Divided, My Ass

“Found poetry” (some of today’s headlines):

America Divided

In America, divided we stand
Divided we’ll fall
Divided States of America?

Bitterly divided nation comes together to vote
AMERICA – Divided, Polarized, Fundamentalist
Deeply Divided Country Is United in Anxiety

Businessmen divided over Bush victory
World leaders divided after Bush victory
British press as divided as US electorate over Bush win
A divided world reacts to US election

A Divided Nation’s Opinion Split Over American Election: Iraqis were almost as sharply divided as the American electorate over the results of the US presidential election..

Election Leaves Americans Divided About Future
A state divided, not unlike the nation
Area residents divided on election’s outcome
Ward 15 still evenly divided
Bush wins as campus stays sharply divided

Bush broadens support to lead a country divided
Divided America urged to unite behind Bush presidency
Bush’s mandate: Unite a divided country
Strong, divided feelings in city over Bush’s victory
Bush wants broad support from a divided America

Healing Time for A Divided Nation
Kerry urges Bush to heal divided nation
Bush pledges to heal wounds of divided nation
Bush must heal wounds of Divided States of America
For a nation divided, how do we heal the divisions?
Residents divided on post-election need for healing

ad infinitum…

A Google news search today (11-4-2004) for “divided” returned 16,400 articles all in the same vein. We should be afraid, we need to heal, we are bitterly divided and can’t see eye-to-eye on anything. Hate, fear, loathing. But don’t worry..

BUSH WILL HEAL US.

The notion that we are today more divided than ever before has been a running theme in the news media lately. I would argue that it is a concoction of the news media, devised for whatever reason. But what reason? To sell papers? To please advertisers? To shape ‘the public mind’? To divide and conquer the proletariat?

Even John Kerry in his concession speech Wednesday toed the line and hit the ‘divided’ talking point. This really gave me the sense that the presidential politics that we have been witnessing over the last year and a half has not really been anything more than an elaborate dog-and-pony show. When I reflect, I discover that while, toward the end of the campaign, even I had been swept up in the excitement, infected with a sort-of rabid enthusiasm over the prospect of a Kerry victory, it was despite the fact that deep down I really wasn’t voting for Kerry because he was John Kerry, but rather because he wasn’t George Bush. Had I been played? Have I been set up to be involved in this feud of factions in a divided nation? Well, it’s not gonna happen. I won’t be manipulated. I pride myself on being able to spot a scam when I see it, and I won’t be taken in on this one.

So, just how divided are we really? Let’s aviod the bullshit of Bush supporters voting their conscience on moral issues. All of the important issues are moral issues. Having education or healthcare or employment as a priority doesn’t mean one is immoral. And regarding abortion or gay marriage, I doubt these issues are a major priority even to Bush and the neo-cons. The truth is, these guys are probably more or less ambivalent about these issues; which isn’t to say they won’t trade on them if it means solidifying their power position, in other words: use them for political expediency. Let’s be realistic.

There is a segment of the republican party that holds religious fundamentals above all else, whose major concerns are the two areas mentioned. This segment of the party surely has been strengthened by the election and will certainly push their agenda in the next two years. However, I ask, is it safe to assume that there are cooler heads among them who still believe in the fundamentals of the United States, and in separation of church and state, and that these cooler heads are a silent majority in the party at large, and who will not allow the subjugation of our unalienable human rights? Is this too much to hope for?

It’s the powers that be in both of the parties, the corporations and monied individuals who would subjugate human rights in the name of exploitation of disposable human and environmental assets. They would use whatever means necessary, religious fundamentalism included, to bring us (all of us) to heel. They know that everyday people are pretty much the same and would find out that they are actually united, at least in their basic ideals and desires to survive, take care of their families and be happy. It is the parties that are united in these efforts, and we, the human fodder, must be divided to squelch any resistance to what comes next.

Maybe an important effort to make is to find the common ground us common folks share. Can I get a shout out for the Declaration of Independence?!! How ’bout the 1st Amendment? Yeah! That’s right! Woo-Hoo and Yee-Haw!! Once we renew and revitalize our commonalities, we can tackle the “wedge issues,” that are currently being used against us, in a spirit of compromise.