Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Posted by Frankly Francis on November 2, 2009 under Social Issues/Politics | 3 Comments to Read

Yes, but I don’t think it is very likely to happen and I doubt that it would be a good thing.

Actually, if history is any guide, “getting along” is not the American Way.

From our earliest beginnings as colonists, we were at each others throats…if not on religious grounds, then certainly on the Loyalist vs. Yankee issue.  The newly independent United States of America faced the battle between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists which wasn’t really resolved until we had our supreme disagreement, the Civil War.

It continues to this day.  The polarization of the present day political parties is one thing, but the media seems to be going out of its way to pit Americans against Americans.

Americans, as individuals, are certainly a unique blend of people and we do, overall, enjoy a very high standard of living, but let’s be real, America is not a nice place – it is survival of the fittest.  It is the struggle of competitive values, ideas and interests.  And that may be what essentially makes America a great place to live.

I do, however, think that we need to make more of an effort to listen to and respect our fellow citizen’s points of view.  I am looking for more constructive dialogue as opposed to the destructive positioning that I see all around me now.

While I am passionately opposed to the socialistic principles that President Obama and the majority of Americans seem to be supporting, I am always in favor of making things better, even if I disagree with the method.  I may be a little too smug in my belief that Americans will see the light and return to the principles that made this country what it has been.  I do not see how Americans can, in the end, surrender their individuality.  Sure hope I’m right on that one.

The greater good doesn’t tend to happen because of altruistic individuals collectively agreeing on the right course.  And once again, let’s be real, good does not always triumph.  Yet, somehow, we do tend to eventually come to a better conclusion.

As Sir Winston Churchill said, “Americans always do the right thing…after they have tried everything else.”

Frankly,

Francis

  • Steve Headrick said,

    We all need to enjoy living in our little ‘boxes’ while we still have the privilege of choosing who we share them with . . .

    “Can you change the channel?” . . .
    “No – This is the only channel…”

  • Moishe3rd said,

    Actually, Good does always Triumph. It just happens, as you noted, to happen “eventually.”
    American politics is simply the bickering of self interested parties trying to protect their own particular “oxen from being gored.”
    The larger and rather more important issues tend to be ignored over time – such as the self immolation of the Arab/Muslim world which, if left to its own present devices, will ultimately result in the deaths of several billion human beings and portions of the Earth becoming uninhabitable.
    As that thorny issue is a tad more difficult to deal with, we all take solace in whether we can afford to see a doctor or if our great-great-great-great grandchildren will be inconvenienced by a change in the climate…
    No, we can’t all get along.
    I would, however, suggest that we prevent the folks that are living with us from blowing up and burning down our house.

  • User Loser said,

    I think you are being entirely too charitable. Americans at least for the last half century have become lemmings like the Disney kind easy to push of cliffs to maintain their tough-guy images. Not individuals at all. Group think of the most ignorant kind the better. You can tell them a hundred times that something is a bad idea then they go and do it again. To maintain their precious ‘freedom’ they become slaves to a bunch of oil magnates. They destroy their economy to maintain the capitalist system of picking winners and losers by some kind of lottery of the absurd contest of who can buy off the most politicians. Nevermind

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