Factors that have made this country so darn divided

[nat4900]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

 

[Mr. H.]

Good post. If you would, permit me to bring out Obama's two elections. They both predicated the end of the United States of America. Hillary will finish what Obama started.

 

[bripat9643]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

Left wingers are the reason this country is divided. Pitting one group against another is what they do.

 

[Auld Phart]

What divided the country?

Bills blowjobs

GWs war

Baracks obamacare

Hillarys turn to be president.

Reid holding up bills

McConnell holding up bills

 

[Ricky LIbtardo]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

No, petunia, what divided this country is when more people receive some form of government assistance than those paying for it.

 

[Stratford57]

Wherever Globalists grab the power they have the nation divided.

Same thing has happen in my home country of Ukraine after they pulled out a coup and started breeding Nazis. Same thing has happened in the ME, where they keep breeding, financing and supplying weapons to the terrorists.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Scott Foval (@Scott_Foval) | Twitter

 

[Scorpion]

To me it began with Obama.
An unqualified candidate to whom the left supported because of his race and the right opposed in spite of his race.
Who ARE the racists??

 

[TemplarKormac]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

And here you are, preaching to us about division. How ironic.

 

[TemplarKormac]

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?

And what can you do to help bridge the divide? Oh wait, this is you widening it:

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

Wow, way to bridge the divide by calling people racist. I'm sure that will help big time.

 

[Mrs. M.]

To me it began with Obama.
An unqualified candidate to whom the left supported because of his race and the right opposed in spite of his race.
Who ARE the racists??

I agree. It's 8 years of Obama and the mere THOUGHT OF Hillary Clinton that has divided this country and brought it to this point.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Did it ever occur to you, Nat, that you might be the part of the problem?

 

[TemplarKormac]

It's bemusing to see how liberals equate disagreement with racism, misogyny, or bigotry. When they can't dissuade people from their disagreement through civil discussion, the labeling starts.

And if/when Hillary wins, the same cycle will renew, as they begin labeling people as misogynists for opposing Hillary's policies or actions as President. It shows they lack a convincing way to defend the person they support.

 

[Hossfly]

The divisiveness in this country is the result of putting an ACORN ghetto street shyster in the White House and letting him run rampant for eight years. He's nothing but a race baiter and a magnificant piece of shit.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

I agree but believe it's mostly the internet and most definitely social media.

In the past, before the internet, most fringe types had no outlet to vent their rage and connect with their like minded brethren. At best, they might create a newsletter and over time, create a group. That ,no doubt, took quite a while and remained relatively small.
Thanks to the internet, they can now accomplish what may have taken months or years with a single post. I'm not entirely sure if it's the anonymous nature of the internet or the community of support that encourages the extremes we see hear around us, or something deeper that is only now allowed to show itself.
I remain optimistic as reason almost always wins the day. I suppose it's just the growing pains that come with such rapid advances in technology. The hope lies in reason and as crazy as this election cycle has been, reason is still winning.

 

[Mrs. M.]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

I agree but believe it's mostly the internet and most definitely social media.

In the past, before the internet, most fringe types had no outlet to vent their rage and connect with their like minded brethren. At best, they might create a newsletter and over time, create a group. That ,no doubt, took quite a while and remained relatively small.
Thanks to the internet, they can now accomplish what may have taken months or years with a single post. I'm not entirely sure if it's the anonymous nature of the internet or the community of support that encourages the extremes we see hear around us, or something deeper that is only now allowed to show itself.
I remain optimistic as reason almost always wins the day. I suppose it's just the growing pains that come with such rapid advances in technology. The hope lies in reason and as crazy as this election cycle has been, reason is still winning.

Reason is still winning? We've got an unindicted criminal psychopath running for president with the entire MSM covering up her crimes, the DOJ running defense for her and an FBI agent that just rolled over and dropped an ironclad case against her and you say reason is still winning? What color is your sky?

 

[Trump.Stamped]

1) the media
2) the media
3) the media
4) the American people being dumb and gullible the believe.... The media

 

[Mustang]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

Let me offer my perspective.

1. First was the rise of talk radio which started to take off in the very same year that GHWB took office. I started listening to it in 1993 and couldn't believe the sheer nonsense being passed off as erudition. And since controversy gets attention, the hosts of these shows were often not motivated by anything more than high ratings and money. Therefore, it shouldn't have surprised anyone that the truth was sacrificed in the process.

2. The rise of Newt Gingrich and his hyperbolic and destructive statements which lowered the level of discourse while also raising the volume of people speaking past each other instead of to one another in an effort to score political points while winning nothing in the process except increasing division and resentment.

3. The fact that elected representatives stopped living in Washington and interacting with each other. Instead, they left to go back to their districts every weekend and consequently didn't have much in the way of any meaningful personal relationships with members of the opposing political parties.

4. While both parties shifted right over the years, both parties increasingly lost the moderate middle (conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans) who could ultimately be counted on to come together to make deals when the more extreme wings of each party were unable to work together. This ultimately led to the nonsensical notion that compromise was a bad thing. That only led to increasing gridlock which frustrated everyone, none more than the American electorate itself.
(As an aside, I once heard a conservative say that he would not compromise with Democrats. Instead, Democrats would have to compromise with him. That's truly a nonsensical statement if I ever heard one.)

5. The rise of social media which too often pushed paranoid conspiracy theories which some politicians were too often willing to exploit to get the base to the polls in election years.

6. The fact that conservative talk radio hosts eventually turned on the leadership of the Republican Party when they were unable to live up to an absolutist all-or-nothing approach to governance.

Enter Trump...

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

Perhaps what divided the country is anything a Republican says is racist when race was not even part of the debate or subject.

Perhaps what divided the country is this left-wing lie that Bush actually never won his election in spite of leftist organizations (like FactCheck.org) proving otherwise.

Perhaps what divided this country are leftists giving power to the minority such as weirdos in dresses (.7% of our population) now invading the bathrooms and showers of our daughters in school, by force of a Commie President of course.

I believe the only solution to our political problems is to divide this country in half: conservatives on one side and liberals on the other. We become more divided with every election. The right keep pushing for a Tea Party environment while on the left, they are strongly supported by the US Communist Party. There is no middle ground between constitutionalism and communism. It simply will never work.

Of course that would present more problems for the left. We would have to build a huge Trump wall to keep leftists from coming to our side of the country. The left side would be bankrupt from all their social programs. Businesses would flock to the right side to avoid huge taxation. And violent crime would be an every minute thing on the left side because only the criminals and police would have firearms.

But for us on the right, we couldn't be happier never seeing a liberal again.

 

[Dubya Da Last Repug Prez]

By this time tomorrow, we can all safely state that we have "dodged a bullet" in rejecting the Trumpster...of that many of us have no doubt.

But what has made this country so divided, as many right wingers on this microcosm of a forum clearly shows?
I have lived through the turbulent 1960s, felt heartbroken over the many assassinations of our leaders, and have marched against useless and bloody wars that costs us so many lives and treasure. Yet, the meanness that this forum has often shown is unprecedented.

For myself, I "blame" 3 factors that in my long life seem to have precipitated this huge division among our fellow Americans:

1. The proliferation of social media, coupled with the anonymity that such media allow, has given a "voice" to the most strident fringe of our electorate.

2. The whole impeachment process of Bill Clinton also showed us how vengeful politics have become (and I'm not exempt form this because I would readily admit that I simply hated the GWB administration.)

3. Most of all I blame the factor that a mere 16 years ago, we had to have a supreme court appoint a president for us, where a cabal of just 5 people told us who would lead us .

I'm not even going to bring out that the Obama election also brought out the latent racism that fermented in some people hearts, since I believe that many who resented Obama were not necessarily racists, although many certainly were and are.

I sincerely hope that Wednesday we will witness a peaceful transfer of power; a factor that has made us great as a country and as a paragon of how other countries should behave in the political arena; sure there will be disappointments and bitterness in many minds that wanted a different direction for our country...but, once the electorate has spoken in a majority voice, the results MUST be accepted.

This article in Rolling Stone does an excellent job of explaining the history of the Democrat and Republican parties since the 1960s and how we became so divided.

Why the 2016 Election Will Be One of the Pivotal Moments of Our Time - Rolling Stone