What would it take to unite the U.S. citizenry?

And why would I care since we elect via the electoral college. I could care less about the popular vote. The brainwashed liberal city elite voted in the millions against him. The farming community in the midwest, the military community, the cultural conservative communities in the south and overall middle America voted for Trump. Clinton only won the Black vote and the Coastal Elite vote. That's why we have an electoral college, so that all aspects of our country have a say, not just the coastal elites.

 

Exactly. Every Democrat politician elected in recent history has put Party over Country. No politician puts country over party anymore. It's sad but true. FDR and Truman were probably the last Presidents who in any way put Country over Party.

 

We have an electoral college so Virginians could win them all. They designed it. Then it got away from them.

Now we have state electioneering.

 

I get the op is intended to be unbiassed but this point is key to the problem. Literally how do we start when a large segment of our populace (far right maga) dismiss information because it doesn’t fit into the sphere of trump. For example, in 2020 they started claiming Fox was lying to them because they finally pushed back on conspiracies. Think about that. Fox.
Before all this started, this board use to debate classic right vs left ideologies. Now, it’s all about conspiracies and maga denialism.
They stormed the capital and beat LEO attempting to get their hands on congress. All based on conspiracies. Not rhetorical but how do you reason with that?

 

Hey Jo, it’s getting into lightning season here in Florida. Be careful not to walk in open spaces with that tin foil hat on. We cherish your insightful opinions too much to lose them.

 

I would add Ike and JFK to that.

 

Might you care about supporting a candidate who is actively assisted by Russia, ma'am ?



Also, thank you for so positively influencing our friend Bluke, who has turned his frown upside down (!!) and rates every one of your posts positively

 

Haha, i get it - wearing a tinfoil hat! Funny!

You say such funny, funny things! Have you figured out a good news publication to read yet, though? You really should, right? Or you still just gonna get all your information from that really smart fake tanned guy?

 

At this point, reuniting (or healing, if you will) the US will just about take a miracle. Negative I know, but I just don't see a reasonable path forward.

 

Great points.

But did they actually storm the Capitol and beat cops? I've been hearing a lot that they were non-violent and invited in. Hostages.

IMO you actually understated the issue- we are at a point in history where people are trying to whitewash reality with Orwellian lies. And grown adults are comfortable with it, popular politicians are complicit....

It's one of the most fascinating and important moments in modern American history. Imagine how the historical record will reflect upon this era of Trumpy lying!

 

A legitimate third party with moderate candidates who could serve to rally the moderates would be a good start. The biggest problem with putting that in motion is corruption. We are our own worst enemies.

 

Interesting you danced right past the Trump Crime Syndicate, King George the I and II. The Uber-Criminal Nixon and his moron replacement.

Lincoln might actually be the closest we have come to a president who cares more about the country than the party, and even his legend is somewhat overblown.

 

Yeah, I think so. I think the breadth of the divide has expanded over the last three administrations.

In my lifetime, I recall Reagan being a pretty powerful uniter ONCE HE WAS IN OFFICE. Clinton, for all the hate, had an uncanny ability to cross the aisle and generate compromise. The 2000 election was bitter, but 911 created solid unity. But, once Obama took office, it started to get really ugly the day he flaunted the majority and stopped trying to compromise on what became Obamacare. Then, the Dems got their revenge the day Trump took office, shamefully declaring war on our newly elected President. Trump made no effort to compromise and did what Trump does - fight, blame, insult and deflect. The trend has continued with the attacks on Biden.

 

Which of the networks have had to pay massive money for their lies (lies which instilled distrust in the very fabric of our democracy)?

 

Current lead headlines:
CNN - Netanyahu disbands Israeli war cabinet
Fox - Experts warn about Trump's 'modern day Salem witch trial'

BTW, the 'experts' are two members of the very conservative Heritage Foundation and Republican congressmen

 

Reagan was just an extension of party politics. From day 1 he went after unions whenever and where ever possible. Certainly not a personal choice coming from the guy who LED the 1961 Actors Union Strike, but simply doing as the party directed and damn the consequence for the American middle class. His (lack of) fiscal policy was to basically cut taxes for the wealthy, yet another extension of party politics over what was best for the country. Finally, his administration went on a military spending spree like a drunken sailor and gets bizarre credit for financially ruining the Soviet Union when in fact it was the multi $Trillion (in modern money) price tag of the Chernobyl accident that did more to end the Soviet Union than anything the west ever did.

So, no, just because Ronnie and Tip used to have their picture taken together supposedly hammering compromise over compromise, it never showed me any evidence that Reagan put country over political party.

 

It's incredible to me that a thread initially intended to try and find out what would "unite" people has descended back into partisan bickering (though I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised with this forum).

For those locked in their tribalism, I would suggest a watch of an Afterschool special from 1981 called "The Wave". It's a bit hyperbolic for our discussion as it discusses Nazi Germany and recreates the high school experiment from the late 60s done by a history teacher designed to illustrate how something like the rise of Nazism could happen without the knowledge of those living it. However, it would appear to me that the hardliners on both sides of the political aisle are headed down a similar road.

 

You'd have to start with a post cult membership de-brainwashing effort of about 40% of our citizenry. Then you'd need to ban Murdoch media and all of its imitators. There would need to be a massive effort to teach civics to the population. Lastly, you'd have to get all of the Putinites currently in our government out of it.

 

I stand by what I recall. As Reagan took office, our hostages were released, and I remember how happy our Country was as a whole. He gave the Country hope, and he gave us purpose.

And while you say Chernobyl bankrupted the Soviet Union, I believe that a confluence of events undid the Soviet Union. Chernobyl’s impact, Afghanistan, the chase to develop a functioning Star Wars program to match ours (even though we didn’t actually have a functioning Star Wars system), and that guy from Poland, who fortuitously survived an assassination attempt, just like Reagan. The two forged a bond over it. And when Pope John Paul II returned to Poland, the religious movement he awakened was too strong for the Soviet’s to quell.

 

'Unite' and do what exactly? Never sure what the intent of this question is. We all gonna sit around a campfire, hold hands and sing? That doesnt sound like fun, and some of you have sweaty palms.