Posted on 01/15/2021 6:47:08 AM PST by Kaslin
It's been obvious for quite a while that our country is coming apart at the seams. People on all sides are upset, and they want to punish their political opponents. We aren't able to disagree in a productive way. We demonize one another; we are too partisan; and we are definitely too angry. This isn't unique to the right or the left. It's all of us.
If the riots in Washington, and those before them in cities across America, didn't prove we have grown out of control, then nothing will. There were, of course, well-meaning people in Washington who were there because they love their country and who did not condone the worst behavior. The same was true of the Black Lives Matter marches around the country, which were populated by a lot of people with good intentions coupled with a radical element intent on destruction. Nonetheless, the images from the Capitol are hard to watch.
The big question is, what do we do now? How do we come together and heal a broken country? There are certainly policy changes we need to debate, but our problems are deeper than policy. Before we begin those debates, we need to change our culture.
The first step is for those in positions of power to realize how frustrated and unhappy many Americans are. Low wage growth coupled with massively increasing costs for things like health care and education have left people feeling stagnant and worried about a lack of opportunity for themselves and their children. People at the upper ends of our income scale are not just surviving but thriving like never before. Globalism, automation and all that comes with them are an amazing boon for a tiny number of Americans, and they are causing a lot of pain for a great many more.
COVID-19 has exacerbated this dynamic. Addressing our growing inequality without killing our economic growth and the dynamism so essential for our economy is amazingly difficult and complicated. We have spent too little time and effort thinking through these issues. It's easy for those doing well to laugh at the crazies, and some of last week's behavior gave them all the more reason to do so. But that is precisely the attitude that brought us to the sad place we are at.
For those of us not in positions of power, the vast majority of Americans, we have to decide if we have a country worth saving. If we do, then we all have to change our behavior. There are practical things each of us can do. I've already started, and it's working for me. Maybe this plan can work for others.
No. 1: Turn off the TV.
Cable news is bad for you. It doesn't matter if you are addicted to Fox or MSNBC. It's all infotainment. With some notable exceptions, and there are some, TV is not designed to inform or educate you. TV producers are a lot like the engineers who obsess over how to keep us in casinos. Casinos famously spend amazing amounts of time and money figuring out how to keep people at the tables: the sounds, the air pumped in, the free drinks and the confusing layouts with the hidden exits. These are not perks or design flaws. They are all deliberately placed to keep you in your seat gambling more than you planned on.
Most cable news is the same. They know what you are emotional about, and they play it up to keep you watching. If guests aren't partisan enough, the producers tell them to up the volume and the rancor. This can make for entertaining programming, but it's not good for us.
Try stopping. You will feel better.
No. 2: Read news from a variety of sources.
The largest newsrooms with the most in-depth news coverage are still the traditional liberal corporate media behemoths. If you aren't reading The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times or The Washington Post, you are missing out on a lot of good reporting. But if you are only reading those outlets, then you are missing out on a great deal of news they are either too biased to cover or determined to cover unfairly. Each of those outlets has grown even more liberal over the years, so if you want a more complete picture, balance that diet out with reporting from newer, independent news sources working hard to bring you information and ideas that are missing from corporate media.
I founded the Daily Caller, so I don't pretend to be unbiased here, but we have a 100-person newsroom producing a couple of hundred pieces of real news, grounded in hard facts, every single day. We fill in many gaps that the corporate media overlooks because of their own biases. And we aren't the only ones. The Washington Examiner, for example, does the same.
No. 3: Speak with more people outside your political bubble.
We are spending too much time in our bubbles. The internet has made everything more efficient, and we can easily find news or information that confirms our personal biases and read nothing else. Too many people do this. It's lazy. It's not healthy. We all have friends or family that we disagree with politically. It's good to debate people with different views. You may learn something new, or at least understand where the other side is coming from. They can do the same. Anyone who isn't doing this regularly should really start.
Our country is in pain right now. If we don't begin to heal, there is no telling where things will go. If recent events don't convince every American that we need to try to come together, then God help us all. We have an amazing country, unique and impressive in so many ways. It's worth fixing. Given where we are, though, things are not going to fix themselves. It's easy to pretend that the problem is just with our leaders or with the people who think differently, but it's not. We have the leaders we deserve. We are the problem. We each have some responsibility for the sad place we are at, and we each have a role to play in fixing it. I hope we try.
Globalism, automation and all that comes with them are an amazing boon for a tiny number of Americans, and they are causing a lot of pain for a great many more.
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Our elites (both parties) like it this way.
It will get worse, not better.
They just cheated out of office the one man who was trying to make things better for everyone.
That’s what the left needs to do, not us.
When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1821
I was okay with #1, but when you suggested reading WaPo & NYTimes I knew this was leftist BS. Then you wanted people to step out of their bubble? People are losing their jobs because they are stating their objection to the oppression of Free Speech. And you have bad Americans spying on other Americans to see if their following COVID mandates.
No voice, no vote, no law, no justice!
Number 2 requires getting rid of most Republican officeholders, they ARE progressives, too.
Lol!
Three Easy steps:
1. Restore real voting integrity.
2. Remove all politicians who have been elected during voter fraud. I mean start over completely.
3. Balanced Budget Amendment, Congress doesn’t get paid or get benefits unless they produce balanced budgets.
4. Flat tax rate for EVERYONE.
5. Term limits for Congress.
Lets try that first, next time we have a Republic.
It will have to be the military.
Don’t know what school the author attended, it obviously does not teach history.
Kill “them” all?
Just a guess.
1. Exterminate progressives
2. Do a good job of #1
3. Check carefully to insure you got them all
There can be no coexistence any longer
My sentiments exactly
Vote in person, on election day, with a photo ID.
If you can’t show up or don’t have an ID, too freakin bad.
I participate in a local SE Ohio political forum. Judging from 90% of the posts, national reconciliation is not possible. I can understand being anti trump from an ideological perspective. What I cannot understand is the personal rage being directed at the President and all who supported him.
Agreed, and honestly, I'm smart enough to discern media bias so I don't have to turn off anything. There really is only one chance out of this. elected Republicans have to fight for us, that's why we elected them to represent us. If they don't fight, they will continue to see the GOP party weaken.
Well said.
With just “One Weird Trick”
Here’s the problem.
First off, while I know “our side” has their own bubble too, the real problem is the left’s bubble. It’s far worse, and your message will not reach them.
Secondly, and related to the first, media dominance. Their propaganda is so pervasively propagated by the MSM and big tech that it’s excepted as the norm. This goes back to point one about the bubble problem. You’re not going to penetrate theirs. Your advice is falling mostly on the choir.
Ted Cruz, Nikki Haley, Jim Jordan, Kristi Noem, Tom Cotton, Dan Crenshaw, Elise Stefanik, Tim Scott, Other
Notice no Trump family members? Even had the audacity to try and sell me an orange color cap. Red must now be toxic.
I wrote in Donald John Trump for other.
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