A very nasty political environment.

[kentuck]

It's obvious that the Republican right-wing is at war with this Administration and everything Democratic, including the very word. (Democrat)

With what happened in Wisconsin and what is happening in Florida and elsewhere, their forces are advancing as if it were an actual war. They mean to destroy Obama and the Democratic Party.

We see the purging of voters in Florida and other states not as visible, such as Texas. We see the blatant disrespect for our public workers and our unions. They are using the debt issue, which they created, to destroy the very foundations of our society, the teachers, the firemen, the police. This is a very serious matter.

We cannot depend on the media to inform the people. They are mainly into the entertainment, the horse-race aspect, "he said, she said" type of reporting. There is very little actual honest reporting of what is happening in our country at this time.

Democrats feel the anger and animosity and reflexively fight back with similar tactics that the Repubs are using. It only turns up the heat and there is little light. We must understand the nature of this opponent and not become like them.

This is a battle for the hearts and minds of the American people. It is a propaganda war as much as it is a political struggle. We must keep the facts on our side. We must yield the sword of truth. That is the best weapon we have at this time.

.

[Skittles]

1. as repukes ALWAYS do, they will overreach

hopefully voters will catch on by November

[TheKentuckian]

2. I'd put them way past overreach already. If not then the correction won't mean much.

I also don't think we can be sitting around waiting for reaction to fix the world. We have to make our way rather than waiting for karma or mistakes by the opposition to hand it to us.

[Skittles]

4. I feel burned out

I live in a country where good people struggle but hateful bastards like Glenn Beck get paid 100 million to further divide us....where people care more about Dancing with the Fucking Stars than who might be appointed to the Supreme Court - I am disgusted and fed up. I won't give up but I see people waking up only when it is far, FAR too late.

[TheKentuckian]

3. You seem to assume an atmosphere where the truth sees daylight and further

where it can be distinguished clearly from distortion and falsehood.

Where is this world? If it was here it passed with signs of being further away by the day.

I also see more signs of hearts and minds be corralled into a very tight area of room for debate more than being fought over, where is the fight?

[kentuck]

5. Unfortunately...

I don't assume truth can be clearly distinguished from the propaganda war now being spread.

My concern is that we will continue to fight but the fight will be without a purpose. We fight for the injustice we see coming down the road, as well as the injustice we see in front of us, and soon we will fight just for the fight.

You are a soldier, Kentuckian.

[HereSince1628]

7. I think we (citizens of the US) are already at the point of fighting just to be fighting.

America has always been attracted to rebelliousness, but things have reached the state of being pathological.

The tea-party has picked up on the R's political impedance and contrariness, typified by Norquist's "no new taxes, shrink government" and Mitch McConnell's approach. Now the republican base, which cannot grasp the principles involved, simply walks around looking for a fight, with one or more 'Don't Tread on Me' flag magnets stuck to their cars, and tattooed on their arms.

What they mostly want to fight is anything that is status quo--except of course they don't want to change to status quo of belligerence.

In the face of amazing amounts of dry powder seemingly unreasonably held in reserve, the left has also developed an appetite for belligerence and confrontation.

Across America, around kitchen tables, in conference rooms and in legislatures there is no respect, no recognition of alternate views, no interest in searching for compromise that captures the best of both points of view. It's all or nothing and very serious.

Many of the politicians, political pundits, and even DU'ers use language so deeply embedded in defensiveness that it suggests existential desperation. Intolerance is growing.

We are in a social environment where competitive debate replaces discussion and where debate is nothing but verbal combat. It seems to have been brought about by the approach of one political party determined to have its way, either by winner-take-all outcomes or refusal to cooperate. But, as argued by Adam Curtis, in "The Power of Nightmares", it could also have arisen from fundamental religious rhetoric, not only in America, but also in the Eastern Mediterranean.

After decades of this, the distinction of chicken vs egg arguments seems less important than recognition of the current increasingly unstable state of affairs here.

As a society we've drawn up sides, we dream of conflict, and we practice arguments that will justify conflict.

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Well, I've never fought just to be fighting........

I've always fought for the working class. And I'll ALWAYS fight fascists. Even proto-fascists because if they're not fought at the "proto" stage, they develop into full fascism.

[Buns_of_Fire]

6. Thing is, the sword of truth must actually be wielded occasionally to be effective.

Personally, I'm tired of hearing all the namby-pamby circumventions to the plain word "liar."

If OxyRush or Boner or Cantor the Wedgie Magnet or Grover the Gnome tells an outright egregious lie with malicious intent (a pretty safe bet on any given day), I don't want to hear "he misspoke" or "he didn't have all the facts" or "he was indulging in hyperbole" or any of the other excuses that might be made. I just want to hear somebody say, plain and simple, "he's lying" or "that's a lie." No need to embellish that statement with adjectives (although several come to mind). Then followup immediately with the facts of the matter. (Naturally, it always helps to have the facts.)

Calling someone out as a liar is certainly not PC. Them's fightin' words. It's throwing the gauntlet right back in their faces -- but I don't really see it as sinking to their level. It's hardball. The truth can afford to play hardball.

[kentuck]

8. That is why we have a free press...

They are supposed to be the referee.

If either political side calls the other a "liar", they are assumed to be biased. It is up to the press to gather the facts and show the people who the real "liar' is?

Absent that, we don't make a lot of progress.