I can’t imagine that any of you haven’t experienced a time or more when a congenial conversation turned angry, perhaps aggressively so, when the mere mention of conservative vs. liberal orientation or reference to a topic with hot-button partisan overtones one way or another didn’t abruptly end the entire discussion.
Leaving no doubt regarding my own heavily tilted political leanings has sadly frayed and handicapped otherwise cordial, sometimes very affectionate relationships with family members and long-time friends.
Might I have done more, behaved better, to prevent or mend these cleavages before they became terminal?
My wife Nancy often tells me yes, I could and should have. And just occasionally she may be right.
My lame excuses: “I’m better informed on particular issues,” or “They’re only relying on talking points that provide one side,” or “Their candidate choice is pick a label."
And then I’m content to terminate the conversation too, and sometimes any desire for future contact with that hopeless bonehead as well.
At the same time, I often can’t help feeling that even if I win the argument — or at least believe I have — I have lost something much larger, more important.
Maybe that might be a very personal relationship that evolved through a common history of special experiences, trust in integrity established throughout difficult times, shared values and dreams for our lives and children.
Maybe we might miss out on getting to know someone better and learning new things from them, exchanging experiences and ideas regarding common interests, discovering they are fun to be with, realizing that there might even be a couple aspects of their political opinions and priorities that make a little sense.
How did we become so divided?
Were we pushed in different directions by changing times and events that affected us differently, more impactfully, based upon individual economic and social conditions, special age and health circumstances and priorities, environmental and/or lifestyle climates of locations where we live?
Were we pulled apart by differing observations such as through engagement in business, social and political networks along with foreign travel-based experiences which influenced viewpoints regarding what sorts of domestic and global government policies have turned out best and badly for the entire country?
And what changed in our individual outlooks?
Did accelerating social changes alter our realities more rapidly than we could adjust to? Or do they open new reality opportunities that are even better than before?
I’ll freely admit here to holding some both pessimistic and optimistic viewpoints, most particularly regarding events that are transforming the American democratic republic free enterprise landscape.
For example, I believe far too much power and control have shifted from states — as foundational in our Constitution — to unaccountable unelected federal government bureaucracies that establish ill-fitting one-size rules enforced through central collection and redistribution independent of special regional needs and priorities.
I believe in richness of cultural diversity based upon a guarantee of equal opportunities rather than equity of outcomes for all — the latter inevitably fostering Marxist victim-oppressor, divide-and-conquer tyranny that destroys individual initiative and collaborative spirit of national pride, unity, and progress.
And yes, whereas I believe we have been slipping for some time — a growing federal bureaucracy and shrinking appreciation among many for benefits of free enterprise over free lunches — I also believe that more and more fellow citizens agree that this doesn’t have to be a new normal … that better times are ahead.
Sadly, this optimistic sentiment clearly wasn’t evident as witnessed by the dour and angry composure of everyone sitting on the Democratic aisle side at President Trump’s March 4 speech to Congress who refused to applaud even the most common-sense statements and heartwarming gestures to honored guests who have suffered and triumphed over tragedies.
The most assertive act of resistance came from Rep. Al Greene, D-Texas, who was escorted out of the House chambers for rudely heckling the president and refusing to take his seat.
Numerous other Democrats held up silly paddles with the phrases "That's a lie!" or "Musk steals."
That disgraceful disrespect for the office — if not the person — of an elected president presented an ugly, hatefully divisive image of today’s America.
But then there’s very good encouraging news too!
A CBS News poll showed that a whopping 76% of people who watched the address approved of what Trump had to say … things like protecting sovereign American borders is a good idea, and allowing boys in girls’ sports isn’t.
And that’s a whole lot of common-sense acceptance by any metric.
I bet if we all tried harder, we could reach across our own ideological aisles to discover many other issues to agree on as well, and if not, at least agree to disagree more intelligently and politely.
After all, we all share a big common interest worth agreeing about.
Let’s make America friendlier again.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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