Tag Archives: politics

Commentary, Politics

Latent(?) Political Divide

Though I have always been registered Republican (which might shock some of my closest friends), growing up and living on the left coast of America for most of my life, educated at a university, I realize that I have migrated definitely left of center. Because most of my friends are left of me, it came as a shock that—more than the fact that a Trump-character can be elected this country’s leader—the important and long lasting issue is that there is such an extreme division of fundamental beliefs in this country. This existed before this administration and will persist, long after this administration is gone.

“Elitism” has become a 4-letter word. I certainly had never considered myself an elitist when defined as a priviledged few who think they are better than all the others—I cheer for underdogs. One of the characteristics attributed to elites is that they are university (for example) educated. Since when are education and critical thinking bad things?!

Commentary

American Politics 2017

Rather than clutter up my Facebook feed or even my Twitter feeds and subject my friends to more political clutter, I figure I can post to my blog. And most comments warrant more than 140 characters anyway.

Let’s set my context, just to start.

  1. I’m registered Republican. Sorry, West Coast people, in case you didn’t know, please don’t hate me.
  2. I proclaim my political views to be “extreme moderate.” A reflection of my sense of humor, however  when I’m pissing off Republicans and Democrats with equal fervor, I know that I’m in the right place.
  3. Though I shouldn’t need to qualify my opinions by the following, recent public behavior of politicians prompt me to also mention that my opinions are strongly influenced by (substantiated and substantiatable) facts.

This has been a tumultuous period in this country’s history. Every “pundant” has been fully and completely wrong in their polls, assessments, and forecasts. Rather than mundane politics-as-usual, the shocking success of Trump through his campaign to the top seat highlights the great divide that exists in this country.

This divide, I don’t understand very well. But we have to look beyond the chaos introduced by the new administration to understand what the impact is to Americans and our country.