A house divided?

YES, BUT IT’S STILL OURS –– LIKE A WISHBONE, BACKBONE OR FUNNY BONE

By Rick Ehrlich

A recent Harvard Kennedy School poll found that more than a third of young Americans believe we will see a new Civil War in our lifetimes. If you Google the topic, you’ll find many articles and polls about it, each showing a significant percentage believing so.

By the way, more Americans died in our actual civil war (over 600,000) than in any other, including World War I (116,000) and World War II (over 400,000). That’s a scary thought. Is it really that bad? Can’t we all get along? Do you remember when President Reagan invited House Speaker Tip O’Neill to have a beer and laugh about their political differences? Or when President Obama invited the angry white cop and the even angrier black Harvard professor he’d arrested in his own home, for the same purpose—to have a beer and laugh about the stupidity of the situation? And they did, ending up maybe not as friends but at least not as enemies.

What can be done today, on a bigger scale, to remind everyone that we are all Americans?
Except for the recent immigrants who also want to become Americans — such a compliment to us all. Naturally, we all think individually, with big variations, differences, likes, and dislikes.
War is hell, and by any measure, a vibrant peace would be better for everybody. The pendulum swings both ways. What goes around comes around.

We have such a melting pot. In fact, the USA is called a “nation of immigrants.” We have people of every skin color, almost every ethnicity on the planet. Probably every religion. Every size and shape. Every persuasion and orientation of nearly any dimension. How could we not think differently? And yet, the huge majority classify themselves as Democrats or Republicans, so maybe there isn’t so much difference.

It seems clear that the very open social media of our time encourages the most outspoken, opinionated folks to swing wildly at their (intellectual?) adversaries, and that this makes society a nastier place. Yes, probably true, but we have an open society where all have a right to their opinions as long as no laws are broken. Just go on hurting feelings. Shall we wait until the second coming? Or shall we learn to exercise our wishbone, backbone, and funny bone? Can there be an answer? We are so lucky that hardly any foreign enemy has attacked us since 1812, except Pearl Harbor and 9/11, both of which rallied Americans to feel much more unified.

It helps to remember that the pendulum swings; a political administration gets elected by the majority, but due to (your choice…) arrogance, greed, ego, stubbornness, bad luck, poor performance, changing times, they always lose popularity after a certain period, and a different party or philosophy regains it. It is not necessary to do anything radical or violent to make change, because change will come inevitably. So, buck up and persevere! The house is divided, but it is still our house, and may it live long and prosper.
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