John F. Kennedy once said we don’t need to look for the Republican answer or the Democrat answer, but the right answer. This sentiment seems to be lost. As I watch politics play out in my country, I feel like I’m watching a bad reality TV show. Wars are bloody, and this feels like war. Unless we are to parcel off land and divide it among the current warring factions, we must find a way to get to unifying ground, lest we sink in the mire of hatred and division. How many people will die if “Obamacare” explodes? What will the casualty count be if Trump fails at presiding? What are the costs if the only policy is to repeal any and everything Obama? What are the consequences if the GOP can’t unite and reach across the aisle to build policy with Democrats, or if Democrats petulantly say no to any olive branch offered?
Many who voiced vexation at Colin Kaepernick’s protest during the national anthem use that same voice to pledge allegiance to a flag and the indivisible nation for which it stands. Is there not deep hypocrisy in the casting of that stone, when we mumble by rote our allegiance to a nation that seems anything but indivisible? What can we do, other than to watch it all play out? We can keep our rocks inside our own glass houses. We can be informed. We can contact our congressmen and let our voices be heard. We can count each man as our brother and seek to see the good, especially where we think there is none. Mostly we can remind ourselves, as we smirk at the latest faux pas of the other side, that either we all win or we all lose.