Have you noticed politics is still percolating through our society? Usually, we have an election, and then we all go back to sports, facebooking, texting, tweeting or instagraming the latest of snap of our puppy or kid. Not this time.
When is the last time you were having a private discussion at a Mexican restaurant and were stopped on the way out by the people sitting across the way who wanted to enlarge the discussion? That happened to us the other day. We were discussing various current events over our enchiladas, and total strangers couldn't wait to talk to us. People all over are still buzzing. If we were having civil discourse with one side trying to talk to the other, it would be different, but we're not.
I'm disturbed. I don't like the polarization hardening inside our society. I haven't seen the 'us' vs 'them' mentality since the late 1960's, early 1970's. "Tune in, turn on, drop out!" "Don't trust anyone over 30". For the historically challenged, this was the last time there was a convergence of a political and cultural revolution occurring simultaneously. Families were ripped apart. There was political violence. Cultural and ethical mores were abandoned across the society with nothing else put in place.
The same thing is happening again. Drake is reading a book called 'Thank You for Being Late'. The premise is the acceleration of change is destabilizing the society. Coupled with the changing demographics of the country, and the changing structure of families, people are dividing into political and cultural camps.
One camp wants the United States to be the one they grew up in 60 years ago. This is the nostalgia for a past which, of course, didn't exist. However, what is really longed for is what in retrospect is simplicity in daily life. Life has never been particularly simple in the United States no matter what era, but it sure looks good in hindsight. Small communities or neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone else. There was a sense of belonging even if it was only in the 20 blocks around your family house. This camp is interested in a moral and ethical code which reflects Christianity, which was and still is the overwhelmingly major religion of the United States. They long for a set of societal wide ethics. They long for simple answers to complex problems.
What has happened in the past twenty years which threatens that view is the shrinking of the world thanks to those busy electrons which are changing absolutely everything. Our 'seas to shining seas' isolated us geographically for so long. We were able to pretend the rest of those damned people who didn't live here didn't exist. We used our public education system to turn those miserable, dirty, untrustworthy, 19th century immigrants into upstanding American citizens with a shared code of ethics. Isn't it the great irony the country which is made up of every kind of person you would care to name doesn't really like foreigners? In the 19th century vernacular: "No dogs or Irish need apply."
The other camp is composed of people who want to take a global view and cooperate internationally to work on global problems. Climate change leaps to mind, but so does hunger, medical care, energy allocation, and oh, so many, many more. They are young and naive. They live and work in the 'New Economy' in ways which are baffling. They are contemptuous and dismissive of people who distrust the rush to globalization. There is an expectation by these folks of lifelong learning, many job changes, and usually a blurring of when it is time to work and when it isn't. They've adapted to the uncertainly in the work place and job markets of this century, and have a callous attitudes about people who have been disenfranchised in the 21st century job market. There is sort of a live and let live attitude about others coupled with a very individual moral and ethical code which is rejecting of any particular religion.
Now, we are all being forced to declare ourselves and 'choose'. Are we looking forward or backward. Who is patriotic? Who is not? Are you 'red' or 'blue', Democrat or Republican? Are you for _____ or against? There's no perceived middle ground. I see each camp as reactionary. Both are trying to make some sense out of the times, and oh, the times we live in are a real challenge and are going to get more challenging. May I suggest we all start looking for common ground with people from 'the other side' , even if initially it's only one grain of sand. It's the only way the country has survived this long. Consensus and compromise are the ways forward for everyone.
