We The People...
It strikes me as odd that many so called 'patriots' camp on the fringes of the left and right and hurl unfounded charges, opinions and vitriol at those that do not share there parochial view of the world. One group doesn't just hate Clinton, they despise the man. The other group paints Republicans and Bush as 'evil', taking food from children's mouths and robbing senior citizens. How does this mutually assured destruction advance our democracy? I would submit that our current leaders are so flawed because the people they serve are. Our leaders reflect the polarization in the country. This is what happens when the information is controlled, disparate voices are marginalized, complex issues are reduced to simplistic battle cries. It demeans all of us individually and as a great nation.
Are we all so weak and afraid that we have to scream each other down in the media, on the political stage and in the streets? Does it truly serve democracy when one side is said to be 'arming themselves' in preparation for a bloodbath if a statistically tied election doesn't go a certain way. (Is it any wonder 'gun control' advocates have appeared.) How did the public discourse dissolve into 'my way or the highway'. Does anyone care that the vast majority of America sits squarely in the middle of the road. Who speaks for them?
I can bring up articles and pundits supporting everything from assertions of 'alien' control of the one world government to forced vegetarianism to 'save the planet'. While some decry our hopelessly flawed legal system, they use the same adversarial tactics of vilification, marginalization and simplification that the legal system engenders. In other words, many say they hate the lawyers, then use the very same adversarial tactics themselves. It's like one giant OJ trial.
This country was formed by the people accepting the right to be governed by the people. There is nothing in the Constitution that calls for hatred, anger and threats of calamity to move the public debate. We must debate ideas and principles with a full awareness that both sides have an element of truth. We are not separated by our ideas, we are bound together by our will to express them. This is America's true strength, not its omnipotent military machine or its dominant economic position. This is the place where men and women of all cultures came to conduct a grand experiment in freedom of thought. But this is now threatened by a people who vilify and trivialize not only ideas, but the people who express them.
We are always at a crossroads in America. We need each other to survive. We call upon this country in times of crisis to rise above petty discourse and bigotry to the greater calling of the Nation. This is the sad thing that is being lost here by both sides.
When all is said and done, will we as a Nation be proud of what we say and do here, how we comport ourselves? The early returns are in and it doesn't look promising...
It's a landslide victory for hate...
Q |
