A New Low

I think we have reached a new low in this country.  I'm not talking about President Trump and his administration even as my previous writings have made it obvious that I feel that they are not good for our country.  I'm not talking about the number of conservative columnists who are calling out President Trump for the chaos that is raining down on Washington D.C.  I'm not talking about the fact that a foreign enemy has interfered in our elections and democratic process and will do so in the future.  What I am talking about is the following article by David French of the National Review.  

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/448385/americans-left-right-liberal-conservative-democrats-republicans-blue-red-states-cultural-segregate?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=french&utm_content=divorce

This article is about the increasing polarization within our country and how we are self segregating.  I have included data from a chart from this article that I found to be particularly disturbing.  The chart indicates that it was from a Pew Research Survey from the spring of 2016. The chart shows what each political party thinks of each other.  Many of the categories are pretty evenly split.  The two that bothered me the most are that 70% of Democrats think Republicans are closed minded (as opposed to 52% of the opposite way) and that 46% of Republicans think the Democrats are lazy (as opposed to 18% of the opposite way). (I'm not smart enough to insert the actual chart from the article so see the link above for a better view or turn your cell phone to a sideways view so my columns line up logically.)


What Republicans and Democrats say about each other:

% of Republicans who say Democrats are more_____ than other Americans:

Closed minded 52%    Open-minded 11%   About the same 35%
Immoral 47%          Moral 3%          About the same 49%    
Lazy 46%             Hardworking 3%    About the same 50%
Dishonest 45%        Honest 2%         About the same 52%    
Unintelligent 32%    Intelligent 3%    About the same 64%

% of Democrats who say Republicans are more_____ than other Americans:

Closed minded 70%    Open-minded 5%    About the same 23%
Immoral 35%          Moral 9%          About the same 54%    
Lazy 18%             Hardworking 9%    About the same 71%
Dishonest 42%        Honest 5%         About the same 51%    
Unintelligent 33%    Intelligent 7%    About the same 58%

       
We are truly sinking to a new low in America when we have such horrible opinions of our relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow citizens.  I hate the fact that this poll was even taken.  Apparently there is virtually NO tolerance for dissenting viewpoints in this country these days.  I would argue that this is THE most destructive result of the last election.  Even though we have been headed down these divided paths for quite a few years, I feel like this last election was the tipping point of partisan divide. 


WTF America?!  Political intolerance can be just as destructive as religious, racial, and gender intolerance.  It seems that we are treating politics as more like sports team allegiances and feel like we can just "trash talk" the other team and still think of ourselves as good citizens.  I'm not sure this is the case any more. 

I know that I'm just as guilty of political intolerance at times as the next person.  However, I would like to note that at least half of my friends, relatives and co-workers are of different political views.  I absolutely cherish all of these people.  Part of what makes these people special to me IS the fact that they have differing opinions.  They make me think about my own views and keep me intellectually challenged.  I don't want to live in an echo chamber.  Haven't we all seen how destructive that has turned out to be throughout history?  

America, WAKE UP!  If we cannot remember what it's like to be grownups and be respectful of each other we are going to run our country right into the ground.