Political divisiveness will destroy us

What have we allowed ourselves to become?

I read the letters submitted here daily and consistently find myself shaking my head in disbelief of the divisive, distracted society that we have apparently become. The “left” rails at the “right” and vice versa, yet the center focus where the answers to our challenges will be found is rarely to be found. To illustrate my point, two excerpts, one from each of the equally polarized letters found in the Memorial Day issue of the Bradenton Herald for consideration: “...a system designed to destroy the Constitution and the government itself through exorbitant demands which no government could fulfill,” and “...if the president is allowed to ignore and/or circumvent the law, our society will spiral into anarchy, rebellion, and destruction.”

Both of these statements absolutely true and synonymous, yet from two clearly polarized individual perspectives. Which is which? Can anyone tell without reading the far more subjective assertions included in these letters, neither of which could ever possibly result in a mending of human fences, resumption of domestic tranquility, or a return to “greatness” for our nation?

Surely as a society we have not become so blind or ignorant to the partisan political manipulation being played out to us daily, that we will create the very self-fulfilling prophecy that those two excerpts illustrate. I implore you to wake up, people, before we irreversibly become the very thing that we express fear of within the divisive rhetoric that pervades our current discourse. The answers to our societal desires and fears are found almost exclusively in the center focus, the exact place that those who have us divided do not want us to look. Both the “right” and the “left” have no choice but to meet in the middle if we are to survive, much less prosper as a nation and world. I, for one, hope that we wake up before that center greatness can no longer be found. Ours, and our children’s future depends on it.

This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Political divisiveness will destroy us."