Reconciling the divide
Lead Summary
By
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By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
Over the Labor Day weekend, we were visiting some relatives in Indiana. We have a particular cousin of whom we are extremely fond. We usually do not discuss politics but one evening, then two, we got into some mild exploration of different views.
This cousin has a heart of gold, befriends every stray dog, takes care of people around her as she is able. She is left leaning and wouldn’t think of watching anything or reading any right-leaning perspectives.
The first evening we got to talking about the environment and similar issues. We told her that the EPA was created on Richard Nixon’s watch, as was OSHA. Further, the deregulation of pricing in the trucking and airlines industry took place in Jimmy Carter’s administration.
She was astounded at this 40-year-old news. Like many who have not studied such matters, she agreed that on the face of it, a person today would more readily agree the opposite to be true when it comes to which administration championed which issue.
The cousin is a graduate of a major, well-recognized and respected university. She is very smart.
I went on to explain to her that in industry and government, every liquid, every gaseous emission pipe or stack is measured and has been highly regulated for decades. The violations to these regulations in industry have been severely penalized and prosecuted (not so much for government entities – think Flint, Mich.).
This cousin had no idea. The media she watches and reads has led her to believe there is virtually no control. I told her that industrial plants have acres and acres of treatment ponds for their effluent. That toward the end of the treatment process, often ducks, geese and other water fowl make their nests, the water is so friendly as it is prepared to be discharged into streams. She was in shock and said, “Somebody should be telling us this!”
Well, they are, if you will only spread your curiosity for knowledge.
The second evening we talked about the invasion on our southern border. It never occurred to her that this was anything more than a humanitarian issue – with the right being just plain mean. It had never occurred to her that this might be an effort by the left to stuff the ballot box. It was like I had hit her with a ton of bricks.
Yet, if you spend some time studying the work of Judicial Watch (www.judicialwatch.org), you will find they are successfully litigating election boards across the country for keeping invalid voters on their rolls (one of the most egregious cases is Los Angeles). This is not opinion; these actions are fully documented in the appropriate courts.
So, to the headline. In order to reconcile the divide, there has to be trust. Right now, both sides do not trust each other. We both think the other side is dishonest, immoral and not working toward any common purpose or any common goals.
When I think over conversations like the ones I just shared, this is only reinforced for me. I cannot begin to move to a point of reconciliation with the opposite side. For this example, I have just relayed, like many others I see, show a movement, a party, that is determined to obfuscate and falsify the narrative.
The opposition’s purposes cannot clearly be discerned, but it comes across as simply a power struggle toward the ends of being in control and taking at least half the country in a direction it does not want to go. Indeed, a direction the other half sees as very harmful on a national and personal level.
More and more, it looks like a peaceful reconciliation is further and further beyond reach simply because we don’t trust each other.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.
HCP columnist
Over the Labor Day weekend, we were visiting some relatives in Indiana. We have a particular cousin of whom we are extremely fond. We usually do not discuss politics but one evening, then two, we got into some mild exploration of different views.
This cousin has a heart of gold, befriends every stray dog, takes care of people around her as she is able. She is left leaning and wouldn’t think of watching anything or reading any right-leaning perspectives.
The first evening we got to talking about the environment and similar issues. We told her that the EPA was created on Richard Nixon’s watch, as was OSHA. Further, the deregulation of pricing in the trucking and airlines industry took place in Jimmy Carter’s administration.
She was astounded at this 40-year-old news. Like many who have not studied such matters, she agreed that on the face of it, a person today would more readily agree the opposite to be true when it comes to which administration championed which issue.
The cousin is a graduate of a major, well-recognized and respected university. She is very smart.
I went on to explain to her that in industry and government, every liquid, every gaseous emission pipe or stack is measured and has been highly regulated for decades. The violations to these regulations in industry have been severely penalized and prosecuted (not so much for government entities – think Flint, Mich.).
This cousin had no idea. The media she watches and reads has led her to believe there is virtually no control. I told her that industrial plants have acres and acres of treatment ponds for their effluent. That toward the end of the treatment process, often ducks, geese and other water fowl make their nests, the water is so friendly as it is prepared to be discharged into streams. She was in shock and said, “Somebody should be telling us this!”
Well, they are, if you will only spread your curiosity for knowledge.
The second evening we talked about the invasion on our southern border. It never occurred to her that this was anything more than a humanitarian issue – with the right being just plain mean. It had never occurred to her that this might be an effort by the left to stuff the ballot box. It was like I had hit her with a ton of bricks.
Yet, if you spend some time studying the work of Judicial Watch (www.judicialwatch.org), you will find they are successfully litigating election boards across the country for keeping invalid voters on their rolls (one of the most egregious cases is Los Angeles). This is not opinion; these actions are fully documented in the appropriate courts.
So, to the headline. In order to reconcile the divide, there has to be trust. Right now, both sides do not trust each other. We both think the other side is dishonest, immoral and not working toward any common purpose or any common goals.
When I think over conversations like the ones I just shared, this is only reinforced for me. I cannot begin to move to a point of reconciliation with the opposite side. For this example, I have just relayed, like many others I see, show a movement, a party, that is determined to obfuscate and falsify the narrative.
The opposition’s purposes cannot clearly be discerned, but it comes across as simply a power struggle toward the ends of being in control and taking at least half the country in a direction it does not want to go. Indeed, a direction the other half sees as very harmful on a national and personal level.
More and more, it looks like a peaceful reconciliation is further and further beyond reach simply because we don’t trust each other.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.