Musings From The Rabbit Hole — Unity

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Personal, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, religion, Social commentary

Joe Biden, who will take the Oath of Office in just 67 days, has promised to try to unify the people of this country … unlike the current occupant of the Oval Office who has done nothing but divide us.  I applaud that effort, and until yesterday I naively thought it might just be possible.  I still hope that it can be done … certainly if anybody can, Biden is among the best candidates to do so.  But today I have my doubts.  I don’t want to be negative or a naysayer, for we all need all the hope we can find, but I am nothing if not a pragmatist, a realist. Yesterday as I perused the news, considered what was happening, it occurred to me that a large number – about half – of the people in this nation do not want unity, but rather thrive on division and chaos.

Certainly, there have always been political divisions in this country and always will be, for we are a nation of humans, but what we are experiencing now goes beyond ideological differences and into the arena of personal hatred.  This “Reign of Cruelty” as I term the past four years, has changed us, has made us more willing to accept things that we once abhorred.  It has made us less human.

I hate that it has boiled down to Republican vs Democrat and the language of hate, the finger-pointing, the blame game is always … always the fault of everyone who identifies with one party or another.  I, too, have been guilty of saying, “The republicans only want …” or “The republicans are the cause of …”, and it’s not something I’m proud of, but admittedly it will likely happen again, for I am human.

Today, thousands of people are gathered in Washington to … what?  I’m not sure what they hope to accomplish, but they are protesting the results of the election, results that clearly prove Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. They are parroting Trump’s false claim that the election has been ‘stolen’, that there was massive voter fraud, even though this has been disproven.  They’ve brought their guns, they’ve brought their Proud Boys, their maga hats, their Trump banners, and while so far nobody has been killed, I won’t be surprised if there is violence and death before the day is done.

I am neither a democrat nor a republican, but for the past twenty years or so, I have found nothing particularly valuable in the republican platform, while I do support the same sorts of things the Democratic Party supports, things like providing affordable health care for everyone, women’s rights, equal rights for the LGBT community, equal opportunities for people of all colours and religions in such areas as housing and employment.  I support raising the minimum wage, workplace safety, and perhaps most importantly, taking care of the planet that we have long neglected.

The pandemic perfectly highlights the differences between the two ‘sides’ in this nation.  We cannot even agree to protect each other from a deadly virus, cannot agree on something so simple as wearing a mask in public, else staying home.  If we cannot agree on even that, how can we possibly come to terms on such things as environmental regulations, universal health care, and ending systemic racism?

This nation was founded on freedom of religion, which also means freedom from religion, and yet today a growing portion of the population believes that their religious beliefs ought to be the basis of the laws that we must all live under, even those of us who do not share their beliefs.  This only further divides us … wars have been fought over this very thing, but we fail to learn the lessons of history.

The effort to unify will require compromise, and I just don’t see a willingness among the people of this nation to budge so much as an inch, let alone meet the other side at the halfway mark.  What will it take to bring the people of this nation together, united in a common goal?  Will it take bombs being dropped on us by an outside entity?  Will it take the deaths of half the people in the nation before we open our eyes and realize that we cannot keep killing each other?

Can we possibly set aside our vitriol and hate for a moment and think about the things we have in common?  Or do we still have anything in common?  I think we do … we all love our families and want the best for them, we just don’t agree on what is the best or how to achieve it.  We all have certain basic needs such as food, water, shelter, and breathable air … we just don’t agree on how to achieve those things.  We all want our children to have a good education … we just don’t agree on what, exactly, that is.  So yes, we have much in common, but we view it from different perspectives.  All of which would be fine, if we respected each other, respected others’ viewpoints and agreed to compromise.  Instead, we try to shove our views down the throats of others.

If you’re waiting for me to tell you how we can fix this … don’t hold your breath, for I have no idea.  I only hope that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are far wiser than I and can make decisions and policies that will help narrow what I refer to as the Great Divide.

17 thoughts on “Musings From The Rabbit Hole — Unity”

  1. I don’t think the 1% who control most of the wealth in the country are ready to allow the two sides to come together yet,, It serves their purposes better to have the Republicans believe that the Democrat Big Government are planning to bring everyone to the same trough to feed. The democrats would welcome the shared trough but only on the basis of friendship. The Republicans can accept a refusal as it shows the Democrats weren’t serious. Sometime the Government must stop the 1% with their conspiracy theories and get them to pay a fair tax to put more money in the treasury.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 1 person

    • You have hit the nail on the head, as you’ll see from my p.m. post. The real division, it seems, is between the 1% and the 99%, and we are being manipulated by those with the money to purchase power so that they can keep on making more and more money, while the rest of us struggle to survive. Justice? I think not.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Jill, I know you aren’t going to like what I say, but once again American arrogance is showing. You are concerned with your divided nation, I’m okay with that. But the division is not just in your nation, though at present you are the center of attention. The division is worldwide, and mostly it is Greek-based cultures versus everyone else. But it is also divided by and within Abrahamic religions against other-based religions and spiritual philosophies, and non-superbeing philosophies, namely atheism. Nowhere in the world, except Antarctica–way to go, penguins–are the inhabitants safe from divisions.
    You want to heal America? The only way is to heal the whole wide world all at the same time. We are all addicted to wanting our nations to rule the world, whether we admit it or not. Break down the borders, allow free passage and free trade in goods and ideas everywhere, and then we will start to heal on our own. It is impossible to force healing upon anyone. People have to accept that they have no power, and that they do not need power. They cannot control their own lives, how can they expect to control others?

    Liked by 2 people

    • I actually agree with you that the strife and division we are seeing here is worldwide, though I’m not sure what you mean about it being in Greek-based cultures. But here’s the thing, rg … we cannot fix everyone’s problems, much as some of us might like to. I have come to believe that the human species will extinct itself because of its greed and arrogance and that there will never be the sort of world you aspire to. Meanwhile, though, we can work toward making things a little better in our own country, and that is just about as much as it’s possible for us to do. The great equalizer your hoping for would likely come in the form of a nuclear war, and I don’t think either you or I would wish for that.

      Like

  4. And don’t forget that there’s a social media industry which thrives on conflict and division–that is what gets the most hits and clicks. It’s sad to say, but I think if we somehow managed to create a peaceful society in which we all worked together to fix our problems, it would be Facebook’s worst nightmare.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Spot on! While I see great benefit in social media … being able to stay in close touch with distant friends & family members … it has been used for far too much that is detrimental to society, to the world.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Once again, I agree with all you say. A belated ‘congratulations’ to those of you who voted Democrat. The rest of the world is still holding its breath, waiting to see what Trump does next, waiting for the Georgia senate elections and hoping the President-Elect can implement some positive change within the United States. At least you will now have a President and Vice-President with some moral fiber. For the life of me, I just can’t figure out those 72 million people who voted for Trump were/are thinking. I really hoped some of them would have taken Cindy McCain’s lead. I just don’t get it.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you! Yes, we will have a president and vice-president who take their oaths seriously, who put the best interest of the nation and its people ahead of their own self-interest, but I fear Biden will have an uphill struggle, at least for the first two years. Like you, I don’t understand those 72 million people … I know that racism and religion have a lot to do with their decision to support Trump, and apparently they really don’t care about the rest of the country or the world at large.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. A year back we wondered exactly what would constitute a constitutional crisis. The refusal to honor a Congressional subpoena never got to court. We’ve become inured, and forty something per cent still support the president even now. We are still always teetering on the edge of a constitutional crisis. The situation remains largely unchanged. Apparently the news cycle will remain on overdrive for years to come and the threat to democracy will continue. It’s always a been struggle. Peace.

    Liked by 2 people

    • You are so right … it seems we have become inured to it, which was likely the intent from the beginning. Those things which once would have horrified us, we now just sigh and shrug. Peace to you as well … if there is any to be found.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Jill, well said. The legal case Trump is making with his fraudulent claims of voter fraud (we should call Trump’s effort what it is – fraud) is floundering. The have one a small case in PA that threw out a few votes, have lost many and withdrew one in Arizona. Plus two law firms are asking judges to let them withdraw from cases based on the negative push back from their own attorneys and law graduates.
    Yet this is not known by the Trump base, nor is more than a few Republican election officials pushing back or the Dept of Homeland Security saying it was the most secure election ever.

    Now Trump is ditching the planned effort to go with Rudy G’s scorched earth approach. One commentator noted the Trump cases are too absurd to be frivolous.

    And, Biden and Harris just keep on planning and hiring for their new jobs. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

    • His lawsuits are, essentially, dead in the water. The Department of Homeland Security even said this was the most secure election we’ve had. He’s becoming a joke with his conspiracy theories and fraudulent (you’re right, we must call a spade a spade, and he is the source of the fraud) ballots. I hadn’t heard that he was ditching Giuliani … what an unorganized mess he is running! Sadly, though, what he says is latched onto by his base and tonight there was violence in D.C. as his supporters came out in droves to proclaim that the election was ‘stolen’ from him. Sigh. Yep, Biden and Harris are so far above this fray … thankfully.

      Like

        • Ahhhhhh … I re-read it just now … my bad for misinterpreting it. Sigh. He can burn it all down behind him, as he seems wont to do, and he will not suffer, but … We the People and our democratic foundations surely will. I guess that after these years of peace and prosperity (at least for some), we have taken for granted that when we wake tomorrow our nation will still be free and independent. How quickly we have forgotten the lessons of history. I have no doubt that Joe Biden will take the Oath of Office on January 20th, for that is the law. But, I fear for the future, with some 72 thousand people believing that Trump was the answer to their problems. Giuliani … sigh … I once had so much respect for that man … and now? Now I think he is a lunatic. Sigh.

          Like

Comments are closed.