Them vs.Us 🤼‍♂️

     I haven’t seen this country as divided since the Civil War and I grew up during the 60s ✌🏼. While I don’t claim to have first-hand knowledge of the Civil War, I did just turn 70. Maybe it is just that I’m more politically invested than I have been before because of the inequities and unfairness rampant in the country. Inequality we’ve had forever, long before it was an issue that was allowed to be mentioned in “polite society”. But these days I hear more people using the terms “them” and “us”.

     So who are them and who are us? Them can be All Men and Us can be All Women. Them can be Any person of color, Any religious belief, Any sexual identity and Us is anybody else. Them can be the police and Us can be anyone who fits a stereotypical profile. Maybe Them is just anyone who isn’t You. The divisions seem to have no clear definition, or at the very least, supportable reasons that make sense. When I describe myself I say (in no real particular order), I am a woman, a senior citizen, an American, a wife, a dog mom, a stepmother/step grandmother, a hobbyist, a blogger, a reader, et blah, blah, blah. My first inclination is not to denote my political affiliation.

     Currently, whenever I see politicians on television, they all seem more interested in putting party first; before constituents, before country, before everything. Not everything is political. If you live anywhere in this country, infrastructure is a real problem! Not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. It’s a people issue, a safety issue. Gun violence shouldn’t be a political controversy, it’s a human tragedy that other countries get solved within 30 days of a mass shooting while it has taken 20 years here because it’s been made a political hot topic that gets donor dollars into re-election pockets. Affordable healthcare is critical, women’s health and reproductive rights shouldn’t be political. Men’s health and reproductive rights certainly aren’t the subject of any political discussions. We don’t need just a Republican plan or Democratic solution. Anyone will tell you all jobs are easier when many people take them on. A lot of different ideas coming together to find an answer is easier.

     If anyone who reads this blog (and so far very, very few persons are) can explain why one person can lie repeatedly and have others swear to the lie just because of party affiliation, I’d love to hear it. I’m willing, anxious and eager to listen. I genuinely want to understand. I want to know how someone can abandon their principles, values and morals because party affiliation trumps being principled, moral or understanding the difference between right and wrong. Really, I want to know because any time I’ve done something I knew wasn’t the right thing to do, my conscience kicked in and I felt horrible. Fortunately those times usually affected only me. I can’t imagine doing something I know could or would negatively affect thousands of people and justify that by saying my political views take precedent to make it the right course of action.