Thursday, May 4, 2017

UNIFICATION OR DESTRUCTION



UNIFICATION OR DESTRUCTION
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A unification strategy is not a compromise.  In compromise, differences are satisfied by everyone gets something, while at the same time giving up something.  However, the differences remain unchanged.  A unification strategy is one that inspires a nation behind a common dream.  Presently the United States has no uniting dream we all share.  Therefore, we have no reason to unite.  A divided population, each trying to force their dream down the throat of fellow citizens is not a unifying strategy.  It is actually a divisive tactic.  Divisive tactics, like that, will never produce a strategy that keeps the widening gaps in the United States population from destroying itself from within.  Yet, that is the nature of our present national division.
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The best way to demonstrate this is simply eavesdrop on an ordinary conversation between friends.  The following Facebook response stream to an Abraham Lincoln quote serves this purpose.
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“A” Replied
MAYBE others cultivate it by posts against the president?
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“D” Replied
I don't agree...as you know, I never attack Trump voters, because I understand the sentiment for the alternative, but Trump is now the leader and the President...it is HIS responsibility to help unify the country, not mine.  His speech on Saturday night merely fanned the flames of disunity, and his words--to the Country---matter waayyyyy more than mine on FB.  Moreover, when he sends out a tweet on New Year's Eve (do you remember that one?) where he mocked those who didn't "vote for or support" him as being "among my many enemies," he reiterates his contempt for people like me...and...it's incumbent on him to win me over, not vice versa, and he continues to do the opposite. When he changes (which he shows no signs of doing), then I'll stop calling him out on FB.  That's the way I see it.
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“A” Replied
With a subdued but disapproving “emoji”
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“D” Replied
Sorry “A”...I actually like him substantially less today than when he got elected, I tried to give him a chance but that New Year's Eve tweet set me off...and I assure you,  I'm not alone
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“C” (captjbeppler) Replied
It creates a "dammed if you do and dammed if you don't" conundrum.  If you say something, anything, you increase the destructive division; if you don't you allow the division in our nation to destroy itself.
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“D” Replied
I think attacking Trump voters would be divisive, but calling out Trump on his divisive rhetoric, and holding him accountable as the key person who has responsibility for cultivating unity is another thing...and is good and right! And I have more Trump supporting FB friends (4X as many) than Clinton, so I'm happy to discuss this in a respectful and calm way...anytime, anywhere...and if/when they say they had to "put up" with Obama for 8 years, I always remind them that those who voted for Obama had to see and listen to all manner of criticisms and attacks for 8 years, so I am just doing to Trump what many did to Obama...seems pretty fair to me.
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“C” Replied
Trunp voters are as passionate about their guy as we were, and still are, about ours. Now, they feel just as personally attacked as we did.  Yet, I do agree it would, "seems fair to me."  The problem is attacking Trump just sends his supporters into defensive-mode, widening the division.  It will take cooler heads to find some stratagem, other than WAR, to draw the nation together.  If things don't come together, I predict that just before his reelection time, Trump will pick a fight with a nationally-perceived aggressor to improve his ratings.  Spun just right, nothing brings a nation together like a just war.  Watch and see.
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“D” Replied
I don't doubt that, but Trump, and certain of his core voters, simply cannot expect folks to just shut up and consent...I have had folks say things like "get over it" and "we put up with Obama for 8 years...”  We all have to deal with it in the manner we think best, and I'm not wired to sit still and "shut up" and "get over it" unless/until Trump stops his awful and inflammatory words and behavior.  Did you see his speech Saturday night?  He continues to fan the flames of anger and hostility, and I'm never going to accept that...and standing up to it does not promote disunity nearly as much as the rhetoric he perpetuates.  We may find out in the 2018 midterms what the country thinks about Trump...and if the Ds take over the House and Senate, mark my words, he will be impeached.  I'll take Pence over Trump any day.
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“C” Replied
One can only hope your tactic works.  It is the popular approach right now.  But without a unifying strategy, no matter the party in power, these present divisive tactics will produce what Abraham Lincoln feared, "If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
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“D” Replied
I'm afraid we may never be unified again, but shutting up and letting despotic power take hold isn't in me...remember the tea party movement?  That wasn't unifying, but it was successful.  I guess one approach is to be quiet and leave the voices and rhetoric to people like Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones, but this is still America, and we have a long history of dissent leading to action, and that is my preference, but we all need to approach it the way we see best.  I remember a "voice" on one of your threads a while back, from an alleged former pastor, and that guy and his vitriol and Trump love is part of the problem, and I'm not going to let people like him fill the void that would be left by remaining quiet in an attempt toward unity.
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The Replies Ended…Wednesday, May 3, 2017
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In conclusion, the national conversation ignores a collective dream, leading to a united future, but instead prefers aggressive “payback” and/or spiteful defense.
As long as this discord reigns, a unifying strategy remains inconceivable and we stay a divided nation.  Seek not revenge but a common dream.  Otherwise Jesus, Himself, pronounced God’s verdict on such nations as recorded in Mark 3:24 of the New International Version Bible,
  “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

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