Dear Geroge,
When you became President Mr. Washington, in the 'blossoming-stages' there was a widening gap between settlers loyal to the king versus those who felt the tight control of governing from the crown was out of balance. So, from our beginning dualling-division was part of colonial America's rebellious foundation--correct!
And, three centuries later that same governing style is still functioning well with dueling conflicting sides inflamed and fanned [literally] by an openly biased Press--protected [ironically] by our Constitution in order to expose bias.
LIBERAL vs CONSERVATIVE DIVISION...Truly--a progressive, functioning culture needs a balance of both liberal social programs in partnership with [healthy] conservative free enterprise to support them.
Having said that 'truly' too much of either, for too long throws cultures 'out' of balance. You likely noticed this tug-of-war - amplified since the 2016 election that exposed a sleeping partisan volcano. There's no finishing-school that could have polished several of Trump's cringe-worthy remarks [planned or off-cuff]. Even more galling it's not that he didn't understand social-graces -worse- he didn't think they applied to him. However, his presence shook up the artificial polite society of DC.
Steadily over the decades after George Washington left office in 1797, America's elected members began to hide behind a mask of civility to screen their true [personal] intentions. Prior to seeking America's top public office [as global businessperson] Trump had spent years in upper political circles federal, state and city here then too in other countries so he knew how favors were parceled out and by whom.
The American Republic was orchestrated originally as a single party government. There was no intended hierarchy, only regular people from the ranks of farmers and soldiers, merchants, clergy and educators offering their services to coordinate the building of a functioning infrastructure. In 1789 when Geroge Washington was elected his main job was to identify the best possible person or group of people to resolve new issues or needs as they arose. Once the issue was resolved everyone who worked on the task was expected to return to their regular lives.
*The early approach was always-always-always with sights clearly focused on a goal that was best for the nation as a whole...
ABORTION vs LIFE DIVISION...This issue [settled decades ago by every other country on this planet] has been meddled with by both Church and State...Neither medicine nor science has been factored into the debate for long enough to remove the 'drama'.
The State gets involved prior to nearly every election because one side or the other is seeking votes. The Church[es] get involved [historically mainly Catholic] because they seek more 'flock' to lead, to provide ongoing contributions in the collection plates. It's a numbers thing--like calculating the odds in Vegas. What became an impasse for women [mainly Catholic] was the church's stand against 'both' abortion -and- birth control. Any birth control. This meant, regardless of a couple's ability to support more than three or four or five [or more] children the only accepted birth control was either abstinence or the rhythm method. [In theory a human female can only become pregnant a few days each month so by tracking the female period cycle her fertile days could be avoided...In theory]
Since artificial birth control was a sin and abortion was a sin [& illegal] over the centuries tens of thousands of women [married or not] died having too many babies or from self induced abortions in a struggle to keep their family sizes manageable and authority over their own physical bodies.
GUNS vs SAFETY DIVISION...Like everything debatable, interpretation can also be contentious - and so too our Constitution's 1791 2nd Amendment: "the right to keep and bear arms." This was partially based on the 1689 Bill of Rights in English common law that supported; the natural rights of self-defense and resistance to oppression. [However, three hundred years ago those who could afford one carried only a single shot musket...]
The most influential framer was James Madison who felt a Federal army could be kept in check by State militias [of ordinary citizens] able to repel the danger of a federal army. Then I found this telling 1876 Supreme Court ruling [United States vs Cruikshank] "The right to bear arms is 'not-granted' by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second Amendment means no more than it shall not be infringed by Congress with no other effect than to restrict the powers of the National Government." Then in 1939 [United State vs Miller] the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment 'did not' protect weapon types...So understanding the original 'intent' [on the heels of independence from England] was that ordinary citizens had the right to defend themselves against a rogue-government...
To that end three centuries after independence perhaps: a] education programs that identify and help at risk children at a younger age who live in troubled homes; b] raise the age to purchase 'any' automatic weapon to 25 with safety training and follow up; c] make detailed background checks and longer wait times mandatory; d] stronger soft-target security; e] make the manufacture, sale and promotion of assault style/automatic weapons -and parts- more of a liability to stores and factories; f] provide zero media attention or notoriety to a perpetrator--no name no photo...
*Question: Why do we have a Hate-Crime designation? Isn't any murder hateful all on it's own?
HOMOSEXUAL vs HETEROSEXUAL DIVISION...My younger brother's twin boys turned 11 and are heading to Middle School in the fall. On the phone a few days ago I had a brief conversation with him about how he and his wife were approaching the topic of the birds & the bees--since these days addressing puberty with boys and girls is not simple...
Coming to terms with 'who-am-I' is challenge enough for a boy attracted to a girl or a girl attracted to a boy - so adding in a boy who is attracted to another boy or a girl attracted to another girl is a harsh twist of nature. I'm not even going to pretend I understand the emotional and biological mechanics of either level of attraction, because none of us [heterosexual or homosexual] understand it either. What I do understand is that within the majority-straight community is a minority-gay community of people who are full contributing members to society en masse from whom we benefit.
Mixed in with our cultural confusion around the gay community--more recently--bloomed a focus on transgender people. Somehow transgender people have become lumped in with gays and lesbians which has added more fear than resolution by education. It's not enough to say; "just accept them" - we need to understand. A [true] transgender birth is an anomaly that occurs with 1 in 83,000 live births. It's the result of a hormonal imbalance occurring in the fetal brain to differentiate development as a male/brain or a female/brain. Typically, there is also both male and female reproductive organs present--with an underdeveloped uterus, penis and scrotum. This is a correctable medical condition...
Exaggerated division permeates our news and social media. Why do we have hate-crimes vs regular crimes? Why is there black vs white? Why gas fueled vehicles vs electric powered vehicles? We have thousands of civil rights lawsuits that when we plough through the decades of so many cases, the fillings actually begin to contradict each other...
*We have been conditioned to accept an us vs them mentality instead of giving careful thought to varied opinions because distracting us with commotion sells more newspapers or attracts more viewers or gets someone elected or re-elected...
Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award-winning novelist and former journalist...
