How easy we are coerced into camps
If we sit and think about the endless divides that we are push and prodded into every day, it is mind-boggling. It is difficult to have a conversation without slipping into one or more of these issues of deep division. So divided are we that giving examples here would end any hope of maintaining focus on the primary topic.
There is an established power structure that enjoys the fruits of our propensity to be divided. They do not conspire to exploit that propensity, but rather, it comes naturally to all whose imagination is limited to self-promotion and power-seeking. So natural in fact that its application becomes ubiquitous and we find ourselves in a swirling stew of division. The purveyors of division also understand the necessity to elevate their issues of division to the level of violating clear moral code. People on the other side of an issue are not just wrong, they are wicked, sub-humans that lack the enlightenment of our side’s superior humanity.
It is evil when we allow those divisions to deny our fellows of dignity. We must cultivate within us the ability to disagree with others while maintaining the proper respect which human beings deserve. It is apparent, to even a casual observer, that this ability does not come easy.
Can democracy survive with such divisions? Are we witnessing the beginning of the collapse? Only when people are aware of the problem and educated that our constitution was written with the pursuit of happiness as one of it’s core values, will we ever be able to move forward and work together. But public education will not teach that because the established power structure does not want that. The future looms large.