Hello Diesel,
Unity is what we must strive for. These are our fellow Americans. Sure, most of the extremists are never going to back off. But for the rest of the right who have enabled them, we have to be prepared to allow rational conversation to happen again. I think a lot of people got a big wake-up call on Jan 6th. People on the right have got to be thinking twice about what they stand for. Most people on the right didn't want what happened. Most of the protesters did not break into the capitol. Many thought they were simply going to assemble outside the capitol and demonstrate. Those people stayed outside the barriers for a reason. They may have bought in and showed up for the rally, but they didn't show up with riot gear and zip ties. Only extremists did that.
Now we've got a choice. We can leave it open for unity if people got a big wake up call and want to rethink where they stand, or we can shut the door and keep things bitterly divided, thus ensuring our nation will fail to overcome this.
But we so desperately need to overcome this.
I'm not shutting the door on unity. I can't do that. It would feel like I was shutting the door on America.
We can have our differences on the left and on the right and still have American unity. Unity allows us to hold our own views. That's what America is all about. But we must always remember how much we have in common. We are all lucky to be Americans. There's a lot of people all around the world who wish they were us, even with our problems. I don't want to let what we have slip away. We have to protect our country from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Right now, one of our biggest domestic enemies is bitter division.
We protect our country by leaving the door open for more unity. If we are to ask, as JFK proposed, "What can we do for our country," we have our answer. We can strive for more unity.
I appreciate your perspective, your optimism, and your thoughtful post. You sound like me two or three years ago. I am so far past that. The 2016 election was difficult for most people. I didn't vote for Trump (I didn't vote for Clinton either), but I did not hold a vote for Trump (or Clinton) against anyone. I spent at least the first year and probably close to the first two years of the Trump presidency pleading for unity. I joined online forums to learn why Trump supporters supported him. I had long, patient conversations with relatives and friends who supported Trump. I made a monumental effort to come to terms with the Trumpists in my life and Trumpists in general.
Yet the situation only degraded. Trump dug the death grave deeper every waking hour of every godforsaken day for five long years. He never stopped lying. He hired people to lie for him. How did his supporters react? We all know the answer. They swallowed the poison pill hook, line, and sinker. They completely abandoned reality. They denied things that were undoubtedly true. They insisted on things that were undoubtedly false. They even claimed that the word "fact" doesn't have a definition. In fact, they claimed that no words have definitions, that everything is subjective and relative. There is no universal truth about anything. They claimed that their "opinions", however uniformed or blatantly deceptive, were equally as valid as proven science, medicine, and basic, provable facts. They continue to do all of those things to this very day.
So tell me please, PoliTalker, if you can: How are we supposed to achieve unity with people who don't even operate in reality? If you don't agree that 2 + 2 = 4, then a conversation about math is pointless. If you think that purple is a dinosaur and not a color, we don't have any common ground for a meeting of the minds. This is not about political disagreement. This is about honesty. This is about being a normal, rational person who understands words, uses them appropriately, and acts honestly. Trumpists are none of those things. I would love to restrict our disagreements to budget bills and the national deficit and trade agreements and foreign policy. Instead, we have tens of millions of Americans who believe that their political opponents are satan worshippers who rape babies in the basement of a pizza joint.
Lastly, I do believe in forgiveness, but I also believe that once someone shows their true colors, I should never forget it. I don't hate the Trumpists. I watched them proudly display overt, vile, hurtful, unapologetic racism and hatred for at least four years. They can be part of the American fabric. They're already here. But they may never, ever be a part of my life again. I will not unify with people who hate me because I am not white and not straight. I will not unify with people who trade in lies and then use their religion to condemn me. I'm just not there anymore. I will not be a battered spouse who continues to be abused just because I love my country and my fellow Americans. If Trumpists ever come to their senses, I will reevaluate my position, but I have no hope in the world that that will ever happen.
