Obviously back in the civil war days but seems like this country has become very divided. Scarey time for the United States with the economy, Russia flexing their muscles again, Iran, and terrorist.
8 years of calling the President every name in the book and 8 years of attaching every ill in the country to him tends to do that. I'll blame the major media the most, however. Their repeated failures to investigate both sides in the aisle has led to a GOP inferiority complex and a Democratic base that feels their leaders don't do wrong. In other words, party before country, which is a very scary scenario.
But doesn't it make sense that the country will seem most divided during election time. Let's see what it is like 6-9 months after Obama is president . . . I mean after the election.
Yes...why DID Republicans do that to Clinton? Really divided the country. That's what you were referring to, right?
"In other words, party before country, which is a very scary scenario." I agree completely and was exactly my point. We as a nation are basing every decision on how it affects us politically. It's not longer whats best for the country it's what's best for me.
I think you are forgetting 1994-98, when Clinton (with Dick Morris) and Trent Lott passed quite a bit of compromised legislation. The close election of 2000 exacerbated an already divided political climate, and the GOP stupidly trying to impeach Clinton was the catalyst to start the ball rolling. Luckily, the GOPs in the Senate had some common sense and stopped that madness. Since these events, things have increased exponentially. So here we are...
This is both sides, by the way. The reason I blame the Dems for the lack of passing their own bail-out bill is, well, it's their bill, they can pass it, and Bush will sign it. The only reason they won't do it is voter backlash, yet they have over the years destroyed Bush to the point that they won't even pass this bill solely because Bush agrees with it. Either that or they know it's a turd and want some cover for when things fail.
In demographics there has been some research to suggest that given the high degree of mobility in our society and the increasingly impersonal nature of communication (talking with like minded people on message boards or chat rooms for instance), people seem to have fewer "cross-cutting cleavages;" in effect we have less contact with people of differing backgrounds and opinions than we might have had in the past. I say we blame the internet.
I'm not forgetting that. The anger and tension is almost entirely in non-politicians. The politicians in DC play political games, but from what I've read, there's precious little vitriol between them on a personal level. I am referring to Republican citizens and media personalities, who spent 8 years ripping Clinton. Exactly as Democrat citizens and media personalities have spent the last 8 years ripping Bush. In fact, I remember quite a few Republican media personalities (like Sean Hannity, for example) claim, in 2003 or 2004, that it was unpatriotic not to line up behind your President in times of war. However, he ripped Clinton unmercifully when Clinton involved the US in the war in Kosovo. I agree entirely. I think both sides have been complicit in amping up the hostility.
Every superpower in the history of the world has fallen, is it our turn? BTW- History repeats itself......so we'd be fooling ourselves if we think it can't happen to us.
Let's just start training camp and I'll be happy. The good part about an OT forum like this is that a large majority of the posters are knowledgeable. The bad part about an OT forum like this is that a large majority of the posters are knowledgeable.
I've been following politics since the 1960s. The '68 convention was in my back yard, basically. The divisiveness was always there, but it took a huge change for the worse in the 1980s when the Democrats went on witch hunts, and it's only gotten worse as more of the old congresspeople have retired and been replaced with more partisan replacements. Witch hunts? Bork, Tower, Clarence Thomas, and W to a degree never seen before (he was illegitimate months before he took office). The republicans never took the high road. They went after Clinton to the point of impeachment on the wrong issue (how about taking illegal campaign money for favors from the red chinese?), and harassed him from day 1 to the last day. I would also say that the abortion debate in the 1980s was so intense it may have been pretty close to being as divisive as slavery.
If Obama wins and the Fairness Doctrine is implemented again, and we start to see an imbalanced way of prosecuting violators, I can almost guarantee that some citizens won't stand for it, and even more concerning, I'm guessing there will be quite a few in military leadership who may see an opportunity to expand their power before being diminished. We'd be naive to think that supressing the right to freely communicate ideas and criticisms won't have some serious consequences from those muted. These things have happened in other countries, and the outcome is rarely positive.
