I think all of us- left, right and center within the political spectrum- can agree:
There's a lot of work to be done in this country. Things, as they are, are not as they could be for many of us. Arguably not as they should or ought to be.
And changing them is going to take time. Something our impatient society is not very good at granting.
One thing, however, we can change immediately. Right now. Right here. We can start it and kick it out in an ever expanding circle.
We can change the miserable level of political discourse in this country.
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I have listened to people from the left, and from the right. To Democrats and Republicans, hard core and the so called mushy middle.
And in common..?
An astounding lack of respect for opposite viewpoints- for even the idea of opposite viewpoints. A rock-ribbed certainty that our side- whatever side it is- is absolutely right, cannot possibly be wrong, and that those who oppose us are not just wrong, but bad.
They are the "un": Un-American, unchristian, unfair, unworthy.
Un "us".
So, you know, they can't possibly have any thought or idea worth considering.
They are, instead, deserving of nothing but scorn and derision and constant, instinctive opposition.
Which makes things all about position and posture and... getting yours and screwing those evil bastards, the un, on the other side.
And so. Rather than discussions- reasonable, if passionate discussions between people who should be united in their obvious care for and about this country...
We get bickering and point keeping and non thinking, knee jerking acts of vengeance.
A Democrat is elected president- and a certain loud portion of Republicans attack every thing that's ever been said, done or considered- before this president ever takes office.
Why?
Because they treated the last Republican president just so.
A Republican is elected president? A loud portion of Democrats rear back and attack everything they can find- before that president ever takes office.
Why?
Because they treated the last Democratic president just so.
This is not about criticism. The public retains the right to criticise our leaders- justly or unjustly. Complaints are part of the process, after all. The proper reaction of an often ill used governed to their often ill using government.
This is about bitching. Bitching is not concerned, say, with the reasons why someone might not have been all too thrilled with any particular president. It is not concerned with reasoned discourse. Bitching is just a raw reaction to a perceived slight.
Not necessarily even an actual slight, a real slight, but one that has merely been perceived.
And I believe that this level of discourse- to which our entire nation appears to have fallen- does incredible harm to all of us.
See. There's no room for possibility in this, for experiment. For testing our own beliefs against those held by others and discovering the truth in them.
There's only room for anger and inflexibility and jingoism. Only room for rote belief and regurgitation without examination.
Every election, we have a chance to end this. To change things- broaden things. And, every election, we have failed. Sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.
And- slowly- over 44 elections- things have degraded to the point where politics is mere posturing. Where more than half the people not only refuse to believe in their leaders, they refuse to even try.
This time?
Let's resist the call to avenge ourselves on one another.
Let's resist invective and treat one another with the respect we ought to have.
Whether you're pleased with the new president or not. Whether you hated the last guy or loved him...
Remember... we all love this country. We all want the best for ourselves and for our fellows.
We may disagree on how to best achieve that.
But the disagreement should not be fatal. And it should not so bind us that opportunities are discarded, abandoned to the invective.
Ever disagree with your best friend- just think she or he was wa-a-ay off base, incredibly, bone-headedly wrong?
In most cases, that doesn't stop then from being your friend. Doesn't stop you from loving them.
Instead... you work it out. Compromise, agree to disagree- find some path agreeable to both.
Same thing here.
So. Please, everyone. Resist the urge to gloat, or to vent your frustration. Concentrate, instead, on where we all go from here, Where we all can go from here. And how we all have to go.
Which is.. together.