re: #142 palomino

I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s too late. American politics is already what you fear it will become. There’s little constructive debate out there; it’s been replaced primarily by hyperbole, identity politics, and contempt for the other side.

It’s unrealistic to think that America can soon become united—we’re the most diverse country in the world by most measures. The divisions are real, and will not be easily smoothed over. This is America’s greatest challenge now. The way Obama’s been treated non-stop for 5 years gives me little hope that the discourse will improve.

Do you see any signs of improvement in the discourse on the right? If not, then don’t expect improvement on the left. Both sides want to win. And, even more so, both sides are angry.

I know what politics has become. I do not approve, and I believe that it can improve. If it can’t, I’ve still got to look at myself in the mirror every morning.

Am I seriously supposed to accept that as a liberal and a Democrat, I should not speak out against religious bigotry when it’s being aimed at the other guys? I should figure that reviving hundred-year-old paranoia against Mormons is just the way things go these days? What the hell am I going to do if the Republicans get it together to run a black guy a few cycles down the road? Or a Muslim?

‘People are angry’ is the excuse that’s been made by those who’ve attacked Obama. I don’t care how mad Brian Schweitzer is, he’s out of line. Seriously, this is MITT ROMNEY, and the meanest thing he can think of to say about the man is that his father was born in a ‘polygamy colony’?