Losing the war to win the battle

Have you noticed the complete flip-flopping of both our major political parties since the election? No, I am not talking about their general platforms, those usually take decades to happen.

I am talking about what is posted on social media by the left and right and all their minions who blindly follow their party’s leaders.

Prior to the election, the left had a tendency to brag in a smug manner about all of the great accomplishments of President Obama and then warn us about how hateful the GOP and its followers are. The right had a tendency to focus on important issues like how ugly Hillary’s pant suits are, her husband’s affairs, and how she was not all that good at covering up her lies.

Now, it is the opposite. The left is full of posts that mock Trump in the same way the right mocked Hillary. They must have decided his form of hate that they urged us to avoid is the best path to bringing him down. Besides making fun of the usual stuff like Trump’s tan, hair, and having been born with a silver spoon up his butt, they have now turned to bashing his kid, his wife, and his family in general, much like the GOP has done with both Obama and Clinton.

The left has no problem comparing Trump to Hitler after complaining about Hillary be called a murderer for Benghazi. They point out how his wife prefers to remain in New York and not at the White House (Actually, she is smart to do so and to raise their kid out of the spot light), and while claiming to be the all inclusive party, they go ahead and hold large scale women’s marches while making it clear conservative women were not welcome.

Democrats have gone from using celebrities who urged Americans to rid the nation of guns to ones who speak of blowing up the White House. After threatening to leave the nation, they have decided to hang around and mock our leader and his followers daily on national television knowing it continues to fan the flames rather than to heal the nation as they campaigned on. In essence, they have morphed into the hypocrites they claimed the GOP to be.

The GOP is no better. Now they have resorted to boasting about having control of the White House and both houses of Congress and believe they are now right to undo anything and everything that was done by Obama despite winning an election in which their leader drew 3 million fewer votes and almost half the nation staying home from the polls all together.

They make fun of women for marching, making sure to mention important things like how much weight they hope they lost marching while ignoring the shear numbers of people who are pissed off. They have passed legislation that okays drivers running over street protesters and continue to talk a tough guy’s talk they could never walk in real life without having a left leaning wife or girlfriend cutting their balls off.

And through all of this, one thing remains the same: it’s all the fault of the other party, which makes what is happening justified. Tit for tat is the thinking and driving force of American leadership today. It drives our major parties, which in turn drive smaller groups all the way down to little kids in classrooms.

Nice work. Both parties have found a way to ensure future generations will continue to be driven apart based on the important stuff like gender, skin color, sexual identity, age, and religion which will come in handy to politicians who cannot come up with answers as to why they can’t pave our roads, upgrade our bridges, make our schools safe, lower our taxes, and keep us out of wars.

So who are the leaders who are brave enough to make the first move to really do what this nation needs: turn the other cheek and move forward to accomplish good for ALL people and not just those who drink a certain party’s Kool Aid without question? Who out there with the financial means wants to back more moderate and sane thinking candidates to challenge the two existing parties? Who in office today is willing to risk losing an election and stand up to the nonsense of his or her own party? Which voters are willing to stop blindly following one party and start looking at how hypocritical they are with their dogma and practices?

We do not need a wall or different bathrooms to make this a better nation. We need men and women who have open minds, open hearts, and open arms who are willing to compromise for the good of this nation and from where I sit, as someone who did not vote for either major party candidate, I do not see it happening from either party.

From my perspective, all of this discourse is just an excuse for people who really just seek an excuse to continue with their archaic, knuckle dragging behavior because it is easier for them to remain as they are than it is to change not only who they are, but who we are as a nation.

So while you all wait for the other side to cave in just so you can say you won or you were right all along, try looking at whether or not the victory you seek is worth the war we are losing. Ask yourself if you have to be right so bad that it is worth destroying the work of the greatest democracy the world has seen.

If it is, then perhaps you should go read about the political discourse that existed at the time this nation was founded. Read about the Founding Fathers who were willing to listen to others and work to find common ground so this young bunch of colonial upstarts could become a nation to be looked up to as the model for others to follow, not the laughing stock you are turning it into.

Top photo from Women’s March on Washington, D.C. (Tim Maier)