"In order to form a more perfect union;" words that oversaw the continuous intellectual battle between the likes of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Not unlike the political separation in our country today, politics has always been an us versus them affair. And that's precisely how the Founders intended our constitutional republic to survive.
The co-exist bumper sticker on the back of the Subaru in Boulder, Colorado, Austin, Texas or Madison, Wisconsin holds little water when it comes to actually reaching across the aisle. Because when they reach out to shake your hand, the other hand is there to stab you in the back with the knife of political power.
Ever since the 1700's when American colonies revolted against royal oppression by King George, the governing decisions of our country have always been based on the allocation and exercise of power. The distribution of political power necessarily involved two sides wrestling over the ability to set public policy in favor of their ideology and at the expense of their opponents' competing opinions.
The notion that we should all just get along has no basis in history, philosophy or religion. All the great civilizations prior to ours were only able to retain power over their populations through coercion and violence against the masses.
No basic education of the populace, much less any enlightened thought, was allowed for fear of the elites losing control over their subjects. An educated population would eventually seek individual liberties through intellectual discourse, philosophical debate and free choice. Violence was the only means for elites to maintain control of the people.
Some say that in order to be a good Christian you have to sacrifice your biblical morals and values to accommodate opposing viewpoints. Nowhere in Jesus' teaching does He advocate such an unfounded opinion. Instead, our Judeo-Christian heritage is based on biblical absolute right and wrong - not some squishy moral relativism co-existence creed that would have us accept whatever is politically expedient. We are strictly called to accept whatever is right, and treat our enemies with love.
And there-in lies the heart of the matter. Our contentious political divide today is predicated on one side making conservative public policy decisions derived from that Judeo-Christian tradition and the other side embracing policies generated by the progressive idea that there is not just one truth, but many truths that allow the ends to justify the means.
And the great debate rages on. Two sides battling it out to gain or retain political power over we the people. However, recently the war has taken on an ugly turn with the people in power weaponizing the resources of the government against their political opponents with impeachment, indictment, infringement of Constitutional rights and even attempted assassination.
So, we each have the freedom to choose which side of the battle we'll fight for. You can vote on the right side of history, philosophy and religion that made our country the most benevolent, prosperous and free civilization in human history. Or you can vote for the selfish, immoral dark side that caused the deaths of millions of people and the downfall of all the world's greatest civilizations before us.