“Maybe the critics are right. Maybe there's no escaping our great
political divide, an endless clash of armies, and any attempts to alter
the rules of engagement are futile. Or maybe the trivialization of
politics has reached a point of no return, so that most people see it as
just one more diversion, a sport, with politicians our paunch-bellied
gladiators and those who bother to pay attention just fans on the
sidelines: We paint our faces red or blue and cheer our side and boo
their side, and if it takes a late hit or cheap shot to beat the other
team, so be it, for winning is all that matters.
But I don't think so. They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way-in their own lives, at least- to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves.
...I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don't always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting. They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”
Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
But I don't think so. They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way-in their own lives, at least- to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves.
...I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don't always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting. They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”
Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
WHAT HAPPENED?
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