People Who Don’t Agree with You Don’t Hate America
“Open the window of your mind. Allow the fresh air, new lights and new truths to enter.” — Amit Ray
There is a notion in current politics that anyone not on their “side” hates America. This can be seen in the politics of the former president, too many in Congress, and their supporters. Whether politicians actually believe this or just use it to stoke anger and mobilize their supporters is actually irrelevant. They are using hate to gain a political advantage and damaging the country in the process.
Immigration
If you don’t support building a wall, you don’t care about the security of the country. That is the basic immigration message in the past few years. Immigrants are painted as drug mules, gang members, and “bad hombres” by politicians. Refugees who escaped horrific situations with little more than the clothes on their backs are characterized as a “threat” to our security.
Those seeking asylum are sneaking into the country illegally to get our kids hooked on drugs. The words in political speeches and from pundits with an agenda are carefully chosen to make us fear them — the other. Invasion. Mob. Words like this are used to describe the conditions at our southern border and strike terror into the hearts of enough people to keep themselves in power. It doesn’t even seem to matter any longer that the opposite is true.
This idea of making immigrants “the other” has horrific consequences. Too many have bought into the idea that they are less than us. This allowed them to ignore, and even cheer, reports of babies in cages. Nearly 1,000 children have still not been reunited with their parents, due to inadequate record keeping by those who separated the families. A shocking number of people are fine with this.
Health Care
The same strategy of ignoring the real problems, ramping up the rhetoric, and demonizing the opposition has been used to deny Americans health care as far back as Theodore Roosevelt, who was an early advocate for a single payer health care system. That’s right, a Republican president wanted us to have a single payer healthcare system, but special interests won out and continue to do so.
The Affordable Care Act has been used to sow division in the country. Even people who benefit from the many provisions in the law, such as pre-existing conditions or the ability to keep your child on your health insurance until age 26, became angry about the law and took a stance against this. How are people angry about a law that is actually helping their families? Because they have been conditioned that everything done by anyone on the left, especially Obama, is automatically bad — even if it helps them.
Our Home in the Vastness of Space
Inexplicably, the environment is an issue among people who are more progressive or “liberal” in their political thought. This makes absolutely no sense because we all breathe the same air, drink the same water, and depend on the earth for life and sustenance. It’s not like people in one party need clean water when they turn on the faucet and the other party does not.
This is a truly bizarre American phenomenon. Other countries do not make the environment a political issue, as all major parties recognize the problem as real and manmade. In many other developed countries, there is a greater sense of urgency of finding solutions to minimize the impact of climate change on citizens. While politicians may disagree about how to tackle the issue, there should be no disagreement that the climate is changing.
How is this happening? Is it because those on the “right” must disagree with those on the “left”? Maybe for the voters but dig just a little deeper for the politicians’ agenda. Climate denial began with junk science from the fossil fuel industry funneled through the politicians it pays to carry out its agenda. So…we are selling out our home and the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren for polluters?
Not as Far Apart as Most Think
Although great care is taken by those in power to create division and drive wedges, people may agree on more than they realize. One great example is the responses to the poll about the Affordable Care Act. Most people like that they can keep their kids on their insurance until age 26 and that their insurance can’t kick them off their plan or deny them insurance because they get sick, after decades of paying premiums and barely using their insurance.
We need to look at each other as fully human fellow citizens and work to find where can we come together in agreement. Then we must all, left or right, republican or democrat, demand that our leaders do the same. Although there have always been contentious disputes between political parties, they actually worked together, at least part of the time to get things done, until this century.
The way out of the current state of the country is to stop listening to the hate and fear-inducing lies that are spewed in partisan politics and look past perceived differences to find common ground. Regardless of where you live or fall on the political spectrum, insist that your representatives stop blocking legislation and start acting in the best interests of the country, rather than focusing all their effort into grabbing and holding on to power.
Work on seeing others as well-intentioned. Stop assuming that everyone who isn’t on your “team” is automatically ill-intentioned and hates America. This starts with the realization that people have this belief because politicians and political operatives posing as journalists have carefully worked to create the perception that the opposing party and anyone voting for them is evil, unpatriotic, hates America, or wants to kill little newborn babies.
Try seeing the humanity in others, especially those who are demonized by politicians. For example, what if the migrants seeking asylum in the United States are hardworking, honest people who just want a better life for their families? What if they are EXACTLY like our great-grandparents? Understand that these desperate parents are seeking a safe place where their kids can grow up healthy and have better opportunities for success and happiness — just like the ancestors of the vast majority of the country were when they embarked on a perilous journey across the ocean from Europe to America.
Insist on truth from those in power. Speak truth to power and demand it in return. Despite the fact that many of us feel numbed by the sheer number and frequency of the lies spewing forth from the former president and far right media outlets, nobody really wants to live in “Post Truth America.” Most of us value the truth — in our personal lives and from our leaders.
Hold them accountable at election time. It is honestly shocking how many of the very worst and most notorious politicians slide right into their next term with extraordinarily little resistance, although their actions are questionable at best. Voting out those who refuse to work with the other “side” and stoke anger, fear, and hate really is the quickest way to put an end to the problem.
