Reply #22: Great. More polarization, more distraction, more resentment, more fear,

[wiggs]

more reasons to not band together to fight the real battle.

Before elections, there's always a reason to run to our various groups, clubs, parties, isn't there? There's always a reason to be afraid or ridicule others....gays, people of color, socialists (real or imagined...doesn't matter), liberals, the San Francisco agenda, Chicago politicians, Massachusetts wind surfers, French and Germans, organizations who register poor but have secret agendas to rule the world, gun control advocates, people who believe in separation of church and state, non-christians, anyone who has ever been in Berkeley, Canadians of course, immigrants, public school teachers, union members, academics (those not associated with Pat Robertsons university), Venezuelans (the poor ones), government employees and officials, the Sierra Club (who we now know are responsible for the BP gulf leak but they've always been bad guys), scientists, women who either: work/want to choose/aren't married/play softball/sit on SCOTUS, peace corps volunteers, etc etc etc.

Not an accident. Fear, resentment, and suspicion are great fundraising and polarization tools. As a nation trying to have a public discourse on extremely important issues, we are such idiots to fall for it over and over. 9 out of 10 hours on talk radio are about ridicule, fear, suspicion, imaginary agendas, etc.

One of the two parties is responsible for much more of this kind of manipulation than the other...although there are enough people on both sides to make it work.