"A nation divided ...."
There are many recent news articles about the GOP imploding under the weight of the idiotic antics and positions of its presidential candidates. This implosion, however, is resulting from the implosion of American society. It is a symptom, not a cause. It reflects the current disarray of American society and culture--a cultural that is suffering from severe identity crisis.
There is talk about "making America great again." What the hell does that even mean? When was America every really great? Was America great when it destroyed Native civilizations? How about when it took land from Mexico? Vietnam? Iraq? Is greatness defined by military power?
Is America great because we've been such an open/tolerant society? How did (do) we treat Chinese, Irish, Italian, Puerto Ricans, Latin, Asian, Arab immigrants? Were/have they been welcomed with open arms? Have we embraced the religious beliefs of all? Have we been a nation tolerant of all races? Do we even know if we are a liberal or conservative nation? Do we know what we want to do with education (that is in a crisis of its own)? Are we committed to helping the poor? Have we ever been? Do we support universal health care or are we more concerned about profits for Big Pharma? Do we respect the rights of all or do we choose who and when rights apply?
There are nations with higher standards of living, better health care, lower mortality rates, less stress, and perhaps even more freedom. So again, what greatness did we have that we must return to?
Look, America is a good place to live. There are certainly many worse places. The point is, we lack direction. We have been trying to define who and what we are since the 1700s. We have been fed dogma about who we are, but 'they' have never portrayed reality. We have been brave, we have risen to 'the' occasion, we do sometimes help others (when in someone's best economic interest), and we love to preach but we don't do as we say.
Because of the internet and instant forms of communication, we are now better informed of how messed up we really are. The news is geared to polarizing opinions and the immediate attention and sharing of bad news prevents time to distill and sort out information. We react and no longer respond.
While it may be easy to laugh at our politics, and if it wasn't so sad it would be laughable, we must understand that we are laughing at our selves. Don't be shocked by what Trump does or says, but rather be shocked that people listen to and approve of what he says or does. We, as a people, have a very hard time setting a direction. And, when we do, we sabotage our own efforts. We'll elect a president because of his/her ideas, then put holes in the ship by electing a congress of a totally different persuasion. Then we wonder why nothing ever gets done. We have one side rowing north and the other south and we get angry because we're going in circles.
Rome fell from within, not because of the barbarians. Soon we will have the opportunity to have a president and a congress that could row in the same direction. We need to get it together!
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Implosion is a process in which objects are destroyed by collapsing (or being squeezed in) on themselves."
