... the political landscape in the U.S. didn't seem to look quite like the crater-pocked advertisement for Beautiful Downtown //fill in ravaged city of ideological choice//.
(I had started this article in response to a "challenge" that Alexandra at All Things Beautiful made -- have both the "left" and the "right" join with the the "center" to exchange information about Supreme Court nominee Alito (links, impressions, etc), in a climate that was conducive to actually having discussion, and not a free-fire-zone between the Freepers and Kossacks. However, this article turned into something else, a more general piece about what the state of the nation's discussions has turned into. The "driving" article at All Things Beautifiul is here)
The parties actually were able to work together, no matter which was in the ascendancy, with a concern for doing the nation's business, rather than scoring off the other, disrupting the nation's business for spite, and trying to completely silence any opposition.
My own partisan view is that the current climate was midwived by Newt's "Contract With America," when the new goal was to get power, both political and personal, and keep that power, rather than attend the good of the nation.
We lost the sense and pride of the country as a single nation with many parts.
Now it's "them / us," "rich / poor" "mericuns / immigrints."
Those lines are chalked by both the "right" and the "left," but, again, the "conservatives" seem the more eager to embrace this realm of division and exclusion. ....
... More under the fold.
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