There Are Two Irreconcilable Americas

Agree 100%!!!!! There is the America of the lenders, the coupon clippers, the people who pay capital gains, not income tax, who live on 20% of their annual increase.

Then there is the America of the borrowers, the wage earners who spend 80% of their annual increase for mostly food, shelter, car, clothing, and meds.

Maybe three Americas. There is the America of the people who believe "anyone can grow up to be president, who believe they have above average IQ and ability even though they never made more than 20 bucks an hour, and who think they would be rich if only the government got out of their way. These deluded people generally vote Libertarian or neocon.

 

I think the writer is right on most of his points. I don't think either side could win more than a temporary victory. There are too many uncommitted or undecided voters for either party to achieve long-term supremacy in today's climate.

I also think that this shows how we have lost trust with each other. As the writer says, it is one thing if you think that someone else wants to take a different route to the same place you are trying to get to. It is another if you think that the other person wants to go to a completely different place. I think this is more true if we're talking about a lot of distance between parties. For example, I am less trusting of the national political parties than I am of our local politicians. For one thing, I have a better change to meet them, to read the good and bad in the local papers, and to see them in action.

I received this article today from the Baptist Center for Ethics. I know the pastor who wrote it. The kind of calm discussion of issues and differences that he describes is something we should try to build on. It is something we could use to try to re-establish at least some of the trust that we have lost.

Tim Reynolds