“...it’s hard to have a nation or a rule of law or a culture when the major factions do not recognize each other’s legitimacy”

It all depends on what leaders do. Followers will follow, so if enough leaders decide to focus energy on solutions rather than constant weaponizing of principles (which makes them only pretend principles) in endless rounds of attacking, mischaracterizing, not listening, and not fact-finding, we could see some reduction in our national polarization.

Not optimistic at the moment. Too many love the fight for the fight’s sake.

or do Democrats and never Trumpers do it too? Just asking.

Before we can unify, the new leadership needs to admit they just spent 4 years trying to destroy the presidency of their predecessor by accusing him of “fascism,” “being a Russian puppet,” “racism,” “misogyny,” “hate,” “lying constantly,” “womanizing,” “corruption,” and more.

[Mark_Smith]

or do Democrats and never Trumpers do it too? Just asking.

Before we can unify, the new leadership needs to admit they just spent 4 years trying to destroy the presidency of their predecessor by accusing him of “fascism,” “being a Russian puppet,” “racism,” “misogyny,” “hate,” “lying constantly,” “womanizing,” “corruption,” and more.

Yes, both sides do it all the time. Some introspection might be in order both sides rather than finger pointing. Until the finger pointing stops, introspection and change for both sides won’t happen. And just maybe, we shouldn’t be on either side. I’m not convinced that Christ’s kingdom should be sharing space with either Republicans or Democrats.

[Ken S]

Mark_Smith wrote:

or do Democrats and never Trumpers do it too? Just asking.

Before we can unify, the new leadership needs to admit they just spent 4 years trying to destroy the presidency of their predecessor by accusing him of “fascism,” “being a Russian puppet,” “racism,” “misogyny,” “hate,” “lying constantly,” “womanizing,” “corruption,” and more.

Yes, both sides do it all the time. Some introspection might be in order both sides rather than finger pointing. Until the finger pointing stops, introspection and change for both sides won’t happen. And just maybe, we shouldn’t be on either side. I’m not convinced that Christ’s kingdom should be sharing space with either Republicans or Democrats.

I know both sides do it. So do you. But does CBS? NBC? Chris Wallace? Nancy Pelosi?

Will they ever admit calling Trump a racist fascist was a touch over the line? How can we unite unless they do that?

[Mark_Smith]

I know both sides do it. So do you. But does CBS? NBC? Chris Wallace? Nancy Pelosi?

Will they ever admit calling Trump a racist fascist was a touch over the line? How can we unite unless they do that?

I don’t know what to say about that. It seems the party in power always gets vilified by the other party. I’ve pretty much given up on hoping for non-polarizing news sources in the US and usually read foreign news like BBC or Reuters, and sometimes Allsides. Allsides doesn’t exactly avoid the polarizing news, but gives a left, right, and supposedly centrist perspective. I also don’t spend a lot of time reading political news as I’ve found it unhealthy for me spiritually.

There is something quite different in the approaches. Everybody expects hardball in terms of what is said to the press by politicians, and yes, both parties have things to apologize for in that regard.

However, what I’ve seen in the past 25 years is that increasingly, the left has weaponized the bureaucracies against their opponents—e.g. Clinton’s abuse of the IRS, strategic and felonious leaks to the WashPo and NYT and others (e.g. Trump’s tax returns), the Mueller investigation (all that effort, and y’all wouldn’t vet the initial report…but you would put people in jail for “lying to investigators” when all your investigators were lying about whether the initial Steele dossier had been vetted?), Fast & Furious, Lois Lerner & the IRS scandal, etc.. Multiple entities who reported the wrongdoing of the IRS in the 2012 scandal, for example, reported getting unexpected audits from multiple agencies right after filing for 501C3 status with the IRS with an obvious “Tea Party” moniker. You can’t do that without extremely weird luck or coordination from within the White House, really.

Another part of why we fight so much, and so bitterly, is that the left is insisting on an “evolving” Constitution whereby the judges/justices “nudge” the law to “what it should read”. In other words, the fight moves from the legislature (with 2 or 6 year terms) to the judiciary with life terms. Is it any surprise that our fights get extremely vicious when the stakes are so high?

One final note here about why we fight so bitterly is because (again, this is largely the left’s fault) we let the government do so much. When free markets handle things, we buy or we don’t, and there is no strife; when government handles things, it’s a political issue.

So while both sides are responsible to a degree, I would argue that the Democrats, by changing the judiciary, weaponizing the bureaucracy, and moving private sector activities to the public sector, bear a disproportionate amount of fault in this.

Will they ever admit calling Trump a racist fascist was a touch over the line? How can we unite unless they do that?

They don’t ever have to admit anything. This is fight thinking. Solution thinking is better and doesn’t ask “Will they ever admit?” But instead asks, “Can they or will they stop?” The answer may seem to be “obviously not,” but the answer to “will they ever admit” is equally obviously not.

More solution thinking: What we need is new media that is less interested in pandering to a segment and more interested in speaking to middle America, or maybe even—what a concept—speaking to everyone.

There are some media sources that already occupy this space, some have been there a long time. So part of the needed shift is for more people to appreciate them and look to them for information… fund them. The nonpartisan media are a real bright spot (though a small one) in our culture. May their tribe increase.