, not suspicious, of our leaders to fairly apply the law. Obscure regulations are yesterday’s tools of governance. The voters of Anson County may be asking for a “Deconstruction Era.”
In November, 46% of all voters aged 18-29 voted Republican, up 10 points from 2020. The media and Hollywood endorsements could not prevent the younger generation from placing their bet on a thriving, innovative economy if given the right combination of education and incentive. Conservative innovators appealed to the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger worker, fed on the idea of realizing their dream job. For some, it was building the family legacy; for others, the shiny objects of the future, like cryptocurrency and AI, appealed to their sense of adventure.
What was once a noble effort to raise awareness for women’s rights morphed into a rant of unfulfilled promises. This fall, fewer women voted for the liberal agenda than in 2022.
The goal to elevate women to a level playing field has compromised the game, leaving young women unprotected on the field and in the classroom. The original mission of the movement devolved into a single voting issue that many younger women could not support. The hope of many to raise a family defeated the demand for unrestricted abortion.
Expect to hear more about the other A word: adoption.
Another A word: aspiration. Bill Clinton knew “it’s the economy, stupid” in 1992. The 2024 voters knew it also.
They recognized that the economy cannot function if it is shackled in regulation, stuck with a combustion engine in a hybrid world. The case was made not by politicians but by the greatest minds in manufacturing, technology and finance today. These innovators campaigned for conservatism with confidence and enthusiasm, saying America is not broken; it is disabled with debt.
You can almost hear the citizens of Anson saying, “How can I get some of that?” While the liberal media was reporting the dire condition of our country, Americans were watching the SpaceX Starship hit the mark on the docking station. Nothing but net.
The big loser in the 2024 election was identity politics. To the race-baiting industry, RIP.
The fault line of our two-party system has been blurred by shared friendships, experiences, diverse families and cultures. Our country is no longer a paint-by-numbers canvas where voters are stereotyped by color. We are a collage of dynamic, broad brushstrokes with an infinite palette. The paint will not go back into the tube. The free expression of multiethnic, working-class Americans may have created a renaissance unimagined in 2022.
The big winner was education. Polls suggest this was the biggest factor in the election outcome. William Galston said it best in The Wall Street Journal: The liberal party has shifted from the factory floor to the faculty club. Conservative values have trumped envy and elitism. We witnessed the awesome power of American ingenuity and the muscle of volunteers who responded to the biblical devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. No questions asked.
President Abraham Lincoln struggled with Reconstruction. Before his assassination, he conjured the 10% Plan, a “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.” In part, the Southern states could rejoin the Union when 10% of the people in that state took the oath of allegiance to the United States.
Let us consider a “Deconstruction Plan” for the United States. Imagine the debt reduced by 10% and allegiance to our new administration increased by 10%. A pollster would tell you that is a 20-point swing, a solid foundation for a prosperous future.
Connie Lovell lives in Pinehurst.
