OldSalt posted:Wow.
I saw nothing in this opinion piece like you describe. Its just an opinion piece that asks the question, "How much government do we need?"
The shutdown was not the great crisis that some made it out to be. I think most people want a government that functions. But, what is the purpose of the government? Do we need more government or do we have too much already?
That's the point. Most people want the government to function. In a country of 300+ million, that vast majority of us are just trying to live their lives the best way possible. The problem is we get caught up in DA arguments that polarize us. I don't agree with everything the democratic party stands for and I'm not against everything republicans stand for.
Our politicians don't focus on the things that unite us, so the people don't focus on them. But in my opinion, the narratives that the gop creates are more damaging to our democratic republic than the democrats' platform. Why? The democrat party is starting to look more and more like a representation of America. The gop is looking like a party that's scared of the future, now they want to change the rules.
The gop can point the finger at dems for playing identity politics, because the gop isn't as diverse. BUT, the gop has turned republicanism into an identity. In doing so, they can float narratives that can apply to almost any of their supporters.
Don't like abortion? "Well guess what? Dems want to abort babies as soon as their born." Nope....
Guns, "Obama will take them from you." We still have them...
9/11?" If we change our way of life, radical islamist terrorists won't stop until American man, woman and child is wiped out". We're still here...
Immigrants? "Their our taking jobs"( that other Americans are hiring them to do.) But we need a wall...
To be fair I could do the same thing for democrats, but that's not the point. We don't have leaders any more that want to have honest debates about issues. And we the people, don't ask the right questions. The way things are going, with our two-party system, the end game is one party rule. Which will be the end of our democracy. Either way it goes, if we the people don't start acting right, we'll shoot ourselves in the foot.