Sorry, but I get tired of the idea we (the country) want to be "united"

[Martin Eden]

18. "lets focus on the issue"

Last edited Sun Sep 24, 2017, 11:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Good, let's do that.

Desiring some degree of unity of national purpose or reaching out to identify common goals is not the same as acquiescing to views or beliefs that are repugnant or nonsensical.

To give this some context of my own personal experience and perspective, I was born in 1957 about a month before the Russians launched Sputnik (first manmade satellite to orbit the earth). I'm old enough to remember JFK's assassination and how we achieved his goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960's. Our progress into space with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs captured the imagination of nearly all Americans. It was an inspirational matter of national pride despite the institutional racism and other bitter divisions within our society.

I also remember the Vietnam war and how it tore our country apart. My family viewed it as a grave mistake that unnecessarily wasted the lives of young Americans while wreaking a holocaust on poor people halfway around the world who had battled for decades against foreign invaders while trying to gain independence for their country. Many others believed the USA was always on the good side and that we had to draw the line against the spread of communism. They were in their hearts patriotic Americans outraged at protesters who seemingly sided with our enemies and against our brave soldiers who were putting their lives on the line to defend our way of life.

Were the flag waving supporters of the war evil people? My bet is that nearly all of them were woefully ignorant about Vietnam, its people, its culture, and its long struggle to overcome subjugation by foreign powers. Hell, our own government was willfully blind to the extent they totally misjudged the situations and made bad decisions. I've been watching the excellent documentary by Ken Burns, and it just breaks my heart how the promise of a young generation was betrayed and wasted in an obscene war after being inspired by a young president who told them to "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Yesterday my wife and I went to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and viewed numerous exhibits on our space flights of the early 60's to 70's. It brought back all those wondrous memories of watching our astronauts blast off into space, walk on the moon, and return safely to earth. One of the aspects of their experience was what they termed the "Orbital Perspective." They could see the Earth as a blue sphere with no artificial boundaries upon which all of human history transpired and all life as we know it depends.

How does all of this relate to the issue at hand?

Like it or not, we're all in this together. We all have many interests in common. We want security, both physical and financial. We want our children to have a good future. Believe it or not, people on the other side of the Left/Right divide are not all evil at heart. More often than not they are badly misinformed and very much the product of the family and culture in which they were raised.

To be sure, there are despicable racists and greedy oligarchs who can never be swayed by any facts or rational arguments or appeals to the better angels of their nature.

Bringing about necessary positive change does not mean wasting our time and resources trying to change minds we cannot reach. But to achieve our goals it is absolutely necessary to point out all the interests we do have in common and to avoid unnecessarily reinforcing the divide which makes it impossible for Americans to work together for common goals.

A great president once said "A house divided against itself cannot stand." He was speaking about the institution of slavery, but his message very much applies today. I think the bitter divisions in our country are more artificial than they seem and have been fostered by the malefactors of great wealth who need the American people to be divided so they can further enhance their own wealth and power.

Nothing is easy, and nothing is quick. But everything will be more difficult and take longer if we waste our passion building walls instead of bridges.