From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. -- speech at Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946
My Take - I'm beginning to worry about political separation of our country along mostly geographical lines. The Democrats seem to have the Northeast, the West Coast, and some parts of the Mid-West pretty much sewn up. The Republicans seem to have most of the South, the majority of the Mid-West, and the Desert Southwest in their corner. There are a few battleground states, such as Ohio and Florida that the parties concentrate their fight in when the elections come around.
What this can lead to is "They don't represent me" talk when the opposing party is in power. I know I'm naive, but party politics aren't supposed to come into play when dealing with national issues. But both major parties are guilty of putting party before country in recent years on some very important problems.
When entire geographical sections of the country feels like Washington is ignoring them, radicals in both parties can use that as a lever to drive things even further apart. Both parties need to remember that it's not the "Democrat States of America" or the "Republican States of America", but the "United States of America".
I read one yesterday, from Churchill, when he was still a very junior senator - "The dignity of a prime minister, like the virginity of a lady, is not subject to partial diminution!"
...and yes, I see the government help of FEMA being only extended to disasters in the favored party's land as very much in line with that iron curtain, trying to define the country as "with us" or "unimportant, because they're not us."
2 comments:
My Take - I'm beginning to worry about political separation of our country along mostly geographical lines. The Democrats seem to have the Northeast, the West Coast, and some parts of the Mid-West pretty much sewn up. The Republicans seem to have most of the South, the majority of the Mid-West, and the Desert Southwest in their corner. There are a few battleground states, such as Ohio and Florida that the parties concentrate their fight in when the elections come around.
What this can lead to is "They don't represent me" talk when the opposing party is in power. I know I'm naive, but party politics aren't supposed to come into play when dealing with national issues. But both major parties are guilty of putting party before country in recent years on some very important problems.
When entire geographical sections of the country feels like Washington is ignoring them, radicals in both parties can use that as a lever to drive things even further apart. Both parties need to remember that it's not the "Democrat States of America" or the "Republican States of America", but the "United States of America".
I read one yesterday, from Churchill, when he was still a very junior senator - "The dignity of a prime minister, like the virginity of a lady, is not subject to partial diminution!"
...and yes, I see the government help of FEMA being only extended to disasters in the favored party's land as very much in line with that iron curtain, trying to define the country as "with us" or "unimportant, because they're not us."
Post a Comment