It always happens. Every 4 years, right about this time, the constant back and forth between Republicans and Democrats increases exponentially the closer we get to election day, reaching a deafening crescendo that threatens to obliterate human reason ... and yet, I have never seen anything like this year.  It is not just in terms of the sheer volume of comments flying one way and the other, but the vitriol being spewed from everyone's mouth (or keyboard, rather).

One does not need to look too far to know that the so-called leadership we have experienced in the past 4 years is responsible for this catastrophic rift that is reaping apart the fabric of our society. Sowing division among people is the number 1 tactic used by every authoritarian regime known to man, regardless of political leanings. Dictators have existed since the world is world, and they come from the far left as well as from the far right. Their political ideologies may differ, but one thing in which they are remarkably similar is their outsized (and yet fragile) ego, their need to be above everyone else, their need to be godlike, blindly loved and revered by their subjects.  These individuals know that the only way to perpetuate themselves in power is to divide and conquer. The more divided a society is, the more susceptible they are to manipulation.  

And yet, even though we can easily place blame on the current president for leading us to the edge of this abyss, as a nation, we must start looking inward and take responsibility for our part in this debacle. We have all too willingly taken the bait and done the work for him. Even when our grievances are legitimate, we seem to think that only our grievances are legitimate. We tend to minimize the other side's ideas, opinions, and concerns, simply because they are not our ideas, opinions, and concerns. 

I don't know, maybe it is because we're tired of fighting, of defending our positions, that we slip into complacency and begin to let our basest instincts take over and start insulting and denigrating instead of doing the hard work of trying to listen, talk, and reason. We have forgotten an old, but mighty effective rule of civil society: agreeing to disagree. We have turned deaf ears to the worries and anxieties of the other side, as if they were less valid. We have decided to ignore their humanity.

I wish I could say I am optimist about our future. I am not. Too much damage has been done. The task of rebuilding trust in government and - more importantly - in each other is titanic... That doesn't mean we should stop trying.