George Rebane
As we enter the home stretch of this election season, with both sides agreeing that this is the election to prevent the other side from taking the nation down the road to terminal evil, we still hear some good-hearted and/or dim-witted public figures hopefully assuring us that ‘there is more that unites us than that which separates us.’
Four years ago during our last presidential election year the same shibboleth was heard across the land, and we all know how the 2020 election united Americans and left us with a four-year bitter taste as one after another of our institutions were shown to have surreptitiously put their politically biased thumbs on the scale of a democratic election. After a four-year downward spiral we find ourselves having come around and again trying to reach for the golden ring.
During the summer of 2020 I decided to take a more measured look at the things our polarized citizenry holds in common and compare them with the things that irredeemably separate us. I summarized my findings in the 1aug20 post titled ‘E Pluribus Unum – Really? Still?’ (here). So let’s reprise the inventory of the salient things in question.
The things that unite us –
- We’re all Homo sapiens;
- We co-habit within the same borders;
- We drive mostly same kind of cars;
- We eat mostly same foods;
- We breathe the same air;
- We dress similarly;
- We enjoy same sports (mostly);
- We vote in the same elections;
- We use the same currency.
The things that divide us –
- Language
- History
- Organization of society/economy (capitalist, collectivist, elitist, …)
- Governance (role of nation-state, democracy, …)
- Rights and Privileges (the armed citizen, Bastiat triangle of rights, voting, …)
- Free speech
- State of the nation (racist, imperialist, shining city on a hill, …)
- Role of government (guarantor of freedoms, national security, economic security, …)
- Role of education (trained/competitive workforce, common history and traditions, social contract, …)
- Role of media (news, sports, entertainment, maintain common culture and currency, …)
- America’s future (sovereignty, globalism)
- Nature of Man (sexual diversity, gender identification, …)
- Values (family, parenting, traditions, risk tolerance, …)
- Ethics (racism, discrimination, equality, prejudice, …)
- Individual Responsibility
- National Sovereignty
- Religion
- Understanding of science
- Awareness of current events
- Patriotism (role of sacrosanct national totems, willing to defend, …)
- Foreign Policy (world hegemon)
- Logical thinking
- National security (military, borders)
- Private property (ownership, disposition, heritance, housing, …)
- Wealth and Income (taxes, merit, enforced equality, …)
In conclusion I wrote – The only way that I can see healing such a devastating ideological breach is through education. That requires the replacement of legions of incompetent socialist union shills with qualified teachers. Even then it would take at least two generations to repair the damage. And that is not going to happen. So, given the Democrats’ most recent Great Leap Leftward, there is no palpable or plausible means that this polarization will cease, and we again become a more cohesive and unified people who can peacefully and productively live in one land.
To be more specific about the things that divide us, and therefore be able to assess the likelihood of finding common ground, I expand on each of the 25 points in a pdf you can download here. It would gladden my heart if any reader can supply a hopeful response and mitigate my dire and merciless interpretations of the country’s socio-political landscape.
rebanesruminations.com 
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