Divided We Fall
by James Glaser
September 22, 2011

I think my mother was the Democrat of the family, while dad tended toward being the Republican. I know that dad could not stand listening to Hubert Humphrey, but mom could listen to him go on for hours, and he did go on for hours sometimes.

Even though they had different political beliefs, I never heard them argue about politics. Probably the worst thing I ever heard them say was, "Ok, let's go cancel out our votes" as they walked up to the Highland Park Fire hall to vote. I can remember going with each of them. Mother had a piece of paper with her picks written out. Dad had his in his head. When the election was over, the winner was the winner no matter which side won, and we never heard about politics until the next election season at least a year and a half later.

Today, election season never ends. Today, the complaints about the winner start even before they take their oath of office. We all know how much was spent (always way too much) on any President-elect's inauguration, and we know which corporation put up the money.

From the day after the election we have non-stop news programs on what is going on politically, and how different votes or ideas will affect that politician's next election. All the while we are watching commercials from the corporation that brings us that "news" show.

It is now blatant. It takes only a few words for you to figure out on which side of the political spectrum that station and its commentators are. Some of the "stars" of those political programs like to think of themselves as journalists, but journalism is probably the farthest thing from their minds as they tar this candidate or feather that one for some comment they made on another station's show the day before. Truly it is all about show ratings, and how much they will be paid out of the price set for those corporate commercials

So, we have the media pushing the Democrats and Republicans farther and farther away from each other as they stir that pot filled with fear and loathing of the other side. All so that the media can make more money. I don't believe "for the good of the country" is even thought about.

We also have our own federal government working hard to divide America. Here is how Nate Hentoff explains it:

Here we are in 2011, with our federal, state and local governments having the technological ability to track and store in massive databases what we say on the phone, in emails, on Facebook, on Twitter and the myriad other digital means in which we communicate. The Obama administration has the power to punish an American for providing "material support" to our terrorist enemies.

Moreover, as I and others have reported, the Department of Justice's Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative, or NSI, enlists We the People to spy on possible seditious Americans among us and report them to the FBI and local and state police.

We are ordered to do this in obedience to the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign. It's up to you to define "suspicious." This is what our America has become.

Just like Nazi Germany, we have neighbors watching neighbors and anything reported, true or not, goes into your file. So if you do have political thoughts or ideas, who really can you trust to tell them to? Will your comment at the Rotary Club be sent to Washington as subversive, and who knows where a letter to the editor will end up?

We are losing our right to free speech, and we are forgetting that we are all Americans, and we are all on the same side.

Washington and the media are making our country an "Us versus Them" nation, and that can only lead to more and more distrust. By Design? It appears so.

Question: Who wins when a country no longer works together as a unit? Answer: Those in power.

With a divided nation, no new ideas will take hold, because if it is brought forth by one side, the other side works to defeat it. That way, with a divided America, those in power stay in power.

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