Divided by Party, United in Spirit

[EasyAce]

Despite polarized election results, Americans agree on most important things
By Michael D. Tanner
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/american-voters-polarized-people-united/

For those who focus on politics, yesterday’s election appears to have only left us more divided. Certainly, voters seem split, not just along party lines, but also by race, religion, gender, and geography. Divisive language from both parties has started at the top and pervades every aspect of the political sphere. Hate-motivated violence is on the rise. It is very easy to believe that the country is falling apart.

Yet those divisions are not what America really is . . . Last year alone, Americans contributed more than $410 billion to charity. On top of that, and perhaps even more tellingly, more than 77 million Americans spent almost 7 billion hours volunteering to help their neighbors and others in need. Every day, Americans reach out across ideological and demographic lines to help.

That is far more reflective of America than the latest Internet meme.

Of course, there are serious issues that divide us. Those should be discussed and debated vigorously. They matter. But the partisans on both sides want us to believe that politics is everything. This belief, in fact, is part of what makes our politics so poisonous.

But the partisans are wrong. No matter how nasty our political disagreements have become, we should never lose sight of the fact that politics is not the heart and soul of America. . . .

[Fishrrman]

Michael Tanner:
"Despite polarized election results, Americans agree on most important things"

Fishrrman:
No, they don't.

[the_doc]

Michael Tanner:
"Despite polarized election results, Americans agree on most important things"

Fishrrman:
No, they don't.

Tanner is a Pollyanner.

[jmyrlefuller]

That might have been true in 2002, but a few cherry-picked human interest stories do not accurately describe the state of our nation.

Every time a mass shooting occurs, we are greeted with anti-Christian bigotry mocking prayer, demands to seize guns, and consistent blame toward white men, toxic masculinity, etc. Those who do not agree with the prevailing dogma are having their livelihoods attacked. Is that a sign of a united nation? I think not!

Let me give another, broader example. Perhaps the best way we can look at personal relationships as a whole is through the lens of family. If men and women are still coming together at the same rate as they did before, then Tanner's hypothesis has some merit. But it's not. Age of first marriage is through the roof. Divorce rates, while down somewhat due to fewer marriages, are still sky-high. Birth rates are through the floor, and many of those that are born are out of wedlock. That is a perfect, measurable example of our country being pulled further and further apart on a personal level. Institutions, and our faith in them, are crumbling. Our communities are being pulled apart by a painfully inconsistent economy that benefits large cities but leaves large swaths of America in the dust.

We still have a few things in common, most glaringly our language. Most of us still speak English, for example. But let's not kid ourselves: the days of national unity are over.