Looking For the "We" in "We the People"

Even though I managed not to mention my plans to travel to the heartland and have conversations with strangers (who I very much hope will be different than me), the themes of the trip followed me on a first date. 

"The printing press is what really helped push the concept of nationalism," D told me. "At least, in a way the world hadn't seen prior to its arrival." 

The press was the fastest way to carry information between people to date. Information was being shared on a scale never seen before (sound familiar, my internet loving friends?). And this whole new wave of information sharing was blowing. people's. minds. out. a. lot. So what's that have to do with the rise of nationalism? Apparently, it was making people take stock of who they were as a group. All of these printed word documents running around in the same language everyone spoke bonded people together.*

D went on, discussing how same-ness on this level seemed to extend the lifetime of nations, but I'll summarize his bizzaro history lesson here: Communication, it seems, was really the glue that gave the community one consciousness.

In other words, we-ness requires something to bring us together. But what would—or could—that something be? 

"Sometimes I think the best thing that could happen to humanity would be aliens coming to us. Borders will cease to matter if there are aliens around." 

Since then, I haven't stopped wondering...what is it that can bring Americans together? 

-

*Aside: Can I just say that I love first dates for this very reason? Even if a date doesn't lead to a second date, there's still this beautiful possibility to learn something about the world or how someone else's mind works.