What would it take to unite this country?

[kentuck]

Would it have to be something so dreadful that we would have to unite or die?

What would it take to over-ride the passions of politics and division?

Is there anything that would bring this country together at this time?

Have the lines already been drawn?

What can we do to escape the "matrix"?

Sometimes it feels like there is nothing we can do except play out the hand we have been dealt.

I shudder to think what will happen if we fail to resolve our differences at the polling place. I see no other solution that does not involve violence.

It's depressing.

[Pisces]

1. Aliens landing

[cilla4progress]

29. My thought,

exactly.

[Mariana]

44. That wouldn't do it.

The Fundie Christians would decide the aliens are demons, and would blame liberal Christians and non-Christians.

[dclarston13]

46. There is a theory in biz management

That one needs an emergency that everyone can rally around in order to break down silos in a organization. What have here in the US is two big silos with loads of little compartments in each one. The R's have manufactured crisis after crisis in order to breakdown the little divisions in their silo. The Ds have not been as successful in breaking down their internal silos. That said now the executive branch has to figure out how to breakdown the 2 big silos.
So yes I think an Alien invasion would probably unite the country, for a little while anyway.

But on a serious note the Infrastructure bill should be a means to do that, as everyone sees that problem. The problem as I see it is that the Rs will do anything to try and prevent Biden from getting a big win so the politicians have no interest in solving the problem. I think Biden is doing the right thing with infrastructure and COVID and maybe slowly he can unite us around some common causes.

The theory is discussed here if you have interest:
"Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors"
By Ken Lencioni

[Ron Green]

58. More silos, then. 4 or 5 functioning political parties would give ideas, not victory, the headlines.

Maybe Ranked Choice Voting could help usher in multiple parties.

[Skittles]

2. Fairness Doctrine

the propaganda has got to stop

[Dial H For Hero]

5. The Fairness Doctrine doesn't apply to cable.

[SoCalDavidS]

4. Something So Dreadful?

Like a once in 100 Year Virus?

[Mister Ed]

17. Or galloping climate change? n/t

[lagomorph777]

49. Yeah, no amount of dread will do it. The bad guys exploit the dread to divide us.

[leftstreet]

6. Not sure $-making headlines reflect everyone's beliefs

The media narrative is controlled by but a few mega corporations

Divisive attention getting headlines might make attitudes appear more widely held than they actually are

[bottomofthehill]

7. Creating the nation of Dumbfuckastan

Throw Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas out. They have all threatened to leave, let them go. Give the vaccine deniers, the mask whiners , the gun humpers, the climate deniers, the science deniers someplace to go. Build the Trump wall on our new southern border.
Give people who are there and want out relocation money and give those who want to leave relocation money too. Those states are a big tax suck, they are takers, let them go. In a few years the new nation will fail and we can let them back in the union under terms.

I have fucking had it.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. And what about we Democrats who still live down here?

I'm glad your idea will never gain any traction.

[bottomofthehill]

11. There is relocation money in my plan for you.

Get out while the getting is good.

[Ferrets are Cool]

12. So? Your state does not have any racist, bigots or anti-vaxxers? Must be nice.

[bottomofthehill]

16. It does, and they too could relocate to dumbfuckastan

And there would be relocation money for them too.

[Elessar Zappa]

43. Some states have more than others.

Hence why those states voted for Trump.

[Clash City Rocker]

47. And then have no job, nowhere to live, and you have to abandon family members

But who cares, right? All that matters is that bottomofthehill is happy. Screw everyone else.

[bottomofthehill]

48. Bottom is not happy about it

But if you put it to the ballot box today, do you think they would vote to stay. They love to threaten to leave. Call the bluff, stay and behave like responsible citizens or choose to go. If the choice is go, I am all for helping those who want to leave the insanity.

[lagomorph777]

50. FUXIT: An American BREXIT.

Like the UK/EU battles. Eventually, the UK will come crawling back when they realize they've fucked themselves.

[Wicked Blue]

53. +100 nt

[Enter stage left]

8. Ban right wing radio and TV.

I don't want to hear about first amendment rights, that is the one thing doing the most damage to the US, and all other democratic countries in the world.

Rupert & his miserable spawn ( I know one of them is OK) need to be disappeared. C'mon UFO's, we have the perfect specimens for you to probe.

[Dial H For Hero]

25. Sorry, not willing to trash the Constitution.

[Mr.Bill]

60. There's a whole lot of things in the Constitution

that need to be at least reinterpreted. Like the 2nd amendment for starters. As far as the first amendment nowhere in the Constitution does it give anyone the right to mass broadcast known lies with the intent of bringing harm to people. And that is what is happening.

[Dial H For Hero]

62. Disagree on the 2nd. As for the 1st, the Republicans will regain the White House at some point. Do

you really want to give them the power to make anything they call “fake news” illegal?

[smirkymonkey]

35. +1000

I usually believe in the first amendment, but in this case right wing hate speech is a clear and present danger to everything that we hold dear in this country. Our constitution and these amendments mean nothing if we descend into a Fascist Dictatorship because we have allowed right-wing hate media and it's lies to tear apart the fabric of our society.

Some things are more important than ideals.

[Enter stage left]

39. Thank you Smirky...

finally a voice of logic.

[Polybius]

59. And leave left-wing radio and TV?

That would spark a right-wing revolution.

[Mr.Bill]

61. It doesn't have to be right wing.

Sanction those who knowingly spread false information. Make them take responsibility for what they broadcast. Make it hurt financially.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. Remember how united America was the day after 911?

Not even a catastrophic event like this would unite this country now. Four years of "Fomenting and encouraging HATE" has fucked this country.

[bottomofthehill]

13. There was only unity because there was a Republican president

If there was a Democrat, the blame game would have begun.

[lagomorph777]

54. No. I hated Junior even more for failing to protect us.

And as time went by, the magnitude of his malfeasance became more obvious.

[Wingus Dingus]

14. Republicans have been slowly checking out of American life.

They hate the NFL, they hate Hollywood, they root against Americans in the Olympics, they wear t shirts that say "Better Russian than Democrat", they do not give a rat's ass about fellow Americans except for those in their families, churches, social circles. They don't care how many kindergarteners get shot as long as they can have all the weapons they desire. They only care about Covid and public health when it affects them personally, everyone else can go to hell for inconveniencing them with public health measures. All sense of community and national spirit is gone. This was building for a while, and their Orange Messiah finished the job.

[Cosmocat]

19. Yep

nm

[Wingus Dingus]

26. I forgot the most obvious: they reject all mainstream news and journalism,

and any facts they don't like. This means we cannot unify as a country, as we cannot even acknowledge the same set of facts.

[bottomofthehill]

42. They root against our athletes at the olympics and are rooting for Covid

That about sums it up for me.

[Hoyt]

15. There will always be people who want to be the leaders (and, in many cases,

beneficiaries) in a national disaster, or whatever, that might otherwise bring a country together.

[JanMichael]

18. An enema. Seriously we are backed up. Nt

[Initech]

21. I would have thought that a killer virus and a raging pandemic would be it.

But it seems that some are actually siding with the virus rather than get the shot they're supposed to get. So I don't know if anything will.

[sprinkleeninow]

22. Spoke to a stranger the other day. We agreed this covid crisis has brought out the best and the

worst in humanity.

I don't want to even consider an unthinkable calamity such as a WWIII necessary in bringing us together.

I honestly don't know if we can be salvageable.

[hunter]

23. I don't want to be united.

It's time for the Republican Party to die.

Bury it on a hill in California with Ronald Reagan.

[Cosmocat]

24. Honestly, its pretty much over

We crossed the threshold were it was patently obvious where this was headed a long while ago.

We are the only ones who care. The 1/3 Rs are brain eating zombies and the 1/3 "middle" think we are the same as the flesh eating zombies.

[NewHendoLib]

27. COVID and Climate Change should be it - but clearly the answer is nothing.

nearly half of the country is utterly lost in a sort of cult.

Thanks to Reagan, thanks to Fox, Hannity, Rush, thanks to dark Koch and Adelson and other right wing greed money. I do firmly believe we are screwed. I feel for our children - and for their children. It is going to be pretty awful.

[48656c6c6f20]

28. A virus to wipe out the ignorant

Oh wait.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. We were united in the immediate aftermath of 9-11

In this hyperpartisan environment the president might see 70% approval

[keep_left]

31. Forget it. I'd recommend people read the "America Trilogy"...

...by historian Morris Berman. The three books are The Twilight of American Culture, Dark Ages America, and Why America Failed. They are written over a period of about 20 years. Berman only has two recommendations for Americans: (1) emigrate, or (2) engage in "New Monasticism", which is explained in the first book. Berman practices what he preaches; he now lives in Mexico.

[TreasonousBastard]

32. The US has NEVER ben united. Things like Pearl Harbor and 9-11 patched...

us up for a while, but we have always fought tooth and nail over stupid shit. Rich vs poor, North vs. South, East vs. West. Agriculture vs banks. Industry vs. labor...

We seem to be united at times, but that happens when actually taking a stand means work. Most of the time, most of us prefer to just meander down the road and work and think as little as possible.

As log as we're "OK" we'll piss and moan, but never actually do what needs to be done.

[RainCaster]

33. Another 600,000 dead from covid, all Republicans

You can't fix stupid, but covid can.
With those clowns gone, we may be able to communicate with each other again.

[DET]

34. It's Too Late

I don’t think that it’s possible to unite the country anymore. Half of the country is flat out crazy and has ‘values’ completely antithical to everything the other half believes in. I’d rather see us divide into two separate entities (although I don’t know how that would be done) than be forced to engage in a second civil war. Personally, I’m fed up with a stupid, ignorant, hate filled minority dominating our lives.

[Cosmocat]

40. Agree with a fine point

IMO, it isn't halves, it is thirds.

Our third cares.

Their third are brain eating zombies at this point.

There is a "middle" third that gets influenced by their crazy, so takes the easy way out and casts us as the same as the brain eating zombies.

To me, they are the problem now more than ever.

We have always have right wing stupidity.

But, with the immediacy and intensity of social media, and ever increasing cults of personality that spawn from right wing hate, we are a time when the country has to WTF up to the cancer that is "conservatism" and unite to put that genie back into its box.

But, again, our third are the only ones who see it and want to do anything about it.

It is bad enough we have to go toe to toe with lunatics, but the "moderates" are clinging to our backs dragging us down while we are doing it.

To your last point, yes it is hate filled minority driving it, but is the middle "third" who accept that minority that will sink us.

That is why Japan, Germany, Italy happened. The Nazis demonized jews and communism, and the people in the middle just sat back and let them take over and do mind bendingly horrible things.

[BannonsLiver]

36. Someone said aliens up thread but that wouldn't do it.

In that scenario, where aliens invade, I think people in blue and red states would try to convince the aliens that the other side is the one that should be annihilated.

One could argue perhaps a comet headed for earth, but conservatives would think it’s a communist ChineseDemocraticParty hoax or doubt the seriousness of the event.

[Deuce]

37. Nothing...I don't think the Country has ever been united!

[canetoad]

38. Dear Kentuck

No country in the world is perfect but I think the US should look to the oldest, most peaceful, most politically stable countries on the planet to find the answer - and these qualities don't necessarily all reside in the same nations but can be found in countries that follow the British Parliamentary model. (I know - it must hurt)

They sort of have three things in common - Obama spoke at length about these three features - preferential voting (ranked choice), universal health care and severe firearm restictions.

[Shellback Squid]

41. million $ question

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

45. A massive nationwide die off of Trump worshipers, due to natural causes.

Stay safe and avoid them to the greatest degree possible, y'all.

[JHB]

51. Wreck the RW propaganda machine and Dark Money

Outright bans are unconstitutional and the Fairness Doctrine only affects broadcasting over the airwaves. But what can be done is the same thing they've done to us: disrupt them and cut off their fuel.

De-fund the Right.

[CrackityJones75]

52. Children being murdered in schools?

Oh no that isn’t it either.

[Wicked Blue]

55. Secession

bye bye rethugs

[Tree Lady]

56. Maybe if we were successfully attacked

By another country, like the entire internet was down so we couldn't fight back with our nukes and ground forces were here and we all had to fight.

I think that would unite us.

[SoonerPride]

57. The sudden mass deaths of 37% of the country

Mass suicide
Brain eating Q worm
Rat poison punch

That's about the only possible way to extricate ourselves, is for the magats to die off.

Otherwise, it is what it is. Enemies of democracy walk among us.