Posted on 04/21/2017 6:17:40 PM PDT by blam
America has always had its divisions, and Americans have never really been a monolith. We’ve always been a nation of many nations. The culture of New England is different from the culture of the Deep South, which is different from the cultures in the West Coast or the Midwest. People living in the cities have different beliefs than people who live in the countryside. Within those areas, there are ethnic, linguistic, and religious enclaves. It’s always kind of been like that (probably to a lesser degree in the past), and somehow we’ve been able to find enough common ground to keep this country together for more than a century.
However, something has changed. You can feel it in the air. Our nation has clearly never been this divided since the Civil War. A lot of people noticed it after the last election, but the truth is that these divisions have been deepening for decades, and they’re just now reaching a very noticeable breaking point. That’s obvious enough when you look at how the left and the right have been going at each other. It used to be a war of words, but it’s turning into something very dark.
Consider what happened last week in Berkeley after Trump supporters and counter protesters clashed for the third time. 21 people were arrested and 11 were injured (that we know of), six of who had to be taken to the hospital. At least one person was stabbed. The police confiscated confiscated knives, stun guns, and poles. One Trump supporter admitted to being surrounded, pepper sprayed, and beaten with sticks by a mob of “protesters.”
But wait, that’s not the dark part. After these groups clashed, the leftist protesters took to Reddit and admitted that they lost this particular battle ...
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...
If you're talking about student/campus protests, for the most part, they only made messes, destroyed college offices, classrooms, and the like.....until 1970 and Kent State.
Still and all, even including Kent State, protesters weren't going after others with knives, bicycle wracks, bicycle locks, pepper spray, etc.!
The exception to this, was the RED DIAPER BABY fomented and led ( and the vast majority of the leaders were all WELL OVER 30...the very people, they were telling the idiot kids to NEVER "trust"! )garbage at the '68 Dem Convention in Chicago. I personally witnessed ( only be chance/accident ) the "troops" being "trained" in the use of plastic bags filled with urine and/or feces, acts that would get the police to attack, and what to chant, in Central Park. And yes, it was a scary scene.
OTOH....I had NO fear of confronting these cretins, in Greenwich Village, standing up to them and using their own words and memes against them. Yes, in retrospect, I was probably a bit foolhearty; however, it was usually just words and I was ( still am !), better with words, than most.
Today, groups like Antifa, a group that was started in Europe, are MUCH m ore dangerous and better funded ( Soros ), than the groups of the late '60s and early '70s...except for the Weathermen.
True. And a government that looks out for itself with the resources to make survival more difficult
You nailed it, common memory among men is the primary force in our world..... United we stand, divided we fall is a prophecy.
I’ve pondered various belief systems through the ages, and our nation has become untethered from our past cohesive Christian faith.
Our leaders continue to lie to us and pass laws that limit our liberty.
Look at ObamaCare, Ryan says they can’t repeal it, but told us if we gave republicans the WH they would repeal it.
Ryan is doomed to repeat history...
No North or South. Just the “cities”. It will be as it has been down through history, rural vs urban. Farmland vs pavement. Why is it that the “cities” can’t understand they are surrounded by a sea of red. IMHO
OTOH, one doesn't have to be a Christian, to be a good American and/or have a shared culture and American experience.
There was a time, not really all THAT long ago, when patriotism and FACTUAL American history were taught in ALL schools.
Also, we have NEVER, prior to Obama, had a president who went out of his way to verbally tear down this nation AND set one group against another almost daily.
It isn't just wee barry; no, the shared culture and experience, of this nation, has been on the down turn for about two generations.
Some people here are famous for disregarding fact in their character assassination attacks since dealing with facts is a losing proposition for them.
Is it really that divided, or has the media hyped a few antifa, BLM etc. to the point that we all believe it?
Clearly the far left exists, and is beyond reason or reality.
However, I am quite encouraged by the number of minorities that are out there who appear to be waking up to the Global/Elite Duopoly that intends to keep us all on the plantation.
I saw a 1960s black panther on Fox news who called out Elijah Cummings for joining the oppressors - the Dems. He talked about the Dems being responsible for the Jim Crow laws etc.
Are there still too many low info voters - yes. Every year, I try to convert Dems that I know - it works because at heart they are socially conservative, but have fallen for a bunch of bull.
“Just remember through all of this, if it is wearing a face covering, it is the enemy and fair game as a terrorist.”
Hey, now, if I have to take to the field in a Colorado winter, I’m likely to want a balaclava myself.
Do you somehow not understand this?
I remember Reagan actually being shot! By a crazy, yes, but I can't help but feel that it was the hatred spewed by the press and the left, that helped drive the crazy man to do the heinous crime.
Yes, I have.
Again the level of division now does not compare to the Reagan Reagan era. Not even close.
Bmfl & thanks for the info!
Dings get worked up by what they see and hear on TV, that is the point. I don't remember Reagan ever getting a fair shake from the Democrats or the press. I remember report after report at how stupid he was or how he was too old.
Reagan was successful despite a system that was polarized against him. You can't look at Reagan's successes and think "Oh! Reagan was successful because we just weren't as divided then as we are now". I think that diminishes just what Reagan accomplished. Reagan had to work with Tip O'Neal as speaker of the house, a Democrat.
Also in hind sight the Conservative politicians were sprinkled between the 2 parties. Over time Conservatives have drifted over to the Republican Party and the Northeast liberal republicans have drifted over to the democrat party. This gives the appearance of more polarization today but it was alive and well in the 80s.
In 2000 Walter Williams wrote an editorial "It's Time to Part Company" calling for secession of conservatives from the US and proposing taking Louisiana and Texas as the states that should form a new Conservative nation. He didn't write that because we had just started to become divided, he wrote that because he realized that we have always been that divided and that the only solution is to go our separate ways.
You’re a disingenuous individual. You were talking about a DIVIDED country. No? Reagan era did not come close to this Trump era. No comparison at all and it hasn’t even been 100 days..This nation is dangerously divided.
How divided are we now? It’s now vogue to publicly state you want to assassinate the president of the United States.
Not enough for ya? Not only are the democrats against Trump, but the Republicans are as well.
The Reagan era did not even come close, and were not talking about some mental cases attempting to shoot a potus to impress a celebrity.
I suggest pay better attention to what the hell is going on.
And this was not the issue. Reagan's success had zip to do with the country being divided. And he was somewhat successful because the country was certainly no where near as divided as it is in 2017 America, regardless of what you claim.
It was a completely different era.
What you're seeing now is widespread organized media and D.C., corruption and deceit focused directly at Trump, 24/7 daily, for nearly two years now. Did that happen with Reagan? Certainly not!
How bad is it? Even our intelligence agencies are attempting to illegally undermine and compromise Trump. Did that happen with Reagan? Certainly not!
Pay attention.
DC has been corrupt before I was born. Probably the greater part of the 20th century.
The news media attacks used to work so they didn't have to keep it up 24/7 for 2 years. A couple of weeks or a couple of months would suffice.
Even our intelligence agencies are attempting to illegally undermine and compromise Trump.
You're naive if you think the intelligence agencies just started this crap. They got caught is all. That's like saying my first speeding ticket was the only time I ever went over the speed limit and I was just unlucky.
Ask yourself this had any other Republican won, do you think we would be seeing what we are seeing now? My answer is no. You would see a weak kneed politician caving in to the establishment and then everything would look calm again. The divisions you think are worse would be notched down because they have the President under control.
Think of GWB1 he dumped his "read my lips" promise as soon as there was the least bit of turbulence. How bad do you think it would be if he put up a fight? You see when you play ball with the left they take it easy on you.
The apparatus has been in place for decades we are just seeing it used at full volume.
Did our intelligence agency attempt to illegally undermine and compromise Trump? Did that occur to during Reagan? Did it become cool and vogue to call for Reagan's assassination like they do with Trump? Did the media attack Reagan 24/7 from the second Trump announced his candidacy? Did half the country declare Reagan was not their president?
In fact I think you're the only one on this forum or any venue to ever deny or dispute the country is far more divided today than it was with Reagan. You've got some kind of warped perception regarding what happened during Reagan as opposed to what is happening right under your nose right now.
I'm not yet sure if you're just stupid, or just simply playing the stupid role.
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