CDZ America's Political Divide - What if.......?

[Mac1958]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

 

[Auld Phart]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

Half would be blaming Trump for letting it happen, the other half would be blaming Obama for not setting up security to prevent it from happening.

They MIGHT get together til the perps were caught/punished, but then it would be back to the usual partisanship.

Our only hope is aliens attacking.

 

[Mac1958]

Our only hope is aliens attacking.

Great point.

But even THEN...


.

 

[JoeB131]

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?

Why would they?

Here was the thing. the last time something like that happened, democrats did back the incumbent president.

And for their troubles, a guy who lost three limbs for this country in Vietnam was compared to Saddam and Bin Laden.



said incumbant president then proceeded to ignore the guy who killed all those people to attack a country that didn't threaten us in order to find weapons that didn't exist.

So I would HOPE TO GOD that if something like that happened, we wouldn't give the incumbent (who was elected with help from a hostile foreign power) such a blank check again.

If we had an attack on Trump's watch, we should hold him to account. I would hope.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

If there were a major terrorist attack, the extreme lefties would be prattling on justifying it by using terms like "blowback', the extreme righties would be screaming to nuke Mecca, and there would be an enormous lack of concern for the victims.

 

[Mac1958]

If there were a major terrorist attack, the extreme lefties would be prattling on justifying it by using terms like "blowback', the extreme righties would be screaming to nuke Mecca, and there would be an enormous lack of concern for the victims.

I just wonder how much common ground would remain to intelligently deal with anything.
.

 

[tigerred59]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

I'm gonna do my best to keep it clean....why oh why are we as a nation so fixated on hating on Muslims, why? Any attack should be met with unification, regardless of who's behind it. Now with that being said, we now as we speak, have a incoming moron, who said and I quote "I don't believe in daily briefings" and you people are now saying, that should a attack occur, again, it will be Obama's fault???????? This is why, 2017 people on these boards with reasonable degrees of common sense, should place IGNORANCE ON IGNORE!!!
With that type of ideology entering the white house, My god, do you not think Putin and the terrorist are listening to this ignorant man???? Geezzuss, you people are gonna live the day you voted in this nightmare, really you are...this outsider shit is gonna get us all killed!!

 

[Mac1958]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

I'm gonna do my best to keep it clean....why oh why are we as a nation so fixated on hating on Muslims, why? Any attack should be met with unification, regardless of who's behind it. Now with that being said, we now as we speak, have a incoming moron, who said and I quote "I don't believe in daily briefings" and you people are now saying, that should a attack occur, again, it will be Obama's fault???????? This is why, 2017 people on these boards with reasonable degrees of common sense, should place IGNORANCE ON IGNORE!!!
With that type of ideology entering the white house, My god, do you not think Putin and the terrorist are listening to this ignorant man???? Geezzuss, you people are gonna live the day you voted in this nightmare, really you are...this outsider shit is gonna get us all killed!!

Okay, so back to my question: Would a major terrorist attack "bring us together as Americans", as many people assume, or are we just too far gone for that?
.

 

[Iceweasel]

There really is no common ground politically. I do not understand the fantasy of bring the sides together. We ALWAYS been divided. As early as breaking from England. 1/3rd wanted to go, 1/3rd stay and the rest weren't sure. Divided over slavery. Even had this thing called The Civil War.

The left is steadily moving further towards the left. Very few if any conservatives exist in the Democratic Party anymore. A socialist might have won had they been honest.

I do not want to compromise with leftists. I want to defeat them, bury them and stomp on them every time they rear their ugly totalitarian faces. I would go to war over it quite literally.

 

[JoeB131]

Okay, so back to my question: Would a major terrorist attack "bring us together as Americans", as many people assume, or are we just too far gone for that?

How does a major terrorist attack resolve any of the other differences on race, wealth distribution, law enforcement, trade, etc.

Do those problems all take the day off because, "Hey, we had a terrorist attack"?

Again, we had something like that happen, and one side took advantage of the other, massively, giving us a lot of problems that we are still dealing with today.

I would honestly hope that one side would not use a terrorist attack (caused by the ineptitude of the other) as an excuse to ignore the ineptitude of the other side.

 

[JoeB131]

I do not want to compromise with leftists. I want to defeat them, bury them and stomp on them every time they rear their ugly totalitarian faces. I would go to war over it quite literally.

Has it occured to you to "offer a palatable alternative"?

Because honestly, you can scream, Socialism is bad all day, but it's not like Capitalism has been a big treat for most of us. Certainly not for the 40% of the population that has less than 1% of the wealth. Not for the next 20% who have less than 5% of the wealth.

Since I doubt you are rich, I suspect that you wouldn't understand what you are going to war for.

 

[candycorn]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

Well, first whenever we have a terrorist attack and the details are not known, we have to first wait to characterize the attack. If the shooter is of a certain color or religion, to conservatives, he’s disturbed. See Dylan Root. If the shooter is of another color or religion, he’s a thug. See Christopher Dorner for that example. If the shooter is of a specific color or religion, they are actually called terrorists. See San Bernadino for that example.

In Liberal Land, all 3 are examples of terrorism; one no better or worse than the other.

Secondly, the divisions get headlines and it’s good ratings to discuss them, fun to better your opponent (notice I didn’t say enemy) in an election because it “validates” your stances even though I think most would probably all agree that the small potion of the population that is interested in voting is perhaps, as a group, the most ill informed group of voters we’ve ever had in this nation. See Trump’s discussing trade deals to guys who never took a macro class in their lives but on the micro-scale realize something is not kosher and simply want to try something different. Anyway, the divisions are probably deeper than any we’ve ever seen. I shrug at that. If a hurricane hits Florida, Nebraskans will open their hearts, wallets and homes to help. If California has their earthquake, folks around the nation will pitch in. The next time Texas has a plant blow up and the red cross has to assist displaced families…it will be because someone in NY or Seattle and thousands of other people in towns that are blue, red and purple scratched a check out. You’ll have people who live in the midwest who visit California and are blown away by the sights and sounds. And you will have people from the North who visit the Gulf and are happy to slow down for a while.

None of it will be based on who the state’s electoral votes went to in the last election.

The divisions are front and center because it’s good copy. The nation is as solid as a rock.

 

[tigerred59]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

I'm gonna do my best to keep it clean....why oh why are we as a nation so fixated on hating on Muslims, why? Any attack should be met with unification, regardless of who's behind it. Now with that being said, we now as we speak, have a incoming moron, who said and I quote "I don't believe in daily briefings" and you people are now saying, that should a attack occur, again, it will be Obama's fault???????? This is why, 2017 people on these boards with reasonable degrees of common sense, should place IGNORANCE ON IGNORE!!!
With that type of ideology entering the white house, My god, do you not think Putin and the terrorist are listening to this ignorant man???? Geezzuss, you people are gonna live the day you voted in this nightmare, really you are...this outsider shit is gonna get us all killed!!

Okay, so back to my question: Would a major terrorist attack "bring us together as Americans", as many people assume, or are we just too far gone for that?
.

Listen, and I want credit for this comment some day.....(sigh), I don't need nor want a major anything to happen to this country to bring us all together. We just had a major terror attack on our political system, by Russia, unprecedented in our nations history and do you see any unification there? But what will bring this country together and I am calling it like I see it, cause real recognizes real......Trump will in fact be the key to this country unifying. By the time this moronic simp gets through pimpin this nation of its wealth, by the time he filters more revenue into Wall Street, by the time the top1% is so gloated from his tax policies and hand outs, all of America will unite in wanting this guys nuts and head on a platter back to the Trump Towers and that sir, will be the unifying force.

 

[Mac1958]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

Well, first whenever we have a terrorist attack and the details are not known, we have to first wait to characterize the attack. If the shooter is of a certain color or religion, to conservatives, he’s disturbed. See Dylan Root. If the shooter is of another color or religion, he’s a thug. See Christopher Dorner for that example. If the shooter is of a specific color or religion, they are actually called terrorists. See San Bernadino for that example.

In Liberal Land, all 3 are examples of terrorism; one no better or worse than the other.

Secondly, the divisions get headlines and it’s good ratings to discuss them, fun to better your opponent (notice I didn’t say enemy) in an election because it “validates” your stances even though I think most would probably all agree that the small potion of the population that is interested in voting is perhaps, as a group, the most ill informed group of voters we’ve ever had in this nation. See Trump’s discussing trade deals to guys who never took a macro class in their lives but on the micro-scale realize something is not kosher and simply want to try something different. Anyway, the divisions are probably deeper than any we’ve ever seen. I shrug at that. If a hurricane hits Florida, Nebraskans will open their hearts, wallets and homes to help. If California has their earthquake, folks around the nation will pitch in. The next time Texas has a plant blow up and the red cross has to assist displaced families…it will be because someone in NY or Seattle and thousands of other people in towns that are blue, red and purple scratched a check out. You’ll have people who live in the midwest who visit California and are blown away by the sights and sounds. And you will have people from the North who visit the Gulf and are happy to slow down for a while.

None of it will be based on who the state’s electoral votes went to in the last election.

The divisions are front and center because it’s good copy. The nation is as solid as a rock.

I know that much of our political noise is just, uh, showbiz, although I'm terrible at figuring out how much.

I hope you're right, I hope we're more together than we seem to be.
.

 

[pismoe]

There really is no common ground politically. I do not understand the fantasy of bring the sides together. We ALWAYS been divided. As early as breaking from England. 1/3rd wanted to go, 1/3rd stay and the rest weren't sure. Divided over slavery. Even had this thing called The Civil War.

The left is steadily moving further towards the left. Very few if any conservatives exist in the Democratic Party anymore. A socialist might have won had they been honest.

I do not want to compromise with leftists. I want to defeat them, bury them and stomp on them every time they rear their ugly totalitarian faces. I would go to war over it quite literally.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- so you see and say your thinking quite clearly , no namby pamby from you and i am glad to see it IceWeasel !!

 

[flacaltenn]

Well, first whenever we have a terrorist attack and the details are not known, we have to first wait to characterize the attack. If the shooter is of a certain color or religion, to conservatives, he’s disturbed. See Dylan Root. If the shooter is of another color or religion, he’s a thug. See Christopher Dorner for that example. If the shooter is of a specific color or religion, they are actually called terrorists. See San Bernadino for that example.

Dont really think so sister. Dylan Roof is a ruthless homicidal maniac. A genuine human work of failure.

The divisions are front and center because it’s good copy. The nation is as solid as a rock.

Not even close. The political system and discourse has degraded into a pissing match about who did what First or more egregiously. Whatever the scandal, it's NO LONGER WRONG or unethical. It's a matter of which side did MORE of it. The partisan are talking PAST each other. Trying to WIN at any cost. Rather than standing on principles.. It's more of a primitive tribal showdown on the Savannah, then the precious deliberative process that it should be.

In older history, people were ENTERTAINED by political poo-slinging and scandals, but not PERSONALLY invested in the outcomes. It was just part of campaigns and legislation. TODAY -- the 2 arthritic brand name parties have PERFECTED whipping up the partisans into frenzies.

You don't see this from the inside. But the growing MAJORITY, the indies and 3rd parties can see it clearly. This nation is INCAPABLE of proper governance because of the constant and escalating partisan feuding. And it becomes RLife issues when the pendulum is swinging so wildly, that your checkbook and your job are not a sure thing at all.

 

[Mac1958]

Well, first whenever we have a terrorist attack and the details are not known, we have to first wait to characterize the attack. If the shooter is of a certain color or religion, to conservatives, he’s disturbed. See Dylan Root. If the shooter is of another color or religion, he’s a thug. See Christopher Dorner for that example. If the shooter is of a specific color or religion, they are actually called terrorists. See San Bernadino for that example.

Dont really think so sister. Dylan Roof is a ruthless homicidal maniac. A genuine human work of failure.

The divisions are front and center because it’s good copy. The nation is as solid as a rock.

Not even close. The political system and discourse has degraded into a pissing match about who did what First or more egregiously. Whatever the scandal, it's NO LONGER WRONG or unethical. It's a matter of which side did MORE of it. The partisan are talking PAST each other. Trying to WIN at any cost. Rather than standing on principles.. It's more of a primitive tribal showdown on the Savannah, then the precious deliberative process that it should be.

In older history, people were ENTERTAINED by political poo-slinging and scandals, but not PERSONALLY invested in the outcomes. It was just part of campaigns and legislation. TODAY -- the 2 arthritic brand name parties have PERFECTED whipping up the partisans into frenzies.

You don't see this from the inside. But the growing MAJORITY, the indies and 3rd parties can see it clearly. This nation is INCAPABLE of proper governance because of the constant and escalating partisan feuding. And it becomes RLife issues when the pendulum is swinging so wildly, that your checkbook and your job are not a sure thing at all.

All I have is anecdotal evidence, but what has me concerned is that this behavior has spread far beyond politics and punditry, where it has been destructive enough.

This behavior has spread into our culture, our society at large, even pop culture. Singers refusing to sing, restaurants refusing to serve, friendships ruined over differences in political opinion, families literally breaking up, stories of people literally murdering others in political arguments, the list goes on and on.

The old saying "everyone is screaming and no one is listening" has never applied more, not even close, and that can't possibly bode well.
.

 

[yiostheoy]

Having specifically placed this thread in the CDZ, I'm hopeful we can have a calm, reasonable discussion here.

I was watching a conversation on teevee with various pundits about America's partisan divide, and at one point one of them said something like, "well, outside of a major terrorist attack, I can't think of anything right now that could bring the two sides together".

The other pundits all nodded in agreement, as if to say, "well yeah, obviously outside of a major terrorist attack."

Are we sure about that?

Are we certain that, if a successful jihadist attack killed 300 in a school, or set off a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, or killed thousands by flying an airplane into a skyscraper, that Americans would come together as one for a change?

Or have we deteriorated to a point at which would we devolve into finger-pointing and attacking each other along partisan lines before the American bodies were even cold?

Thoughts?
.

Pearl Harbor united America and gave FDR a blank cheque. He used it to attack Germany.

9-11 united American and gave "W" Bush a blank cheque. He used it to attack Iraq.

So sure. History says yes, we would unite.

 

[yiostheoy]

Well, first whenever we have a terrorist attack and the details are not known, we have to first wait to characterize the attack. If the shooter is of a certain color or religion, to conservatives, he’s disturbed. See Dylan Root. If the shooter is of another color or religion, he’s a thug. See Christopher Dorner for that example. If the shooter is of a specific color or religion, they are actually called terrorists. See San Bernadino for that example.

In Liberal Land, all 3 are examples of terrorism; one no better or worse than the other.

Secondly, the divisions get headlines and it’s good ratings to discuss them, fun to better your opponent (notice I didn’t say enemy) in an election because it “validates” your stances even though I think most would probably all agree that the small potion of the population that is interested in voting is perhaps, as a group, the most ill informed group of voters we’ve ever had in this nation. See Trump’s discussing trade deals to guys who never took a macro class in their lives but on the micro-scale realize something is not kosher and simply want to try something different. Anyway, the divisions are probably deeper than any we’ve ever seen. I shrug at that. If a hurricane hits Florida, Nebraskans will open their hearts, wallets and homes to help. If California has their earthquake, folks around the nation will pitch in. The next time Texas has a plant blow up and the red cross has to assist displaced families…it will be because someone in NY or Seattle and thousands of other people in towns that are blue, red and purple scratched a check out. You’ll have people who live in the midwest who visit California and are blown away by the sights and sounds. And you will have people from the North who visit the Gulf and are happy to slow down for a while.

None of it will be based on who the state’s electoral votes went to in the last election.

The divisions are front and center because it’s good copy. The nation is as solid as a rock.

First I will remind everyone that only you candycorn predicted a Trump win. Not only a Trump win but a Trump landslide.

Having said that, I suspect you probably know better what you are talking about than anyone else does.

It looks like you also feel as I do that America unites in times of trouble. Your viewpoint is from the perspective of recent disasters. Mine is from the perspective of recent mega attacks.

So I feel fortunate that I agree with you.

 

[JoeB131]

Dont really think so sister. Dylan Roof is a ruthless homicidal maniac. A genuine human work of failure.

Yet no one looks at him and says Christians or Whites are evil.

In older history, people were ENTERTAINED by political poo-slinging and scandals, but not PERSONALLY invested in the outcomes. It was just part of campaigns and legislation. TODAY -- the 2 arthritic brand name parties have PERFECTED whipping up the partisans into frenzies.

You don't see this from the inside. But the growing MAJORITY, the indies and 3rd parties can see it clearly. This nation is INCAPABLE of proper governance because of the constant and escalating partisan feuding. And it becomes RLife issues when the pendulum is swinging so wildly, that your checkbook and your job are not a sure thing at all.

I think we've had lots of periods in our past which have been worse than it is now. the Civil War, for instance.

The only reason why our checkbooks are at risk right now is because your side elected a Nazi with a bad hairpeice that even your leadership knew was unsuited for the job.

Everyone knows this is a bad idea, everyone is going along with it.