The thing that scares me most about this time in America is the openly partisan separation that has come to define our relationships with each other. Politics have largely superseded religion in terms of conflict points. Why? Because we have an ‘enemy’ religion in Islam and that battle is largely being played out far beyond our borders. We have an enemy class in immigrants and that battle is being waged in the media and along the border. All of these battles are encapsulated in the partisan battle. One side feels we need to militarize the border. That same side favors increased aggression against muslims.
This is a simplified assessment of a complicated political divide. However, I believe the divide itself is largely fabricated. Most people don’t define themselves by one issue. The flexibility and nuance of humanity argues that you can believe in one concept that feels liberal and still be conservative in other areas. Political pundits argue the same, separating groups into social and or fiscal conservatives or liberals. However, it is easier and cheaper to divide us along binary lines and tell people they need to be one or the other, because the other is the enemy. The other is bad and not us and, generally speaking, un-American, because both sides can’t be American because they believe in different things.
I would argue that believing in different things is the soul of the American dream. We function as a country and we excel as a people because we have different ideas that must be measured and vetted and argued. I believe the polarization of our nation removes the ability to argue. There is no longer discourse. There is only us and them and ‘us’ makes all the rules until ‘they’ come into power and change them all.