Opinion: What happened to my country?

In June 2013, my wife and I accepted an assignment from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to preside over a mission in South America. We left for a country and a world we knew little about.
We came to love the people, and particularly, the more than 500 young men and women to whom we became surrogate parents. Our experience changed our lives forever. We had little time to stay connected to news from the United States. We occasionally caught highlights.
As former President Donald Trump burst on the scene, locals frequently asked us, “What is happening in your country?” This question was always followed by a conversation about the place of the United States in the world.
Their commentary was never critical, but of sincere dismay. “Your country is the beacon of hope to the world. How can this happen?”
When Trump attacked Mexican Americans, undocumented immigrants and Muslims, it became particularly appalling. I was left to wonder, what happened to the core American value of “bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses” while we were away?
As our return grew closer, the questions and conversations became more constant. Our missionaries from the U.S. were frequently questioned by locals about the state of U.S. politics.
When we returned home, I felt the same dismay. I can never remember a time when a party standard-bearer expressed such vitriol and lacked basic dignity and humility, who, in responding to a question about his faith and forgiveness, said: “I am not sure I have (asked forgiveness). I don’t bring God into that picture.”
And yet polls showed 70% of white evangelical Christians supported Trump, and now that percentage has increased to 85%. What has happened to the religious soul of my country? Why, when a few prominent Latter-day Saint Republicans (former Sen. Jeff Flake, Sen. Mitt Romney, former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, etc.) oppose the former president, are they attacked and dismissed as RINOs?
Last week, I reached out to my friends in Latin America to ask their perspective. I received many responses and private messages. Keep in mind that, sadly, Latin America is soaked in bloodshed wrought by far too many dictators, from Chavez in the north to Pinochet in the south.
Here are a few of the comments I received.
“In Latin America, political violence and authoritarian behavior have been normalized. That cannot happen in the U.S. and it is unfortunate that Trump normalizes it.”
“Our civilization is at stake, so who governs in a country like the U.S. matters.”
“This growing polarization can weaken democratic institutions. The fact that Trump encouraged the subversion of the peaceful transfer of power has raised great concern about the future of democracy in the U.S. Latin America has a long history of coups and authoritarian regimes and seeing that something similar could happen in such an influential democracy is deeply concerning.”
“The U.S. seems more like a Latin country than what we knew before … because of its political violence and disregard for institutions, laws and norms. It’s chaos.”
There have always been disagreements over policy. Even so, I felt hopeful that leaders of character would look past the differences and compromise for the good of the country. That hope is greatly diminished.
The strength of our political system has been two strong parties with leaders able to work together with mutual respect. I fear the loss of that system and the demise of civility. I fear when a party leader says to vote your conscience and is booed. I fear for the once Grand Old Party that has been hijacked by those that are more interested in power than good governance.
I fear for immigrants who are being told they are not welcome and, even worse, demonized when falsely accused by the party standard-bearer of eating household pets. I fear for our place in the world and the loss of respect on the world stage. I fear there has been a rapid decline in basic American decency. And with great sorrow, I ask, like my Latino friends, “What has happened to our country?”
May God bless us; we need it!
David Cook is a native of Ogden and resident of New York, where he has practiced law as a trial lawyer since 1987. His areas of expertise include commercial, environmental and election law.