Divided We Fail

This past weekend I attended part of a session that was planned to bring about healing in one of my organizations. In the past few years there has been a lot of strife that has prevented the organization from achieving many of its goals. So we decided to have a conversation about our feelings. At the end, I was not so convinced that the discussion had done any real good, but in retrospect, I believe that by just taking the time to have a conversation about the things that bother us, we have taken some important steps towards healing.

If I were to relate this experience to what I see happening in the country right now, it seems that we need a national time-out. We need a few days wherein we call a truce so that people can just calm down to see the damage that years of protracted bickering has wrought.

I worked on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of impeachment and it was frustrating to say the least. The Democrats were in the minority and the President was a lame duck. It was bad to be in both of these positions from a political standpoint, but it was much worse to be in this position because the level of residual anger that hung over the place was just so thick and impervious. There were attempts to bridge the chasm, but it was hard because there were a lot of bruised egos and hurt feelings. People wielded their individual grudges like machetes.

By the time George W. Bush was elected, things were not much better since he ascended to office under a cloud of suspicion. In hindsight, I still cannot say that his initial win was not the result of some dirty trickery, which sort of proves my point about how there has been no improvement in terms of the election of Barack Obama. We dogged Bush as illegitimate because of the voter purge shananigans so perhaps it is only fitting that Obama with his foreign-sounding name would be dogged by accusations of being everything from a terrorist sympathizer to a fascist dictator.

The opposition to President Obama has been stunning in its intensity. Folks who claim to be angry about his policies seem to also embrace the notion that his ideology comes from some unrecognizable, un-American place. Not that half of the folks who voted for him share this same perspective on the role of government (because they do and many are disappointed that he hasn't done much more), but there is something sinister about HIM that keeps them awake at night waiting for the end times.

I am baffled because I can't believe this is my country at times. Maybe that has a lot to do with the fact that I am not a Baby Boomer or part of the Greatest Generation. We never had to suffer indignities based on our skin color or gender. I thought I was a student of history and expected a certain amount of backlash, but I never expected this.

I am disillusioned. Can't we all just pretend to get along?