(10-12-2019 09:40 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: [ -> ]I've been thinking about the level of discord and discontent in this country. It appears to me that no matter who wins the 2020 election, we are going to end up with roughly 50% of the country totally dissatisfied with the result. Are we going to come apart at the seams, or is some sort of reconciliation going to be possible?
For the record, no matter who wins, I'm not going to be particularly happy, because I don't have much trust and confidence in any of them.
But I wonder, what happens after 2020? Can we find enough common ground to stay together? I just don't see it, and I don't see anybody in a leadership role on either side making much of an effort to find it. And if we don't find it, then what happens?
We really need the blue dogs, IMO, but Obamacare killed them off.
There were those who hated Reagan during his terms leading our nation, but it seldom, if ever approached the type of vitriol we are seeing today. Far as I can remember, the escalation in what you describe really began to ramp up during "W" Bush's Presidency. From the get-go, the left coalesced around the idea that not only did they disagree with Bush, but he was to be hated openly in a way not seen in the modern era, and that this new normal was now perfectly acceptable in the open in a way not seen before, including, and in many ways led by, the press corps. Respect was checked at the door, and it has gotten worse since then. When Obama became president, many on the right attacked him as well, but the economic turmoil and stagnant economy of those 8 years provided at least some cover for the escalated animosity. Most people I know disliked Obama because of what they considered his wrongheaded approach to dealing with the economic chaos and making things worse with policies that didn't appear to make sense while seemingly detached from the pain and hardship many Americans were experiencing as he famously golfed, laughed and partied at lavish White House affairs. Initially, upon Obama's election, many who had not voted for him at least recognized the significant opportunity the man had to show Americans that anything was truly possible in America and the country was not out to get them. Instead, 8 years of revenge combined and conspired with a terrible economy to make things worse all around.
With the election of President Trump, which was shocking to all, but taken personally by many on the left who had already pre-coronated their apparently anointed queen, the left wanted revenge and began to follow their current disassociated-from-reality path, leading directly to the current slate of candidates that are so far left of John Kennedy era Democrats that they are unrecognizable at times from America's traditional foreign enemies. I guess in many people's view, it does not help their anger that the economy has been doing so well under President trump and so many of their constituents are doing so much better than the previous eight years, yet are being coached in their obtusity (word or no?) towards the facts that America is stronger and stabler under president Trump than it had been.
I agree the escalated vitriol is not good, as more and more forget how things used to be: He's still the President, you still show a level of respect for the holder because it is supposed to be the office you honor no matter who holds it. That kind of thinking has lost its validity by so many openly in public is what is so different.
It does look like the cycle will repeat, and the better answer is for both parties to find calmer, gentler candidates who can appeal to more folks on the other side. That Trump took over a large portion of blue-collar voters was a blow to the Democrat's traditional view that they were those people's champions--yet the truth that the more socialistic Democratic policies and platforms (and its subsequent legislation) became, the more those formerly reliable Democratic voters were hurt directly has fallen on deaf ears in the Democratic Party of today. Instead, it must be
Bush's, no now Trump's fault. If Democrats would remember they are and concentrate on being Americans first, instead of throwing America under the bus in favor of people who hate America, they'd have some more success. Until their policies stop trying to destroy our country, they will likely feel their only option to win is to focus on the personal hate instead of changing their destructive policy positions back to more Kennedy-era styles.
The Republican party is far from perfect, but to many it's the only tent willing to grow more inclusive based more on a person's character and work ethic, and willingness to acknowledge the American dream, than the increasingly narrow Democratic tent striving for totalitarian perfection based on labeling and separation of people by categorization that has been and will escalate in being its own destruction. It's kind of amazing to hear some Democrats openly put forth ideas like 'the answer to their issues today is segregation', when their party used to fight for integration and equality.
