Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Lost Common Ground

I promised myself I would not dip my toes into the political opinion arena anymore.  All it ever got me was increased blood pressure and an uncomfortable tightening of the sphincter in my ass.  That is one major reason I stopped blogging for so long.  But we are who we are and to deny to ourselves who we are can have similar negative effects.

I have been back online now for about a month I guess.  I have fallen back into old routines.  I try to write every day now.  I visit old friends' blogs and attempt to visit new ones.  Unfortunately like before, I am drawn to blogs with balls.  That is, blogs that have opinions with no apologies.  I do not have to agree, but I do respect folks who are not wishy-washy.

Since I have been back and touring the poli-opinion landscape as seen from both the Right and the Left, I have been impressed by how much more divided the two are now than they were even a year ago.  It seems the chasm has grown so wide, the two will never come together.  It has gotten to the point when one proposes something, the other does not even look at it, they just oppose it because it was born on the wrong side of the fence.  I have gotten on board myself with my total disgust with the Right.

Finding common ground on anything seems impossible.  Yet, that is exactly what we have to do.  Bury the big differences for awhile and attend to areas where agreement is possible.  I am afraid though we aren't quite ready yet.

It will come.  It always does.  Our country has been like this many times in the past and we worked through it.  Life is a cycle, so is the world politic.

Keep it 'tween the ditches..............................................

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have given up on politics. Most of the players are bought and paid for already, and the rest have very little power. I am glad that you are somewhat hopeful that there may be common ground. I hope you are right.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say, off topic, how much I appreciated your comments on the passing of our very much loved kitty cat Bonsai. It meant a lot to us to hear from you. Thank you.

Kulkuri said...

The thing that pisses me off is how almost all of the media does the "both sides do it" meme. Most of the animosity is on the right (maybe 90%) with a few on the far left. Very few on the right could be called moderate, almost all of them are either far right or going along with the radicals on the far right because they are afraid of being "primaried"!! There are some signs of hope like the clean bill to raise the debt limit, but they are few and way to far between!!

Tom Harper said...

There are a few areas where Left and Right have some common ground, but not many; not enough. Animal rights is one of these issues. I'm on the e-mail list of a lot of animal welfare groups, and a lot of state laws cracking down on animal cruelty have bipartisan support. The general perception is that only liberals care about animals' rights, but at least there are some Republican/conservative exceptions to this.

And in Georgia, a Tea Party group and an environmental group have joined forces several times to defeat massive construction projects that were mostly corporate welfare (which is why the Tea Party was against them) and harmful to the environment.

Also easing up on the War on Drugs. A lot of conservatives are actually walking their "limited government" talk and coming out in favor of legalizing, or at least reducing the penalties for, drugs.

But other than that, you're right -- if one side is for it, the other side is automatically against it.

MRMacrum said...

robin andrea - fur critters have been part of our household for over 35 years. The loss of any of them leaves a hole that is never filled in the same, no matter what new fur critter comes by. It always hurts.

Kulkiri - I figure the animosity is a two way street with the Right just being more vocal. And like the Left of the late 1960s and early 1970s, they are allowing their fringe to drive their message.

I was never as angry at the Left as I am at the Right. The Left seemed to want to break down the barriers that kept us apart. The Right seems intent on rebuilding those barriers.

Tom Harper - You are right. There are areas, especially at the local levels where both sides have worked together. Maine is a prime example. But the tone nationally is a different matter.

Ol'Buzzard said...

It seems like Boehner has finally had enough of the Tea Party running his caucus - about time - time will tell.
the ol'Buzzard

BBC said...

Boy, blood pressure, mine has been high for ages, doctor put me on pills recently but the best solution is to just not give a shit about a lot of things we can't change or fix anyway.