But First

But First...

After the 2020 election, the first thing every Democrat should do, after expelling a sigh of relief, is to get scared all over again. 73 million American people and counting voted for Trump, despite a pandemic running wild, widespread economic hardship and 22,000 (and counting) documented lies to the American people. While this is unconscionable to the rest of the country, it is a fact. 

Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand" and I believe this is also a fact. Our country will never be anything more than the dysfunctional mess it is today unless and until the two Americas find common ground and start the reconciliation process. 

We don't have to agree on everything, but we can't continue with the tribal mentality that has resulted in our hating each other more than we like our own leaders. We need to start talking to, rather than yelling at, each other. To get this started, it's going to take the more clear-headed and pragmatic of us from each side to come to the table. But first, there are some things that we need to address.

1. The Public Health Crisis. After nine months of sickness, death and economic and emotional suffering on an unimaginable scale, the COVID-19 Pandemic has become the single biggest event in our lifetimes. Like it or not, this period of history will be defined not only by the spread of the pandemic, but how we are able to recover from it. We have to come together to stop it. It's not a hoax, it's not just going to go away. Protecting our society from it should be as important to us as protecting our borders from foreign invaders. It has affected us all regardless of our politics, and it will continue to do so unless we collectively agree to do whatever is necessary to stop it. If there was ever a job for the Federal government this is it. We all must follow the rules that we direct our government to establish, despite our feelings about personal freedoms or the like, for the common good, until the COVID-19 pandemic is a thing of the past.

2. This QAnon thing. When a statistically significant percentage of voters in your party believes this nonsense, it would seemingly be a good time for leadership to start to do something about it. The more our side says anything about it, the deeper rooted it becomes. So, the onus falls on Republican leaders and the party's celebrity thought leaders to step up to get this now very large fringe group to come to reality. The country is not going to agree on anything, let alone reconcile, when this many people believe that Democrats are eating babies to extract some magic, life extending elixir from their blood. 

3. Protests are not riots. I have heard people from the right say that Black Lives Matter is the sponsor of all the protest-related violence, looting and riots. Even when I ask, "Were the Lakers and the Dodgers responsible for the idiots that burned cars and looted businesses after they won their championships?" They say "of course not." But for "some" reason, these same people believe that BLM and any other progressive group who are protesting are clearly responsible for any violence and property damage that occurs within proximity to their protests. 

It may not be completely possible to convince these people, but nonetheless, our side is guilty of very poor communications. We need to draw a line in the sand. The "leaderless" protest movements like BLM have strong principles that they are well able to communicate to the public -- their fight for and positions on social justice and equity are known by the mainstream. But their disavowal of violence and property destruction message does not resonate outside our own progressive bubble. 

A well known, mainstream black activist or maybe even better, a black celebrity associated with activism needs to step up to the microphone in behalf of BLM. This person needs to espouse the movement's ideals,  by clearly stating, for the record, that BLM does not approve of violence or property destruction in its name, and that it has no form of relationship with any groups that riot or destroy property in conjunction with its peaceful protests. This message needs to be reinforced in the media, over and over, until it sticks and can no longer be ignored by Fox News and the like. Yes this is pandering to old, white people. But in this case, it's mostly white people in that 73 million that we need to get the message. We want to change their minds, and to do that you have to deliver the message in a format they can understand. 

4. We need better slogans. I know the intent of "Defund the Police" was good. But come on, what a horrible headline. It has been purposely bent so far out of proportion by the right wing media that even though it is barely used by anyone on our side any more, (was it ever really used?) it is still one of the primary talking points on Fox. A case in point that hit home for me is a dear friend's son who is a law enforcement officer, he hates Trump but doesn't trust Biden not to defund the police. It doesn't matter that Joe looked into the camera and said he is in favor of increasing policing in the community. That headline has scared even the non-cultists in the Republican Party. 

Reconciliation of our polarized country is necessary for any form of progress. We can start with the things we all agree upon, and there are a few of them. We can agree to carefully continue the dialogue on the things where we might be able to find common ground. Maybe we can even table the things that we will never agree on for another time or another generation. 

But we can't even start until we are assured that reasonable, sane people are at the table and that both sides are clearly articulating their positions, and not letting the media or the rabble on the Internet speak for them.