I believe you came close to the truth but then veered away from it. Yes, the nation is more divided than it has been for a very long time. Why is this? I lay it at the feet of obsessive partisanship, of the balkanization of our discourse - how often do you talk to a liberal? And if not you, than how about the majority of your readers? I feel like I'm in the minority out here, being center-left myself and reading mostly conservative blogs. Because just saying the same things over and over again with the same group of people that will agree with you 99% of the time sucks all of the oxygen out of the room. You get this echo chamber up and running and pretty soon your ideological opponents aren't just wrong, they're EVIL. Your ideas are never challenged and so you spiral further and further out and, yes, become paranoid. -THAT-, my friend, is the reason for the lack of unity.

Prime example: Free Republic readers claiming that Barack Obama murdered his grandmother to garner some sympathy votes. Not just one or two isolated cranks, but the majority of people over there who chose to comment. Here you go:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focu...s/2123979/ posts


I'll acknowledge similar behavior on the left side of the blogosphere. But on the national stage, conservatives have outdone themselves. During the run-up to the war in Iraq we were told that anyone opposed on any number of grounds was unpatriotic and un-American. -That- is divisive.

Or a candidate that refers to small-town Bible-belt America as the REAL America. Well what does that say about blue states, urban areas? -That- is divisive. (Not to mention idiotic, since the majority of the population lives in urban and exurban areas to begin with - apparently there are more non-Americans than Americans in America)

Or a political party that has been playing the "51% strategy" since the 2000 election. Play to your base and demonize not only your opponents, but their supporters also. Say they don't share your values. Turn them into scary caricatures - what once was liberal is now socialist, what was socialist is Marxist - what's it going to be tomorrow? Cannibals? -That- is divisive. If you believe that the media has a liberal bias, then just listen to the words that the candidates say. I've heard Barack Obama go on and on about "unity", and about winning over Republicans, overstated to the point of cliche. McCain, and especially Palin, are all too happy to speak of who is and is not a real American. I see one candidate giving us a positive vision, never mind the fact that he might not be able to deliver. From the Republican side I see only an us-versus-them, kill or be killed attitude, and don't dare speak to the enemy. That line makes you paranoid, and ultimately turns you into a party of Bircher cranks if you don't tone it down and open up a little.

Barack Obama speaks often of the need for "a new kind of politics", one in which we can attack our opponents' ideas without attacking their good nature. I believe he means it, you may disagree and call it happy talk, but the mere fact that he's saying it loudly and often matters. He's asking his supporters, more or less his half of the country to be civil, be respectful of the half that will never vote for him.

Now which candidate is least divisive here?

In a spirit of unity, I'll offer the one idea that I believe can bridge the gap when we have differing political philosophies.

Positive liberty and negative liberty.

I won't make this screed any longer by explaining it, if anyone's not familiar with them then it should be wiki-able. I just think that both political impulses are necessary, and only work when there's a modesty, an adult sense of respect towards those you disagree with. Conservativism unchecked, in its raw, limited-government ideal would lead to the end of public education, of clean water, of public highways. Just the same, liberalism run amok actually -would- tend towards socialism - we just have to disagree when you say that anything on the Democratic platform right now is that far collectivist, when the dreaded tax hike Obama is proposing is nothing more than not renewing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy enacted only 7 years ago. I happen to believe that if the Democratic party is socialist, then by that standard so are public libraries, Medicare, Social Security, and the minimum-wage. In other words, well within the fabric of American society and traditions.

I'll rest my case and leave you all to it. Cheers, you bunch of fascist bible-thumping goons, I'll just run along back to my Code Pink cell and resume planning for the coming communist re-education camps. (joking!)
d. travers | 11.04.08 - 7:04 am | #

Once again, a troll, in the process of trying to refute something actually admitted to it.

Simply amazing.

It works every time.

Oh. Wait. When you see me over at the Free Republic, then and only then can you whine about the Freepers to me. OK?

Moron.
Snooper | Homepage | 11.04.08 - 7:23 am | #

Wow. You utterly missed the point. I wasn't whining about the Freepers - I was pointing to them as one example of what happens when you get an echo chamber up and running, when partisanship gets out of hand. You found one objectionable line in a much longer post that directly addressed what you originally wrote about - the divisiveness in our polity. One in which I also directly -acknowledged the value of your own conservative ideas-.

For that, I'm a moron. Here's a clue: ad hominem = piss-poor argument and critical thinking skills.

You might want to ask yourself again whether you really care about the dangers of "A Nation Divided".
d. travers | 11.04.08 - 7:38 am | #

Sorry the point was missed by your holier than thou idiocy.

Comments sections are not for blog posts. Reading your drivel explains why non one reads your crap.

Moron.
Snooper | Homepage | 11.04.08 - 8:05 am | #

You didn't refute a single one of my assertions. Didn't even try. You just insulted a stranger over the internet. I guess it's a lot better to only talk to people you already agree with.

Two words for you: intellectual cowardice.


Out.
d. travers | 11.04.08 - 8:12 am | #

I wrote the post moron.

You have to refute what I wrote and not the other way around.

Moron.
Snooper | Homepage | 11.04.08 - 8:33 am | #

I did exactly that. At length. You didn't return the serve.

Your shit is weak.
d. travers | 11.04.08 - 8:42 am | #

No fool. You wrote a book.

Your shit is retarded just like a troll would be.

Read the rules dummy.

Clue: substantiation.
Snooper | Homepage | 11.04.08 - 8:56 am | #

You know Snooper I am firmly convinced now that there are 2 types of voters for nobama.
There are those who know what he is, what his agenda is and want it.
Then there are those who are just plain unconscious; aided and abeted by the morons at ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and a host of left wing nutter newspapers.

The problem with the latter is that some of them will wake up from the nobama nightmare soon after his election only to realize that he isn't going to pay their mortgages or put gas in their cars for free or keep them safe or any of the other damn lies they spew.
They are going to realize they still have to work and pay taxes like the rest of us, only their paychecks are going to have less for them to take home to feed their families or pay their bills with.

How any thinking, reasonable, intelligent citizen can vote for nobama or any leftist democrat for that matter is absolutely beyond my understanding.

They swallow the Koolaid handed out by the lame stream media and get the warm-fuzzies. Reality for these folks will be devastating if they ever wake up.
Dean | 11.04.08 - 6:27 pm | #

Czarbie is a mesmerizing entity and has the uncanny knack of fooling the emotionally weak.

We have seen others of his kind thru history.

We have much work to do my friend.
Snooper | Homepage | 11.05.08 - 5:18 am | #

Indeed we do Snooper. The war isn't over yet.

We may have lost this battle but there are many more to come.
Dean | 11.05.08 - 12:10 pm | #

Trolls. They do a marksman good.
Snooper | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 9:16 am | #