A House Divided

I am not sure but it appears that those in politics and those in the conservative and liberal media want a house divided. For some reason they want to set people against each other. The political parties push their agendas on the country to look like they are the only ones who know what is best for all of us. Like a father setting down the rules, making sure they are followed and punishing the members of the family who stray a little to far often avoiding the caring and love that seems like weakness or laziness. Or, they are like mothers who attempt to comfort and establish an atmosphere in the house that is congenial and loving, often avoiding the necessary harshness of the world that comes whether we like it or not.

Then there are those in the media who purposefully create division and schedule opposing sides to that there is yelling, over talking and hostility to make sure that the rating will go up and more people will watch their programs. Sound bites are more important that getting the whole story, the commercials are more important than the news, after all they help the economy prosper and with all the drug advertisement hopefully we will feel better…..artificially. There are the screechers, (the combination of screamers and political preachers) looking to be talked about by other screechers which promotes each other's ratings. From all of this there is no common word, no productive debate, no national consensus, just self-centered promotion of old worn out ideas and rhetoric.

The result of all of this is a house, a nation a people divided. We have forgotten that whether right, left or in the middle we are all kin, we are all citizens of the same country. We have given away our rights and ability to speak freely, to offer new ideas and to care for those who disagree or are different from us. It feels that some would want a civil war, at least with words and ideas. The ratings would soar, polarization would help political party promotion and commercials would be worth more during prime time. Lincoln, among others knew that a house divided could not stand. But then he didn't realize that rating are the name of the game, being right or left was more important than the common good. From my understanding he felt that justice was more important that Prozac and that a nation united was more important than which party was in power. Perhaps that is one reason he placed those who disagreed with him and were from the opposing party into his cabinet. It was more important to do what was best for all than for one, whether we agree with them or not.



dana.houck1@gmail.com  Phone 507.339.0045