United We Stand . . .

I was going to sit on this for a while, but the rhetoric that has been poring out, especially on Facebook, is starting to drive me crazy, so here goes.

When the Tea Party first hit the scene, I loved the idea of going back to the founding fathers for inspiration, of trying to ground our politics in their ideals. Since then, I've become less a fan of the Tea Party-ers and I'm going to try to explain why here. The flag they chose to represent their movement is significant, and a good move rhetorically for their professed purpose. But, as I've been thinking about it, I would choose a different snake to represent my feelings about the current political situation in the United States of America.

As the colonists were struggling to develop their identity, Ben Franklin published the first political cartoon in America. It represented the colonies as a snake having been cut into several pieces, drawing on the superstition that a snake would survive if its severed body was rejoined before the sun went down.

If I were to make a political push, this would be the symbol I would choose. As I watch and listen to the speeches and Facebook posts and arguments and commentary, all I hear is antagonism toward anyone who opposes the speaker's point of view. Frankly, I'm getting tired of it. And I think that if the situation isn't remedied that we are going to see the death of the nation.

I understand that politically speaking some of us will never see eye to eye. I respect the differences and I recognize that creates some serious challenges. It seemed, though, that in the past there was more willingness to find some sort of workable middle ground. As I understand it, there were compromises in the framing of our country, not because people enjoyed the compromises but because they understood the need for a greater good, for a unified nation over the need to enforce their own agenda.

I thought about putting in examples, but I don't think I will. Because of my experience, I have friends from all sorts of political views. The lack of willingness to honestly try to find a middle ground is a guilt that both the left and the right share. As a nation, we seem unwilling to admit that we agree on anything, except that we don't agree on anything.

Honestly, that scares me a little. I don't think that any good can come from perpetuating the current political climate.

. . . divided we fall.