A great divide: Left and right battling for the nation's soul

[babylonsister]

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/15480285.htm

Posted on Sun, Sep. 10, 2006

A great divide: Left and right battling for the nation's soul
A backlash against the '60s could be blamed for the polarization of political discourse.
By Dick Polman
Inquirer Political Analyst

I can't recall when I first realized that political discourse had become dangerously polarized, and that civility had gone the way of $2 gas, but I can still feel the moment when these truths were shoved in my face.

It was Oct. 1, 2003, outside a firehouse in Los Angeles. Democrats were staging a rally for Gov. Gray Davis, who was facing defeat in a recall election. Duf Sundheim, the Republican state chairman, was standing at the back of the crowd, and I went over to solicit his oppositional views. No sooner had he parted his lips to respond than protesters encircled us.

A dozen Democrats didn't like a journalist querying the enemy. "Don't talk to him!" they screamed at me, pressing closer.

I yelled back something about "free speech," they hurled phrases about the 2000 election aftermath in Florida and the "Republican lapdog press," and we sparred for several minutes until I managed to get one comment from Sundheim, who had mainly been watching my neck veins throb.

Such an episode seems typical these days, with impassioned and aggrieved armies of the left and right hunkered in their respective trenches, battling 24/7 for the nation's soul. Now the very notion of empirical truth seems imperiled.

As I survey the political landscape, in the midst of a career change, it's clear we have entered an era in which nuance seems quaint. "Blue state facts" clash with "red state facts."

more...

[Bobbie47]

1. c-span 1 taking calls about the article now n/t

[babylonsister]

2. I know; that's where I heard about it. nt

[pooja]

3. Remember always: United we Stand, Divided we Fall!!!

If we allow the politcal divides to tare us apart as a nation, it is easier for the self-proclaimed "Decider" to take your rights away. Debate is essential and healthy. Screaming at the top of your lungs and falling complete anarchy will lead to a police-state enforcement.

People are easily excited. People are stressed out. Family structures are collapsing, the banks are foreclosing on homes, income tax (still illeagal), 1/2 of judicial branch not swearing to uphold the constitution, food prices outrageous (not to mention completely unhealthy), etc....

There is so much going on all at once that it becomes a distraction. We are distracted into a divisive country. Take five. Go outside. Meditate. Spend some quiet time where ever you like. And then come back. I suggest when you come back, begin following the money trail. If everyone in America did, we would all unanimously stand up and demand our country back.

[Doctor_J]

8. It's time for the nation to fall

this needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Time for civil war, and a newer stronger US on the other side.

[pooja]

9. I disagree... If you throw out the Constitution, they will take over and

you will be a slave.

[Doctor_J]

10. The Constitution has already been revoked

Being well-educated and having some money in the bank, I still have a little freedom left. But it's only temporary, the new fascists will eventually get to me too. Finally, when enough of us are sufficiently desparate about the situation, we will do something about it - something involving automatic weapons, torches, and ropes. When the dust settles, and the ashes of the corrupt media empires like Fox and ABC are done smoldering, we can start to rebuild.

[sam sarrha]

4. i recall CA Governor Reagan saying he was at "WAR" with public protest

they killed 5 protesters in Berkeley, surrounded peaceful students with soldiers with gas masks and fixed unsheathed bayonets just going to class dropped there bayonets to hip level and a helicopter flew over and gassed my girlfriend and hundreds of others and nearly killed 3 students in the nearby medical center who were already there for critical asthma attacks.

[acmejack]

5. You think these kind of tactics have anything to do with it?

GOP planning to spend all their money on "defining" the Dem canididates by digging up anything negagtive they can on them would it?

snip>

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901079.html

[creeksneakers2]

6. All the Republicans want to do is divide us

They want to destroy everything that might get in their way.

[GeorgeGist]

7. Good luck finding...

a nation's soul. Do serious people really believe such nonsense?

[ProSense]

11. "Blue state facts" clash with "red state facts."

That says it all! This is the media trying to create the perception that there is such a thing as two sets of facts on any issue!