Regardless of political affiliation, it's hard to disagree that the
divisiveness on display in American politics over the past several months has
been demoralizing. Neighbors, friends,
family members and others have been pitted against each other based on their
presidential preference. Good people
have been labeled racists, fascists, and much worse. Political rants and discourse have turned
into ultimatums: “Agree with me, or never speak to me again.”
I’m not going to spin this as some sort of political
issue. Instead, I just ask that we
examine the underlying emotion that has divided our nation so
dramatically. Before you go off and say,
“There’s no compromising with racist, misogynistic homophobes” or “Liberalism
gave us the failed product of the last eight years,” I ask that we drop the
name-calling and oversimplifications.
That’s what got us here in the first place.
Instead, recognize that the presentation on display in
Washington isn’t indicative of the democratic and compromising ideals held by
the stark majority of Americans. I still
hold that a group of randomly selected citizens could enact better policy than
the legislators who spend their lives in the muddy waters of American
politics. When we compromise and listen
to one another, big problems start to become much smaller. Objectivity tends to emerge as the guiding
light on common-sense reform.
The global media and major political parties make it seem
as if we live in a country with two sub-species of human. If we close our eyes and our ears, we may
just believe it too.
So let’s bask in the words of the ever-wise F. Scott
Fitzgerald, who noted, “At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we
look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.”
Keep climbing my friends.
