Our Nation’s Hate

As far as I can tell the “facts” in the email are absolutely made up. There is not a shred of truth to it. But, to the sender it doesn’t make any difference because it’s just ammunition in an ideological war.

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Nearly three million people have voted in the MSNBC poll at the top of this entry. It’s non-scientific in its methodology, but it’s incredibly telling nonetheless. Our country has no center in political opinion. The vast majority of the votes are for the two extremes.

We are a nation divided. I love Obama. I hate Obama. There, literally, is no middle ground.

It’s sad because we’ve come to the point where people are so stridently driven by dogma, they’d rather see their ideas used than see success. That is why to many Rush Limbaugh’s January 21 pronouncement is so upsetting and to others so enabling.

So I shamelessly say, no, I want him to fail, if his agenda is a far- left collectivism, some people say socialism, as a conservative heartfelt, deeply, why would I want socialism to succeed?

I have often said I’d use the Psychic Friends Network to forecast the weather if it worked. Rush’s words are the antithesis of that thought.

This morning I got an email from someone I don’t recognize.

News Alert:

The US Navy has stated that the Navy seals could have acted faster and rescued the captain of the Maersk Alabama last week, but had to wait until the White House could confirm that none of the pirates were related to Obama.

That quote comes from a forwarded email nestled within the one sent to me. The sender, the unknown Andre Lefebvre, adds:

That S.O.B. will destroy this country.

You just watch.

One morning, very soon, everybody, in the U. S., will wake-up and find out that they have lost all of their rights and it will be too late to do anything about it.

As far as I can tell the “facts” in the email are absolutely made up. There is not a shred of truth to it. But, to the sender it doesn’t make any difference because it’s just ammunition in an ideological war.

The exact actions the president takes on any given day are much less important to this person than the overall political bent. And, I suspect, he’d say what he said even knowing it was false because it might injure his enemy–Obama.

This country needs to be righted economically. Then we have a whole lot of healing to do. The vitriol and hate from right-to-left and back again isn’t healthy.

Thanks to my friend Woody who sent along the MSNBC poll not realizing it would produce this.

12 thoughts on “Our Nation’s Hate”

  1. I don’t know if the divisiveness started with Clinton’s impeachment or with Bush’s election, but it has certainly been exploited in the latter’s administration. It’s going to take some time to undo that.

    It is scary though. There are so many people that HATE Obama for no real factual reason. Heck, I disagreed with the vast majority of Bush’s decisions, but I don’t by any means HATE him.

  2. I don’t HATE the guy, but already he has signed enough executive orders that are sending money TO OTHER COUNTRIES when WE are trying to get out of a recession, and signing legislation that allows scientists to destroy embryos that haven’t resulted in one successful treatment for a disease, while adult stem cells has cured over 70 abnormalities and have not resulted in the loss of one human life. Thats just where I stand.

  3. As long as the left and Obama supporters don’t claim that people who are against President Obama are racist then I have no problem.

    I nearly jumped through my TV when Janeanne Garafalo, on MSNBC, claimed that the tea party people are nothing but redneck racists. Geez, talk about divisiveness.

  4. I’m pretty sure this poll, had it been conducted at GWB’s 1st 100 days would have been similar…same with Clinton during the same time frame.

    Elections are polarizing, and that carries through into a new administration. We’ll see a shift in one direction or the other after his 1st year in office.

  5. A few thoughts:

    1. The public’s reaction to politicians and political issues has become hyper emotional. My guy is a saint and your guy is the devil. Black or white, no grey. The problem is that most things in the world are actually grey.

    2. The MSNBC poll is non-scientific in the worst possible way: it’s a self-selected sample on a highly emotional issue.

    3. A significant number of people decide whether or not they like a particular politician based largely on whether there is a D or an R next to their name on the bottom of the screen. As soon as they see the D or R they have made up their mind and they don’t even hear what the person says.

    4. Try this: ask a conservative to say something good about Obama. Ask a liberal to say something good about Bush. See if they can think of even one thing to say.

  6. Geoff,

    Sometimes I feel like the last moderate in America.

    The only “ian” we need to worry about in this nation (and globally) is extremism.

    – Brendan

  7. Wink. I sent it to you just because I thought it was a good column. Gee, is a blog a column? Anyhow, the divisiveness is also what shocked me, and I sure didn’t expect to see how lonely I’d be in the “B” group when I voted. I feel really sad about the direction our country has taken over the past 50 years or thereabouts – not politically, but the erosion of our moral structure coupled with the loss of ideals that drove us to where we stood at mid-century. I don’t hold much hope for us regaining our footing in our children’s lifetime, either.

  8. The executive order I was referring to above was the Mexico City Policy. I am pro-life and so I think rescinding the policy was wrong. HOWEVER, in regards to the topic of recession, whether you think the policy is right or wrong it is another issue to be sending money overseas to other countries while we are in a recession. I’ve spent the last hour trying to find proof of this monetary value, which I can’t find, but when the Policy was lifted I read that it would free up $900 million of tax payer money for these services. When Obama wants his people to free up a simple $100 million in their budgets, $900 million seems like an aweful lot of money our country could desperatey need as well, and yet we’re giving it away.

  9. Adam –

    That’s not what the Mexico City Policy says. It’s much more broad in its application. I typed the word “broad” before I read the same characterization on Wikipedia.

    “The Mexico City Policy, also known by critics as the Mexico City Gag Rule and the Global Gag Rule, was an intermittent United States government policy that required all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services, as a method of family planning, in other countries”

    It is thought of as a gag rule because federal money is withheld though none of it is used for abortion services and counseling. Let me make it clear–these non-governmental agencies aren’t asking for your federal money to fund abortions. But you are asking them to agree with you on this point or be shut out of any funding.

    The federal government does this with highway money which requires states have a 21 year old drinking age. I suspect conservatives who object to this move by President Obama a problem also find the highway proviso a distasteful intrusion to states rights. It all depends on whose ox is being gored.

    It’s complex Adam, but I think the $900 million was a figure released by people who would be favored by its publication. I can’t find any attribution to support it.

    You will be glad to know, even a liberal sees the federal government fund projects I disagree with. That was especially true the past eight years. However, as with you, I have no choice but follow along with the administration elected by the majority.

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