Americans Are Turning Against Americans (without thinking)

There is a lot of emotion going on in politics today, and the political battles are being fought via lies, distortions and tugs on the heart strings of Americans, turning them against other Americans.  Politicians are lazy.  They don't want to work in order to get the vote.  Instead, it's much easier to just villianize other Americans and instill fear as a means to get the vote on their side.  This happens all along the political spectrum, but it just seems like the Left take it to an increasing level.

I will cite Saul Alinsky's "12 Rules For Radicals", and it's suggested reading, by the President himself, as proof that this is going on, and that it is going on purposely.  And of course, those on the right, such as Ann Coulter and Karl Rove also do this to a degree.

What really gets me is that our president makes appeals to the public (using distortions and/or outright lies), and then gets his followers to take it from there.  And then when something horrible happens such as a shooting, then he comes out as "presidential" and says that we need to tone the rhetoric down.  And of course, his followers have pushed the rhetoric way beyond those on the right.

I don't condone those on the right of their distortions.  And I recognize when they are using fear as a tactic to raise funds, to get people involved in their mailing lists, etc.  These are all tactics that are much easier to do than to come up with real solutions and actually make the calls necessary to actually fix our ever increasing budgetary problems.

While the country slides further and further into the inevitable crash (which will only hurt those on the bottom the worst), both ends of the political spectrum continue to divide.  And unfortunately, so many Americans just jump on the bandwagon of their political choice, and attack those that disagree with them.

This is unamerican, but it seems that people don't care anymore.  They're more interested in saying that they are right and the "others" are wrong, than to just "agree to disagree" and get on with our lives.  We would all benefit if people could just have their opinions, even share their opinions, but not demonize those who have other views.

There used to be a saying in this country of "I might not believe what you believe, but I'll fight for your right to say what you believe".  The truth is, no one says that anymore.  In fact, they no longer think you have a right to believe anything other than what they want you to believe.  Everyone seems to want a totalitarian style of public discourse on every subject surrounding our lives.

I only wish that people would come to realize what is going on and start to change this, but I don't see it happening.  I see it only getting worse.