Why are we a divided Nation?

Any country will have divisions among its ranks. But the real question is why Americans can no longer forge compromise to bridge those differences? And the answer is because to be able to have genuine compromise, both sides need to have respect for the truth as the guide to finding acceptable compromise (as opposed to lies which simply make the divisions worse and impossible to bridge). Yet, America's political system has seen liars and propaganda artists take it to a place where there is absolutely no respect for the truth anymore on either side of its political divide. More sophisticated propaganda organs are being derided as "fake news" outlets while the actual "fake news" outlets are being used to lead the charge.

 

No, you're doing that quite well all by yourself

Everybody's family were immigrants. A lot ot the Native Peoples came to where they are now from other parts of North Am

Most all of the immigrants we're getting now are refugees, people fleeing for their lives from circumstances we caused. You're not a demon, you're a monster, feel better?

 

We have the worst liar I think most of us have ever seen as our President. The leaders of the people that are for him are even worse with all this bs about being against immigrants for every reason in the world but the real one. Blatant, naked and obvious bigotry. Trump and the Trumper leadership don't just lie, they lie through their teeth and continue to lie even when the truth is standing right next to them, and they do this because they are imitating their lying, POS god. Yes we have big divisions in this country. We have the chasm that generally exists between lying reprobates and normal people and I hope it continues and gets worse.

 

Only one side is playing this game so lets stop with the two sides do it angle. We are divided not because the left is not interested in compromising, we are divided because the right sees no use in compromising at all. The right has only one goal anymore; destroy the opposition regardless of the consequences. Compromising with an arsonist still creates a fire, an arsonist is not an arsonist without that fire.

 

Oh, you said it was free. Taxes mean that people are paying for it. Thats not free. When tax payers are forced to pay for the opinions of others, division can be expected. Few tax payers if any oppose public schools, fire, police, roads, etc. Its the excessive taxes where a small percentage is used for what was represented to the tax payer.

In the information age, the cost of education should be going down.

 

I am quoting your post, @Polydectes, because i think it best exemplifies the point I wish to make.

My belief is that the country has always been divided. And it always will be. How can one possibly think that such a large group of people be on the same page?
But today, the division is highlighted by assumptions about those who do not see things in the same way. The 'you're either with me or against me' mindset. Instead of being Americans, it appears that we are either Democrats of Republicans (or another group of 'others'). One side assumes the worst about the other. There is no listening - there is no desire for common ground - there is only assumptions and the knee jerk reactions that accompany them.

 

So do you think this is because people won't listen or do you think that it's because there is no common ground?

 

I believe there is always common ground. But I think we are happier with our own perceptions of others and treating them accordingly than sitting down with an open mind and trying to see the views of others. You don't have to agree with them, but the country would be far better if there was less assuming and more listening

 

I don't think so. Except for the Iraq war and the Bush recession, government spending as a percentage of the GDP has been declining.


This is the more important problem...


Workers haven't shared in GDP growth.

 

Someone who posts under @Smartmouthwoman laughs at @LangleyMan as a handle?

 

So there's always come and ground no matter what? I disagree I think the reason why there's so much division right now is because there's not any common ground.

 

Nor laughing at the handle. Poking fun at your attempt to discredit a famous person because you disagree with what he says. As if LangleyMan knows more than James Woods.

 

As Americans, we all want our children to grow up, safe and healthy. We want them to get good education. We all want to have enough money to pay our bills and feed our families. Those are examples of common ground. How we attain those things are a different matter.

 

Im sure you disagree. By the time the money goes through our government, there is little left. Our government is irresponsible with my money and should be reduced to a minimum. I don't want people to starve to death, but when a dollar is taken from me to help others, only a small percentage gets to those in need. They get away with it because citizens are too busy fighting among each other.

 

I think you'll find that Common ground across humanity but it serves a little function here.

 

I'm not sure I understand. Are you suggesting a lack of humanity in the US?

 

No, just that the most basic human needs are going to be common ground across the board.

So basically the only common ground we have here is our species.

 

It's a good place to start. We have to strip away our partisan views and get back to the fact that we - as humans - have common ground. Unfortunately, we now view others as 'others' rather than as 'brothers/sisters'.

 

Okay, are you willing to throw away all of your beliefs... Because you are human?

 

The subject of this thread is all about division and questioning why it is so deep. I am asserting that people don't look for areas of agreement anymore - they simply focus solely on the differences. So if we want to heal the deep divide, it will require people going back to common ground and moving from there.

As for your question, whenever I try to bridge a gap with someone, the first thing I have to do is suspend my beliefs and focus on common ground. There can be no forward movement without it.

 

well as you pointed out the areas of agreement are basically that we are the same species. And that's it.

When you run out of Common ground what do you do? Halt all discussion?

 

A peer-reviewed historian knows less than James Woods...?

 

Why are you so desperate to whitewash (pun intended) your own history. Your revisionism and denial will not make the facts go away. Slavery was the engine of the economy for the global economy in much of the 16 and 1700's just as oil is today. In the South, slavery was the engine of the economy until after the civil war. Jim Crow laws were intended to keep blacks from competing with whites for jobs even after that.

"An Economy Built on Slavery
Building a commercial enterprise out of the wilderness required labor and lots of it. For much of the 1600s, the American colonies operated as agricultural economies, driven largely by indentured servitude. Most workers were poor, unemployed laborers from Europe who, like others, had traveled to North America for a new life. In exchange for their work, they received food and shelter, a rudimentary education and sometimes a trade.

By 1680, the British economy improved and more jobs became available in Britain. During this time, slavery had become a morally, legally and socially acceptable institution in the colonies. As the number of European laborers coming to the colonies dwindled, enslaving Africans became a commercial necessity—and more widely acceptable."

https://www.history.com/news/slavery-profitable-southern-economy

"The ties between slavery and capitalism in the United States weren’t always crystal clear in our history books. For a long time, historians mostly depicted slavery as a regional institution of cruelty in the South, and certainly not the driver of broader American economic prosperity.

Now 16 scholars are helping to set the record straight by exploring the true ties between 19th century economic development and a brutal system of human bondage in the 2016 book Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development.

Contrary to popular belief, the small farmers of New England weren’t alone responsible for establishing America’s economic position as capitalism expanded. Rather, the hard labor of slaves in places like Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi needs to be kept in view as well. In fact, more than half of the nation’s exports in the first six decades of the 19th century consisted of raw cotton, almost all of it grown by slaves, according to the book, which was edited by Sven Beckert, the Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University and visiting professor at HBS, as well as Seth Rockman, Associate Professor of History at Brown University."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbswor...slavery-and-american-capitalism/#27189e2d7bd3

I understand that the only way you can justify this type of brutality is to deny it ever happened but until America can accept it's own history and understand it honestly, you will never be able to resolve your issues around race. Black people are struggling to overcome this legacy.

Clearly you are too. Living in a reality based frame of reference rather than constant denial will help you get over this, imho.

And spouting the lunatic ravings of Anders Breivik and his fevered imagination of cultural marxism will not help you make a coherent case. There is no such thing as cultural marxism except in the imagination of people like Breivik.

I don't know why you feel the need to present his credo here but you should understand the hate his manifesto was trying to create.

 

The cost of administering Social Security is less then 2% of benefits. When government transfers income, it does a reasonable job.

Transferring income through vouchers is what I suggested for healthcare and K-12 education.

 

The labor laws can always be changed to prevent corps from making a clean break.