It hasn't been so long ago that I was a kid, and my own sons have either recently finished or are still playing sports. We were all taught a thing or two about sportsmanship, getting along and as we got older, dealing with people who rubbed us the wrong way.
Has all that gone away now? Is it no longer fashionable to be able to disagree? Can we not have a civilized discussion where tempers are no factor, or minimally kept in check?
Politically, this country has lost its way. We've lost our ability to disagree with civility and work out the differences. "Compromise" is a dirtier word than anything we hear in an "R" rated movie. And if we don't stop, we will ultimately prove Abraham Lincoln right; "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
We need real bi-partisan thinking here. Not the kind that invites the opposing party members to agree with you, but the kind we had when Congress members could go to a ball game, dinner or theater and have informal discussions. An unintended consequence of the Open Meetings Law is that can't happen much anymore.
I think it interesting that anti-bullying campaigns are as omnipresent as they've ever been (maybe I notice it more because school is about to start IN THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST (but I'll save that topic for another entry). But what we're doing to each other when we discuss politics is exactly what we're teaching our kids not to do.
And as kids, didn't we do what our parents did, rather than what they told us to do?
As voters, the greatest hypocrisy we can demonstrate is the way we verbally whup up on each other, and in some cases it gets physical. Since when is it OK for someone to even THINK "that guy is wearing a Trump hat, I'm gonna teach him a lesson" or "my neighbor is a Democrat, so I've got a great place to get rid of my dog poop."
The second greatest hypocrisy is to drop out of the process because of all the muck. It's the easy way out, but it serves no good purpose.
Once we all come back to the realization there are good people and jerks in the world, and political affiliation, sports fandom, races, religion or any other demographic has little to do with why people are in either category, the sooner we can build the nation our forefathers envisioned...well, as well as they could have 240 years ago.
Until then, we're only screwing ourselves.
Has all that gone away now? Is it no longer fashionable to be able to disagree? Can we not have a civilized discussion where tempers are no factor, or minimally kept in check?
Politically, this country has lost its way. We've lost our ability to disagree with civility and work out the differences. "Compromise" is a dirtier word than anything we hear in an "R" rated movie. And if we don't stop, we will ultimately prove Abraham Lincoln right; "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
We need real bi-partisan thinking here. Not the kind that invites the opposing party members to agree with you, but the kind we had when Congress members could go to a ball game, dinner or theater and have informal discussions. An unintended consequence of the Open Meetings Law is that can't happen much anymore.
I think it interesting that anti-bullying campaigns are as omnipresent as they've ever been (maybe I notice it more because school is about to start IN THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST (but I'll save that topic for another entry). But what we're doing to each other when we discuss politics is exactly what we're teaching our kids not to do.
And as kids, didn't we do what our parents did, rather than what they told us to do?
As voters, the greatest hypocrisy we can demonstrate is the way we verbally whup up on each other, and in some cases it gets physical. Since when is it OK for someone to even THINK "that guy is wearing a Trump hat, I'm gonna teach him a lesson" or "my neighbor is a Democrat, so I've got a great place to get rid of my dog poop."
The second greatest hypocrisy is to drop out of the process because of all the muck. It's the easy way out, but it serves no good purpose.
Once we all come back to the realization there are good people and jerks in the world, and political affiliation, sports fandom, races, religion or any other demographic has little to do with why people are in either category, the sooner we can build the nation our forefathers envisioned...well, as well as they could have 240 years ago.
Until then, we're only screwing ourselves.