No More Trolling

Sometimes I get tired of trolling my friend George's blog.  You should click that link if you haven't heard enough about how Barack Obama personally ruined the country.  

I know what you are thinking:  I'm too lazy to write in my own blog.  OK, maybe a little.  I admit that it is a lot easier to troll someone else's cockeyed view of things than to come up with readable factual statements about the state of affairs.  Besides that, I am frankly too cynical to believe that anyone in public office is looking out for the citizens.

Besides no more that two or three people are likely to read this blog, so why bother to write and edit a piece that no one reads?

  Or if they do click on it they just scan for tidbits so they can write snarky comments.

One of my more progressive friends recently asked "How you can stay  friends with someone who thinks Trump is (despite acknowledged flaws) is the right man to Commander in Chief?"

  I answer, isn't that what friends are for? Standing by someone, even when you think they are wrong?

Our values are not so different

We agree that America is great, especially if you were born lucky: good looking, smart parents, etc.
We agree that people ought to work for a living.
We are wary of our fellow men many of whom are selfish, dishonest and ignorant.
We are kind to animals and respectful of our elders (of which there are fewer every year)
We don't cheat, steal or take advantage of our fellow citizens.
We distrust any advertisement that has fine print or and asterisk after the word free.
We are suspicious of strangers.  We tend to like individuals, but not mobs.

I could go on for hundreds more points of agreement, but you get the idea.  My point is that political disagreements are really temporal, emotional, and, in most cases, theoretical.  Why these differences of opinion have become so divisive is a mystery to me. 

Most people I know on both ends of the spectrum have a lot in common: they are not going to have an abortion, they do not walk around with loaded semi-automatic weapons and large capacity ammunition clips.  They don't burn flags in protest.  People should use toilets that are appropriate to their plumbing.   They think that immigrants should come here legally and pay taxes.  They think vicious criminals should be punished commensurate to the crimes they commit.   

So, why are we so polarized on these issues, when it is clear that neither political party really cares about the citizenry, but is only incented by the donations of lobbyists and rich partisans?