Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 22 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 9/6/10

We Seem To Be At War With Ourselves

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   3 comments
Message Dave Lefcourt
Become a Fan
  (21 fans)

We seem to be at war with ourselves. Is it just cultural and political that as yet hasn't translated itself into a societal breakdown? The Christian and political right seem completely alienated from the progressive left and that left is appalled at the seeming ignorance and overt religiosity of that right.

There seems to be no middle ground, no basis for compromise, a bad marriage that can't end in divorce.

The mindsets of each so repulsed by the other there is no communication, just revulsion and a feeling of contempt toward the other.

Each side speaks only to its own choir while portraying the other as un-American and unpatriotic "socialists" (the right) while the left sees the right as ill informed, propagandized, uneducated gun toting reactionaries.

Maybe it has always been a "house divided", never healed from the time Lincoln spoke those words a century and a half ago, warning as he did "it can not stand".

In 2008, a black man was elected president who invigorated a majority of people with hope (maybe unrealistic, yet unmistakable) but who was seen as an anathema to the far right leaning twenty five percent of the people.

All attempts by Obama to reach out and seek bipartisanship with that right was treated with derision, rejected out of hand and resembling a knee jerk reaction or an involuntary muscle spasm.

To the left it seemed the height of naivety, a foolish notion that gave rise to the "tea party" and the "town hall" yells fests from last summer's "debate" around health care reform.

How we view terrorism, war, even torture reveals the fundamental split of the two sides. To the right terrorists "hate our freedom" (words elicited by George Bush after 9/11), while the left sees terrorists as hating our policies and our hegemony over the Muslim world which is a catalyst for fomenting their hatred and the resultant acts of terrorism. The right sees our wars as going after those that attacked us on 9/11 and anything we do to "them" is justified. The left sees our wars as unnecessary, illegal, based on false assumptions i.e. weapons of mass destruction (that didn't exist) against a foe (Saddam Hussein and Iraq) that was not an imminent threat. And torture was line we hadn't crossed or at least was never sanctioned and authorized as legal by those in power.

The two extremes seem irreconcilable, the breech a chasm growing deeper and wider.

One wonders, can this "marriage" go on like this indefinitely? Another Pearl Harbor type attack is highly unlikely in the future, the last time the nation came together as one to defeat a real external imperialist foe bent on conquering us and the world. The cold war ended twenty years ago, eliminating a potential foe and antagonist that had the capability to annihilate us and us to them. Now" there are no real threats against us, accept those we have contrived to make them appear as real.

So with no real external enemies, what is left is how this piece began. We seem at war with ourselves and we've turned the sights onto ourselves.

Rate It | View Ratings

Dave Lefcourt Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Retired. The author of "DECEIT AND EXCESS IN AMERICA, HOW THE MONEYED INTERESTS HAVE STOLEN AMERICA AND HOW WE CAN GET IT BACK", Authorhouse, 2009
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

An Ominous Foreboding, Israel vs Iran

The Evolving Populist Political Rebellion in the Arab World

A Nuclear War Would Be Insane

The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Poorer, While the Middle Class Gets Decimated

CIA in the Crosshairs

Iran Offers 9 Point Plan to end Nuclear Crisis, U.S. "No thanks".

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend