Anderson edited "Leveraging: A Political, Economic and Societal Framework" (Springer, 2014), has taught at five universities and ran for the Democratic nomination for a Maryland congressional seat in 2016.
The British Romantic poet John Keats remarked in one of his famous letters – letters that the British literary critic F.R. Leavis said were as important as his poems – that the world is "a vale of soul-making." He was responding to the traditional Christian view that the suffering in the world made life a "vale of tears," as in a valley of tears. The vale of tears led to an afterlife of eternal happiness, but Keats believed that the suffering on Earth needed to have meaning here – namely the building of a soul.
Life's inescapable suffering, according to Keats, could be used to build a soul, one capable of self-understanding as well as understanding others. Life requires understanding the harshness of reality, and the meaning of life turns on whether you can grow from the suffering.
Keats articulated this view of life when he was 23. When he was 8 he lost his father, who was stomped by a horse after falling off. Keats lost his mother, who had tuberculosis, when he was 14. He witnessed intense suffering when he studied to become a doctor. At age 22, he took care of his younger brother Tom, who died of tuberculosis. Keats himself died of tuberculosis when he was 25.
Keats' concept of life as a vale of soul-making can also be applied to a society.
The life of a democratic society like the United States passes through many stages on its quest to become a more perfect union. Those stages are marked by innovation, scientific and technological developments, and moral progress as much as by violence, exploitation, lynchings, war, and injustice.
Historians speak about periods of America's life, including the founding period, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, World War I, the New Deal age, the Civil Rights era, the Cold War and the Reagan Revolution. Each of these periods is certainly marked by political, economic and social changes.
Yet the soul of the country is something more than the changing nature of the country's politics, economy and culture. Moreover, the soul of a nation is more complex than the soul of a person, because nations have groups in conflict with each other and may lack a sense of national identity and purpose.
What is missing in America today is not only a shared sense of national identity and purpose but a shared assumption that we need to have a shared sense of national identity and purpose.
Many Washington insiders may talk about this need, but the majority of Americans do not. Instead they are voting for politicians who support the policies that matter to them – whether it concerns abortion, guns, health care, immigration, child care or the environment – or just living their lives indifferent to politics or believing that both parties ignore them.
We have reached a point in the evolution of our national soul where we need to rethink the story of who we are.
The Keats theme of suffering and meaning can help. The suffering our citizens have endured has frequently led to profound changes in our political and economic institutions.
The story, however, cannot be focused on freedom, because this will turn into an intellectual hymn to a thin form of capitalism and very general affirmation of the Bill of Rights. Nor can we just list freedom, equality, toleration and justice because that will result in a smorgasbord of democratic ideals that is at once inspiring and not identifiable as distinctly American.
Seeking the American Dream is worn out.
Indeed, we need to rise above July Fourth orations and get to a concept that will unite Americans across the political spectrum and those who have checked out of politics altogether.
The Keatsian suffering theme can speak to radicals today who want to root out systemic racism, sexism and all forms of oppression.
The Keatsian suffering theme can also speak to mainstream liberals who celebrate the victories for women (getting the right to vote in 1920), for African-Americans (with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964), and memes of the LGBTQ community (who won rights in the last decade).
Finally, the Keatsian suffering theme can speak to conservatives who celebrate with pride and patriotism the passion and moral drive of the Founding Fathers and the men who fought in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.
The American soul will not take no for an answer.
It is born of suffering, it fights injustice and it never gives up, even though at any given time the society is divided between those who believe justice reigns and those who believe injustice prevails.
In the months leading up to the midterm elections, both parties and all candidates should explain to the American people what it means to be an American and why failing is no reason to stop trying to make our country better and to make peace in the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on May 27, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Trump met with his Cabinet days after saying a peace deal with Iran was“ largely negotiated” amid expectations around the re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
The worst deal in the history of deals
As a former Republican, sometimes it’s fun to look back on the things we — I was part of a “we” at one time — criticized Democrats for, and not all that long ago.
Remember, if you will, when Republicans condemned former President Bill Clinton for pardoning his brother and his corrupt donor friend Marc Rich?
Or, remember when Republicans wagged their fingers at former President Barack Obama’s golf outings? Or his executive orders? Or his Syrian “red line”?
Or all the times Republicans went after former President Joe Biden’s gaffes?
While those criticisms may have been justified at the time, they look patently ridiculous next to our current president’s cartoonish and downright dangerous offenses.
Offenses like pardoning Jan. 6 insurrectionists — nearly 100 of whom have gone on to be arrested for, charged with, or convicted of crimes separate from the events of that day.
Or wreaking havoc on the global economy by instituting reckless tariffs on friends, neighbors, and enemies alike?
Or taking a proverbial sledge hammer to countless government agencies that have put every American in danger, whether on airplanes, in hospitals, at job sites, or in natural disasters.
That’s just a few, but nothing looks worse next to his predecessors than Donald Trump’s supposed Iran deal, at least as it’s outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding, the details of which Trump was loath to share.
And for good reason — they are shockingly bad and humiliating for the U.S.
I remember Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA from 2015 very well. I, along with many Republicans as well as a cadre of foreign policy experts, criticized that deal for its obvious and problematic concessions to a very bad actor who we’ve long known could not be trusted. But trust was what we gave the Iranian regime, as well as sudden access to a boatload of cash — $100 billion, to be exact.
All of Obama’s provisions were temporary, which would allow Iran to restart enriching uranium upon their sunset; the deal didn’t address Iran’s ballistic missiles, or its funding of terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas; the supposed “anytime, anywhere” inspections came with a 24-day delay, if Iran so chose, giving them ample time to hide any suspect materials; and it didn’t require any congressional authority.
In short, I’d argue it wasn’t a great deal. But as bad as it was, it looks like the Magna Carta next to Trump’s.
Trump’s deal would give Iran immediate sanction relief and access to $300 billion, presumably to use to fund terror proxies; it doesn’t secure any upfront limits on uranium enrichment or missile development; it allows Iran to charge for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in the future; and it calls for Israel to stop its attacks on Hezbollah, another win for Iran.
Neither Americans nor the Middle East are safer than we were 100-plus days ago when Trump decided to pursue this folly. And in fact, our economy is weaker for it. But Iran is unquestionably stronger and more emboldened.
They’ve seen Trump’s weakness, unseriousness, and frighteningly limited appreciation for history. They’ve seen him retreat on most of his core threats to the regime, from bombing their cultural sites to ending a civilization overnight. And they’ve taken notice as he’s abandoned the promises that were supposedly central to his justification for war in the first place — regime change, liberating the Iranian people, and removing Iran’s nuclear materials.
What a waste of blood and treasure, not to mention American might and power, only so that our enemies can watch us limp desperately toward a conclusion that’s being described — by the right — as “unthinkable,” “appeasement,” and “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.