The Dangerous Split Amongst Us
…Why are we becoming our own worst enemy?
When I was a teen it seemed to me that people identified as having their views captured by two parties: Democrats or Republicans. I never heard anyone refer to themselves as Independent. I will represent this split as:
Democrat/Republican
In the late 80s, there seemed to be a desire to emphasize that there is a need for a third party. A more independent group that did not nicely fit within the two parties. Ross Perot started the idea and due to his ego killed it.
Democrats/Independents/Republicans
What is interesting to note at this point is that over the next several elections is that this middle group, the independents, has swung back and forth between the two extremes. This is why the party in power switches every 4 or 8 years. The middle cares less about the extreme views and just wants the best for the country while realizing that they don’t have to agree with every policy of one party. This is forcing the candidates to win the extreme side of their party and in the general election move like crazy to the middle.
More recently, last 10 years,I think we are seeing even further breakup of the parties into smaller sub-groups.
Progressives/Liberals/Democrats/Independents/Republicans/Conservatives
What is scary is that after January 6 events, I am seeing the blend has clearly separated as shown below:
Progressives/Democrats/Independents/SPLIT>>>>>Republicans/Conservatives
What is also happening with the separation is that the Republican party, as we knew it, is being eliminated. Anybody that the party used to label as RINO(Republican in name only) is not even welcome in the Republican tent. The more radicalized right has made the split into:
Progressives/Democrats/Independents/<<SPLIT>>>>>>UltraCon
SCARY!!!
I tend to fall into the Independent group. And what I find interesting is that the Independents are now the right to the new reality. BUT what I think is going to be difficult is to find any compromise that the left and the right could find. The gap between independents to the alt-right is so big that does not create opportunities to work together.
Maybe all this is a good thing? Maybe not?
I think with the supreme court being so tilted to the right we are set up for the majority of the country watching the alt-right agenda being approved by the court while the party in power can not stop it.
I really think that the supreme court blend has to be addressed and should be 4 left, 4 right, and 2 independents. That way any issue will be addressed for the best of the country with a majority or stopped at 5:5 draw. A draw simply means do not change what we are doing at this time. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to get independent representation on the court.
A divided country serves no one. Not the left nor the right. It creates a standstill or worse one party forcing its agenda and four years later the opposite party spending time undoing that agenda and forcing theirs.
The idea of parties working together has become a foreign concept. We have become our own worse enemy and will need no external enemies to threaten our existence. The military threat we hold over the world is becoming less believable and as we have seen recently cyber warfare can cripple us more easily than any military invading.
We need to learn to compromise and move on as Americans…it is not easy but necessary for our republic to survive!!! Arguing about who loves this country more is silly and not constructive. We all want the best for our country and a better future for our kids.
My four cents…
