I have been thinking a lot lately about Political Wrinkles and it's members. I've been thinking about how divided we are today compared to when I joined. I think our divide is indicative of what is happening in our country.

We have become so divided in the country that I'm afraid we will never get back to a country that can get along with the other side.

This was a happy little bunch of posters when I first joined and we became friends, cyberfriends really. We discussed things on a mostly civilized manner, but, today not so much. We might be able to gain some civility with one another after the election is over, but I doubt the country will ever heal. We have drawn battle lines and if one crosses that line, by god, watch out.

I know I have become less civil at times and can be downright ornery, and I have seen the same from others.

I just wonder what will become of our nation if we don't try and mend fences between liberals and conservatives? Will we split as a nation?

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Courtesy of Swissman

A gun in the hands of a free man frightens and angers the autocrat, not because he fears the power of the gun, but, rather, the spirit of the man who holds it.

ANONYMOUS

We will never split physically as a country, though mentally and civilly we already are. I am afraid that once the paper has been crumpled it can't be perfect again. We can flatten it and make it better, but we will always be some wrinkled, divided, different.

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"In Honor There Is Hope"

Canada born, Georgia raised.

I think you are right in many ways

However, our country has been polarized and politically split before in history and will no doubt be again....I think eventually the pendulum will swing back to sanity and we will remember that we're Americans together.

I do see what you mean though, and I find myself angrier and sometimes nastier than I want to be....

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DISCLAIMER: Extreme amounts of sarcasm can possibly result in inflammatory situations. Not responsible for keyboard violence, spittle on the monitor, irrational responses mistaken for momentary brilliance, one-sided rages against hypocrisy or individual members or unintended consequences such as poor personal hygiene and bad spelling. Please fasten your seatbelts and put your trays in an upright position.

Interesting analogy

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DISCLAIMER: Extreme amounts of sarcasm can possibly result in inflammatory situations. Not responsible for keyboard violence, spittle on the monitor, irrational responses mistaken for momentary brilliance, one-sided rages against hypocrisy or individual members or unintended consequences such as poor personal hygiene and bad spelling. Please fasten your seatbelts and put your trays in an upright position.

A lot of this started with the Nixon witchhunt. Prior to that, both sides were a lot more civil to each other.

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When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people are going to be disappointed they are not it.

I think it started with hate radio.

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...

Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Two points...

1) Sometimes it depends on the subject...You talk to someone on the opposing side of the aisle on 15 issues and get along great...But the second you start talking about issue number 16, you hit a nerve and and flames start to fly...

This also has the side effect of that person looking at you in a new, negative light, so when the first 15 issues are revisited, that person still holds on to your thoughts on issue 16 and it gets carried over...

2) Certain members (both past and present) incite flaming reactions...

Member "A" goes off on a flaming tangent...That pisses the heck out of six people who return the volley...We now have seven members flaming because of ONE member...and, of course, all of the members on Member "A"s side of the aisle see the six responses and say everyone on the other side are extremists...

I don't have a Rolodex on it, but there are certain issues with which I simply won't get too deep into with certain members...I may post once or twice and that's it...I KNOW the outcome and don't even bother...

But not everybody feels that way...They decide, as if it's their purpose in life, to refute and dissect and attack and defend and will never give an inch because either the issue is too important to them or they have a personal inclination to be "winning"...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

No, it started with comments like yours.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold

I think it started with the rise of Media, more specifically the rise of the internet. When we had no TV and people relied on Newspapers for their World events and political news the partisan bickering within Washington was kept pretty much in Washington. There's always been a small bit of Partisan Vitriol there was just no path for it to travel to the general population so the split was kept close to the vest so to speak.
Then the invention of Television came along and it was still slow to get going with the partisan bickering because the networks weren't as heavily involved in every day politics .

When the internet came along is when I think the country began to split and over the last 2 decades it has gone into overdrive with phones that are nothing but computers practically everyone who might vote and some that won't has the entire world at their fingertips. The 24 hour news cycle has ramped up to now where the news changes by the minute... and every single word a politician says in a speech, interview, news show, radio show or sitting in his living room with a microphone is spread to the entire country within minutes. The internet and the Media have combined with each other to bring the Partisan bickering, the lies, the conspiracies, and all the bad in our political system to the forefront and smacked it right in the laps of the public which has taken it and put it on steroids and grown it to a point where the entire country is one big polarized community .

I don't think it will ever get better, but I can't see it getting worse than it is now. 40 years ago when our President passed a healthcare bill it was reported, and people took it in stride and just rolled with what the Government had decided to do. Now the opposition can go on the local news and spend millions in advertisement to explain to you just why that policy is so bad. Then you have the party defending which tells you how good it is... People choose a side and draw that invisible line in the sand.

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