Posted on 11/07/2019 6:13:58 AM PST by Kaslin
The current state of American politics is eerily reminiscent of the wildfires that recently engulfed the state of California. The conditions are right, the tinder is dry, the crosswinds are high, and the landscape is ripe for conflagration. This is why it's incumbent upon our political leadership to refrain from lighting a match at this critical time.
Pointing out that America is more sharply divided than ever before is an understatement hidden within an obvious truth. The latest polls show that Americans are sharply divided along party lines over the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The divisions are becoming factious. Some are calling for the president's head on a platter for alleged "high crimes and misdemeanors," while the other half of the electorate views the process as a fraudulent end around the democratic process that elected the president.
And yet, despite the tension, politicians on both sides of the aisle continue to fan the flames with combustible rhetoric and brazen stunts designed to further infuriate an already volatile polity. The GOP leadership in Congress has notably engaged in several outrageous stunts -- ranging from obstructing closed-door testimony from a witness into the president's alleged misdeeds to sending empty packing boxes to the offices of several congressional Democrats, which sparked a minor security scare that the Capitol Police had to be called in to investigate.
Meanwhile, the president continues to lead the charge with incendiary accusations against members of Congress that he views as his mortal enemies. Contrast this growing political crisis with the robust -- but in some respects slowing -- economic growth the country is experiencing and one can see how a political crisis can easily spill over into a social upheaval. For most Americans, gaining an economic foothold and continuing to benefit from full employment and rising wages trumps their concerns over the machinations of an insider political fight that seems remarkably distant from their everyday lives.
The Democrats aren't doing any better in terms of their handling of the impeachment inquiry. Their continued failure to disclose evidence and key witnesses -- including the shielding of testimony for the anonymous "whistleblower'" whose damning allegations initially sparked the Congressional impeachment inquiry -- seems, from the perspective of Trump supporters, clear evidence of a deep state run amok.
Adding to the secrecy of the process, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff committed an unforced error in mischaracterizing the president's communications with Ukraine -- which go directly to the substance of the Committee's inquiry. Schiff's gaffe was a serious opening for the president to accuse the whole process of being a kind of "kangaroo" court in which the fact-finding mission of the Congress had already been subsumed by a foregone conclusion that the president is guilty as charged.
As a result, both sides find themselves in an escalating war of rhetoric and legal chicanery that threatens to derail the steady progress America has made on the economic front since Trump was elected. Signs are already pointing to the fact that political uncertainty -- over impeachment, trade deals and economic investment -- is affecting the stock market and other barometers of economic health.
Americans are facing a state of uncertainty that is somewhat unprecedented in recent history: Neither side of the fractured political leadership is taking the moral high ground. Both seem to be pursuing a scorched-earth strategy designed to destroy the other at all costs -- while laying waste to American political and cultural norms in the process. We are beyond partisanship and beyond obstructionism. We have become openly and deliberately hostile to each other. The blame for this state of affairs lies squarely at the feet of our political leaders, on both sides of the aisle, who are behaving not like leaders but like squabbling schoolchildren.
It almost goes without saying that leadership must be founded upon moral principles in order to steady the ship during times of crisis. There needs to be leadership that, irrespective of its partisan ideology, can be trusted to behave with decorum and decency so that whatever result is reached -- whether an impeachment and conviction or absolution -- the American people can at least have faith in the process. Unfortunately, this not the current state of affairs.
As things stand, the issues that divide us have been whipped into a fever pitch. People are terrified that these political brush fires will soon spread into a blazing revolution that cannot be easily contained; they fear a prolonged and uncontrolled conflict that will pit citizen against citizen in interminable internecine strife.
Perhaps even more crucial, amid our partisan rancor, we seem to have lost sight of the role of government -- which is to, in fact, govern responsibly. As a nation that is so sharply divided, we cannot harness the full capacity of our collective genius to solve the real, mounting challenges -- on the environment, on trade, on the national debt and immigration -- that we continue to face. Instead of making progress, we are essentially resigned to managing a chaotic storm of our own making.
My father taught me as a young boy that a steady hand on the tiller can weather any storm. We the people are watching the conduct of the Congress and the White House as we drift into increasing concern about the ability of Washington, D.C., to govern and lead us. It is time for all parties to step back and lower the temperature. An open conflict and lack of respect, both personal and professional, between our president and the Congress is very dangerous and has the potential to cause serious ramifications for our nation.
Williams seems to ascribe equal blame to both sides. He’s wrong. They’re the bad guys and we need to get them out of power.
We have a steady leader. President Trump. I hope that the other side, Communists, Socialists, a/k/a, Democrats never get steady a steady leader.
What a crap column. Neville Chamberlain could have penned it.
I haven’t seen as much “both sides do it” bullsnot since Bill O-Reilly was on the air...
He’s anti-Trump and doesn’t recognize the reality of the world we live in today. Sure, it would be a nice utopia, but when one side is so dead set on preventing a single action by the other from succeeding, the only recourse is to deal with it as Trump has or be eaten alive. Anyone trying to get elected using the author’s approach would be chewed up and spit out in the process. Utopia doesn’t exist when there are people who want what you’ve got.
Roll over? Never!
Armstrong Williams likes the cocktail party circuit too much, where he gets to hob nob with “our betters” and make glib talk about the great unwashed.
While the rhetoric may be heated it is the policies that have created the great divide. Among others but at the front are the 1st and 2nd Amendments, Immigration, Abortion and Capitalism. Where exactly is there anything close to the Left & Right agreeing on these issues?
I only see one side throwing fire bombs daily... that is the Democrats and their lap dog media. Meanwhile the Republicans are up against the ropes trying to figure out how to deal with this Soviet style attack on our Liberties...and they’re not doing a very good job now, are they? There are a few fighters in the GOP but that’s not enough to defeat the tyrants who are in lock step like the Rockettes! Get it together GOP leadership and voting bloc.. or this country is a goner. We’ll have 1 party, the Democrat Politburo and “vee vill comply” ...like good little subjects. Losing VA and KY is bad. Very bad. Mark Levin said it yesterday - people are moving from Blue States to Red States “like locusts” to escape high taxes and constricting regulation and then continue to vote Blue because they’re brainwashed by our crappy ass media. They’re moving to Texas and overtaking the cities. Hell.. I live in a little town just “close enough” to Austin and half my damn neighbors are from California. Newcomers. Democrats. God help us.
Let us strike the match and get it over with.
There is no way to avoid the coming fight. May as well get started.
The blame for fire-starting is ENTIRELY on the Left and has been since at least the day the ink dried on Alinsky’s damned manuscript.
We need to become two countries. Progressives can get EVERYTHING they want:
...open borders,
millions of new illegals from every third world hellhole in the world,
abortion up to and including after birth (if the kid is ugly),
$50 an hour minimum wage,
free health care for all - including for their new third world 'refugees'...
And more - 50 genders,
death penalty for anyone who won't bake a cake for a gay couple,
laws against practicing Christians,
progressives can disarm every citizen including those who cling to their religion and guns...
AND CIA and FBI thugs,
and Washington Bureaucrats
can run their half of the country through intimidation and psyops...
In short, liberals can HAVE IT ALL.
All were asking is for the right for both sides to have their own country. Why won't they stand with us? THEY CAN HAVE IT ALL... JUST HELP US BUILD A WALL SO WHEN THEIR PEOPLE WANT TO ESCAPE THEY CAN'T COME INTO OUR COUNTY.
If that's too much we'll pay for the wall...
Our country will have the 'old' Constitution... and free and safe elections that stop voter fraud.
Why fight when both sides can 'have it all'... Time for a divorce...
Burn it down!
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