American Political Division

This week, with the death of Jerry Falwell, I had many of my friends ask me for a high-five or suggest a party at this man's passing. I politely refused, but it got me thinking. Why do people want to revel in the death of those across the aisle from them?


In the US we have a false division of our political nature. Democrats talk about the hatred the have for the Republicans...how they're evil and hateful and want to lower taxes, close the schools and buy more guns for their wars for oil and hire more police to arrest gays and abortionists.

Republicans are terrified by Democrats because of the plans they have to raise taxes to 80%, release every criminal from prisons, take all the guns away, and force everyone to get gay abortions.

Really, we're not that different. The critique that often one party in the US looks like the other is correct. Republicans are only slightly right of center, and Democrats are only slightly left. They have so much more in common than they have that separates them.

Jerry Falwell blamed the ills of America, be it terrorism, teenage pregnancy, "moral decay", inflation, poverty, crime...anything you can think of on the left. More aptly, he blamed gays for most of it. He said awful, hurtful things...blaming gays for the death of 3,000 Americans on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. I hated looking at him, I hated hearing him...but in his death, my war with him ended. I only hate my enemy as long as he can do me and mine harm, and when Jerry Falwell's final breath slid from his lungs, he was no longer my political enemy.

I suggest that we remember that there is more American in each of us then there is republican or democrat. That we remember that we are all floating on the same tide and the divisions that keep us apart are small and meaningless when we all really want is safety, comfort and peace for our families.

PS: Please keep in mind that this blog will be some intellectual noise, and some posts based more on emotion. Just as some writers sometimes write serious, hard-hitting columns and sometimes write editorials...be patient and I hope you'll find me at least a little interesting.

Here I am again, Lord, asking one more chance for a sinner...

A new blog and a new leaf, eh? So, I've tried this before and for whatever reason lacked the discipline to post often enough to make it a blog I could be proud of. So here's the plan: I plan on holding myself to blogging on here once a week. I plan most of my blogging here to be discussions of political ideas. This could be a few ideas on a political theory, discussion of something in the news, or an attempt to discuss one of the many other threads and ideas revolving around politics and political science. I welcome critiques of my thoughts and ideas and my writing style and anything else. I hope that eventually I'll have a body of work here to be proud of...

And we're off...