2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Old Man Looking [View all]Gregorian
(23,867 posts)What is it that Noam Chomsky calls republicans? Radical insurgents?
Yesterday, I saw a few posts recommending Jack Pine Radicals forum. That is a forum where many progressive voices from DU have gone after being prevented from posting here. I began thinking that it would be nice to have productive discussion without being irritated by emotionally charged counter-posts. I imagined being a member. Then I imagined how we would all be getting along better than on DU. Then I asked myself if even there, we would be all aligned. Maybe politically, and maybe not. But let's say we began discussing music, or sports. Suddenly we would find ourselves in disagreement. I began asking whether we could find more disagreements, and if those could create a lack of harmony. I'm not sure where this is going. Is there a minimum amount of disagreement below which we all get along? Could we become divided more, over time? There is no doubt we could find disagreement.
Now here's what has been on my mind lately. Both parties have shifted to the right. This is the problem, as I see it. If I think of Noam's words, what I see is that republicans have gone off the charts. They have moved so far right as to be "crazy". And as I experience it, I see the two halves of the Democratic party in a new way. I see one part filling the vacancy left by the republicans, and the other filling what was once the core of the Democratic party. That explains much of my sentiment regarding how I perceive our present situation.
I'm still in a state of shock over this. It's a sad and empty feeling. I guess that's life. Unfortunately, one of my goals in life is to transcend the difficulties of this life. That takes effort and teamwork. It's like America needs political therapy, and we're still debating that there's a problem.
Thanks for posting your thoughts. It's always thought provoking.