(ThyBlackMan.com) I’ve been reading Margaret Walker’s Jubilee when it occurred to me the same ideological differences that existed between political parties towards the end of chattel slavery and the reign of the antebellum south are the same fundamental differences that exist between the parties now. Furthermore, just like the North and South could only reconcile their differences in war it seems to me now the differences between the Republican and Democrat party are so vast they too could lead to war.
I am not an advocate for war. I think it is the cowardly way to solve the world’s problems. However, it is the one constant in America that somehow keeps us ticking.
Maybe it was because our Nation was founded in war. A country created when differing political ideals pitted the Yankees against the Red Coats in an ideological fight for freedom is going to be a country always fighting to maintain liberty even if it is from ourselves.
Which brings us to our current political landscape.
Volatile is the only way to describe it.
Neither party listens to the other. Neither party listens to the citizens. In return citizens neither trust or listen to their party leaders. What has been 
created is a chasm between party and people; body politic and the body of the country. While we’ve only seen Civil War in this country once, the constant conflicts of African and Asian nations should be a tell tale sign as to what can happen when passion and politics collide into what can become a deadly rue.
- Class warfare vs. Common sense
- Party of paychecks vs. Party of foodstamps
- Re-Distribution of Wealth vs. Income inequality
- Anti-Immigration and Racial Profiling vs. Amnesty
- Affirmative Action and Merit Based Scholarship vs. Nepotism
The list of the politically motivated ideological differences run deep in this country. Perhaps these differences have always been there. It was Ronald Reagan that perpetuated the sterotyped concept of the welfare queen who preferred food stamps over paychecks. Hatred for other races and ethnicities is nothing new in our often times jingoistic and xenophobic society. And it is evident in our “what’s your status country” pedigree is way more important than actual intelligence.
While these positions for the most part have been duly noted and remained buried beneath the surface of most Americans’ country consciousness, in the last three years they have erupted to the surface and now threaten the very fabric of our citizenship.
Our country is turned on its head and citizens have turned on each other all because one reps red while the other reps blue. But what weight does color carry if in the end they lead to battle flags to defend an honor that is all ours.
This is about more than the Great Recession and who’s to blame. This is about more than Obamacare and religious exemptions. This is about more than allowing the rich to get richer while the poor remain destitute and impoverished. Our fundamental differences aren’t really differences at all if we listen to what we are all saying. At the end of the day the key theme in either side’s argument is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The difference lies in how to achieve that for all 308 million Americans.
As the election cycle ramps up, the attack ads increase, the robocalls work on last nerves and rhetoric reaches fever pitch it would do us all, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians and Green Party members some good to remember we don’t have to come to blows for the principles we want to see carried out in our country. We don’t have to fight a war physically, mentally or politically to see accomplished in this country what has been missing for the better part of a decade. Infighting and civil war waging does not allow the conflicts to have their solutions found or for the dust to settle and the fundamental differences be ironed out so for once we are all categorically agreed to one future direction.
With a budget blasted before it’s even released and any positivity on the homefront casted with a negative shadow it is clear we have a long way to go until we get back to being the United States. However, if we listen more and talk and politic less, maybe, just maybe we can once again understand what it means to be United as one.
Do you think the current course of politics is leading down a dangerous path?
Staff Writer; Nikesha Leeper
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