Interesting. A respectable concept. I’d say that a military trigger event is apt to amplify a belief set and worldview one already has though. Let’s look at a few such events.John wrote: ↑Sun Aug 29, 2021 5:38 pmThe word "Regeneracy" refers to the regeneracy of civic unity. It can't just be some random political event and, indeed, there are many substantial political events that don't regenerate civic unity, or which even generate further political divisiveness, the opposite of civic unity. The death of George Floyd and the Covid pandemic may have been substantial political events, but they did not regenerate civic unity in any way that I'm aware of. In fact, they generated further political divisiveness. You cannot have a "Regeneracy" unless it regenerates civic unity, since that's what the word means. Therefore, they could not be regeneracy events (or regeneracy trigger events).
Lexington and Concord: Much later, there were a large number of royalists who went to Canada. This reflects that America was not united. The need for one’s values to triumph was present, but unity of the country was certainly not.
Ft Sumpter: While the events around that time may have united the North and the South in different ways, they certainly did not unite America. Even in the north, Lincoln was behind in the presidential polling just before Atlanta fell. The unity was rather imposed by force, with the march to the sea and Lee’s surrender.
Pearl Harbor: If you read the early parts of the Four Freedoms state of the union speech, it has America already united in a non partisan rejection of the Axis and resolve to rearm. The coverage of the Battle of Britain had shifted US resolve long before Pearl. Pearl just galvanized something that had already happened.
OKC: Immediately after the blast, there was a bipartisan resolve that domestic terror should not be used to influence policy. Congressmen were running around in pairs, one Republican and one Democrat, pushing a common bipartisan message. That was well before a crisis alignment of generations, but still.
September 11: Not so early, but a little. Unity was created against terrorists especially early, but soon shifted to a vigorous debate between ‘stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’ The feeling was against terrorists, not against Iraq. The unity was certainly short lived. I see September 11th as resulting in a conservative attempt at a crisis and values change, but they targeted Iraq and the oil rather than terror. The unity dissolved in loyalty to one's values.
Covid Landfall: The gap between solving problems and small government not being responsible was split. One faction wanted to strive against Covid, the other did not. The two sets of values were amplified rather than unity achieved.
George Floyd’s Death: Again, one’s values were confirmed and exaggerated rather than unity achieved.
Unity and resolution only occurred with the conflict becoming resolved. This only occurred with the Yorktown resolution, Sherman reaching the sea, or breaching Germany’s borders. About then, the handwriting was on the wall. At those points the conservative factions finally admitted to themselves that they would have to abandon their values and give up colonial imperialism, slavery or conquest. The equivalent has clearly not happened yet. There are still some people a feeling that one should not cure Covid or reduce systematic racism. The questions are not clearly resolved.
So I would not look for unity at the start of the crisis heart, with the regeneracy. I would look for resolve. I would look for people to embrace their values on steroids. But in a crisis where there are multiple sets of values striving, I would not look for unity that early. You have to wait until the crisis is just about resolved. If the current Covid surge results in a widespread desire to get vaccinated, if the Big Lie is recognized widely as a big lie, if federal voting rights do pass, perhaps then the crisis would be resolved, over, and something like unity could happen. It would be the unity of the high, a unity of the consensus enforcing the crisis answers, of stepping on any attempt to revert to the old way of looking at things. Under the surface the conservatives would still stew, would still cling to the old values, but they’d recognize that they couldn’t do much about it.
I suppose it could go the other way. We could find evidence of massive fraud, decide that lives are not important, go with voter suppression and encourage police murder. I just consider it unlikely. The courts are disbarring lawyers that participated in the fraud claims. More people are responding to the recent Covid surge with vaccination. Police murders of minorities are down. It is looking more like past crises. The problems faced get solved.
So, no, I would not expect unity to be there in a crisis involving a clash of contesting worldviews.