Fighting Political Divisiveness

Americans,

How do we proceed as a nation united against terrorism, in favor of promoting our ideals of "truth, justice, and the American Way," unless we lead by example? When we bicker like children (as many politicians do, sinking to name-calling), we expose the weakness of a democracy - that a schism exists in our personal views on many issues. But is that premise true? Is this schism a weakness, or is it a democracy's greatest strength?

In America, we have an implicit "agree to disagree" policy, and it largely works. We have a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious society, and in 98% of the people (this statistic is a pure guess), we all get along pretty darn well. Shouldn't we be focusing on this as a positive?

In fact, that is what is missing in the political discussions presented through the mainstream media - the positive view. But kudos to the recent Dem's debate (ABC News Aug. 19, 2007), where they tried to stay on a positive theme and keep from 'dissing' each other, even though George Stephanopoulos tried to get them to argue amongst themselves. Can the Republicans keep their civility when the general election campaigns begin?

Let us stand proud of our strengths, and work together to solve the complex problems before us by applying the best thinking - regardless of who posits the idea. Let us show the world that America has the best system by empowering our freedoms instead of taking them away (as the Bush adminsitration and NeoCon Republicans continue to do).

The only way we can win abroad is to win at home. We seem to be winning here, because to date, we have had very few suicide-type actions here. The current Republican agenda is to use tactics that divide us (and to prove the point, let me quote two Nazis so you can see how the Republicans have embraced that ideaology):

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” - Joseph Goebbels

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." - Herman Goering

Read your history as "those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it." - anonymous

The issues schism between our two parties is based on the divide between the rich and the poor, the egotist and the selfless, the isolationist and the imperialist. We're going to get into a debate between good and evil (which depends on how you define "Good" and "Evil"). These traits have a subjective quality that may be debated on the extremes. But staying within the sane, centrist, and accepted definitions, we can agree that while the actions of terrorists are 'Evil," how we fight it requires a serious debate, with the best research, data, and logic we can get, with potentially no 'good' solution. This cannot be limited to one party's choice. The only way America can address these challenges is to find the common ground, and put political divisiveness behind us.

When we get side-tracked by other issues, we fall into the tactic of "divide and conquer" that politicians use to win elections. But it's no longer about which party wins, it's about what kind of person we give the power of the world's greatest economy and military force to. At present, the Democrats have a few good people (Obama, Hillary, Kucinich, Dodd, Biden, Edwards), and the Republicans do as well (Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee). The problem is that the Republican party has become too obsessed with power, so I encourage Republicans to recognize the failure of their party to remain true to their good principles. By losing in '08, perhaps the Republicans will get a reality check, and toss out the garbage that has polluted their party. America will survive, and Americans will win. We HAVE to keep the political power in check, and the only way we can do that is to fight political divisiveness and find the best people, ethics, and tactics.