Why America Needs More Political Division

In this time of national trauma, we hear many calls for an end to the divisions that are shredding the national fabric. It all sounds lovely. Who could argue that Americans need to do more to understand each other and reach a consensus?

Well, I could.

I don’t want to understand the guy in the Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt during the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

I don’t want to understand the Death Squad ICE agents who murder innocent citizens.

I don’t want to understand the twisted hatred of Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem.

I don’t want to understand the MAGA followers who say the 2020 election was stolen.

I have no desire to compromise with evil. I want more division. I want starker lines between those who are defending the legacy of the Greatest Generation and those who defile its sacrifice. Just because we carry a passport from the same country doesn’t mean we share values. The passport is an accident of birth. Values are a choice.

In his 1976 Republican Convention speech, Ronald Reagan praised a platform of “bold, unmistakable colors with no pale pastels.” So it is today with a pro-democracy platform. We need bold colors that separate those who still believe in American democracy and values from the non-believers who have abandoned the American Experiment.

There is a booming industry of well-intentioned efforts that can be described as: “How to talk to your MAGA relatives at Thanksgiving dinner.” Their goal is encourage the national family to engage in more dialogue in quieter voices. Why? What’s that about?

I’m not going to sit quietly and listen to Uncle Francis detail the horrors of immigrants eating dogs and cats. What’s to be gained from pretending that he’s not a racist moron who probably believes Donald Trump when he claims he paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 not to have sex? If Uncle Francis loses it and storms out of the house, I’ll take the W and eat his piece of pumpkin pie. Good riddance...