A Sane Take

I despise the state of politics since 2016. Actually, since 2008. I can think of few things worse to dwell on and be obsessed with than politics. The dumb jerk at my office is going to be in hysterics over the events of yesterday. I have no interest in it. But, as the saying goes, “you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.”

Here’s the sane take:

You have 5 percent of the left that are the crazy true believers. You have 5 percent of the right that are the crazy true believers. They see violence as a legitimate means of gaining power. Their cause is the true cause, and those diametrically opposed to them are pure evil.

These two groups are inflamed by politicians and certain groups to nudge the culture in the direction that will obtain power for said politicians and certain groups.

One side has academia, tech, the media, and, now, sports. The other has talk radio, the military, and a great swath of America between the coasts. One sides holds an idealized image of an America better than it actually is, the other holds a slandered image of an America worse than it is.

Ninety percent of us just want to live our lives in peace. We want to be free to work where we want doing what we want. We obey just laws. We attend religious services. We save for vacations and for retirement, for our children’s education and to have a better life in general. We care for our fellow man. We respect those who hold these similar beliefs. We are not racists, homophobes, or fascists. Nor are we communists or socialists. The Ninety Percent are the red blood cells of America, the engine of America, the heart and brains and marrow of America.

Like some invading pathogen, the extreme left and the extreme right need to be walled off and ultimately starved out. Never happen, but thanks to the omnipresent amplifier of anonymity that the Internet is, the voices of these extreme fringes, and those in power and/or political office or those seeking power and/or political office, seem louder than they actually are.

And that is what has led to all this talk of a second civil war.

Instead of Make America Great Again or Build Back Better, how about a

RETURN TO NORMALCY.