War. Pestilence. Food Shortages. Inflation. Fires and floods. Our modern day Horsemen and accompanying plagues. These challenges are real and present, yet we seem incapable or unwilling to unite in any way to resolve any of these scourges.
It’s easier to blame, to retreat to opposite ends of the political spectrum, to lob criticisms over the yawning space where communication, collaboration and compromise could take place. If we continue to cast aspersions, to demonize anyone who doesn’t agree with us, where does that leave us as a democracy?
Do we no longer aspire to the ideal of a more perfect union? Of life and liberty? It seems not.
The conservative movement seems intent upon limiting voters’ rights, women’s rights, minority rights. The far left movement desires to use the government to help cure perceived societal ills; lack of health care, paid parental leave, poverty, access to education, a woman’s right to choose, discrimination.
One side wants to take away. One side wants to give away. No one wants to talk.
And the Horsemen ride, the plagues….plague. War, pestilence, famine, and their nasty friends are bigger than us. It’s not just conservative Republican versus Progressive Left. By choosing to stay in our extreme corners we ignore that this is a global situation.
Donald Trump didn’t cause COVID. Joe Biden didn’t cause Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine. Yet the effects affect us all.
The only way forward is to get beyond our political lines of demarcation and talk to each other. Apocalypse means revelation, to pull the lid off. We need to take a sincere look, recognize the true causes of these ills, get to the root and try to find a united way forward. Because it isn’t just us.
Cast no blame. Cast our lots together. Both sides need to find ways to reach across the aisle, across that yawning chasm that threatens to become an uncrossable abyss.