A House Divided (An Inauguration Eve Thought)

As I have mentioned on this blog my theory that the past twenty years or so have been a low-grade political civil war in this country. What we think of as the "red-blue" divide is actually an irrepressible conflict between two radically opposed visions of the nation. At a similar point in the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln declared that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." People often forget the accompanying line that "it will become all one thing or all the other." The union would endure, either as one with slavery throughout, or one where slavery was gone throughout.

The agenda of the Republicans, Trump, and his cabinet is plain to see. They want to make the country all one thing in their image. The low grade civil war will end when there is no more "red" or "blue" America because one vision has finally and definitively triumphed over the other.

We will either live in a country where health care is purely a commodity or where all have a right to it.

We will either live in a country where gay people are second class citizens or where they are free and equal members of society.

We will either live in a country where the votes of black people and others are suppressed or where they are encouraged.

We will either live in a country where the federal government plays no role in enforcing civil rights or a country where it does so vigorously.

We will either live in a country where women have no right or access to an abortion or a country where they do.

We will either live in a country where college education is increasingly unaffordable or a country where access to college for all is guaranteed.

We will either live in a country where climate science is rejected or one where it is acted upon.

We will either live in a country where immigrants are attacked and deported or one where they are protected and welcomed.

We will either live in a country where women are pushed into traditional roles or a country where they are given the support to flourish on their own terms.

We will either live in a country where schools are privatized or one with a robust public education system.

We will either live in a country that is white supremacist or one that provides equal rights and economic opportunity to all.

It will become all one thing or all the other. The right-wingers have decided to make their play to mold the country in their image. We must stop them, or lose having a country where any of the things we value and cherish matter anymore. The price of not fighting and fighting like hell as we are cast into the fire tomorrow is too high to pay.