We are in trouble if…
We, as a society, are in trouble if Rousseau is right about this:
…the manner in which public affairs are conducted gives a sufficiently accurate indication of the moral character and the state of health of the body politic. The greater harmony that reignes in the public assemblies, the more, in other words, that public opinion approaches unanimity, the more the general will is dominant; whereas long debates, dissensions and disturbances bespeak the ascendance of particular interests and the decline of the state. (bk IV, ch 2 of The Social Contract)
Rousseau does seem to underestimate the value of vigorous argument; perhaps it can be a sign of health in a democracy, part of the way that public reason works.
But that will presumably be so only within the bounds of civility–in which case we are still in big trouble.
