Over The River And Through The Woods....

Yes it's Thanksgiving and this year, I'm full of despair. We are in a bad place as a country. Tribalism and partisanship has our nation on a collision course with disaster. I'm sure many of you are dreading the family gathering as you anticipate conflict and derision of your views. I wish I had a magic recipe to put these feelings aside, but alas I don't. I would just like to have you consider where we are as a people in the hopes of finding a solution.

It's bad enough that political division leads us to feel apprehensive about spending time with our families. That's appalling. However, the list doesn't end there. Partisanship leads people to hate President Obama. A good and decent man with a smart wife and great children. In the alternative they praise and support Donald Trump. Yes, Donald Fucking Trump, thrice married and with more bankruptcies than failed marriages, one of the most despicable human beings on the face of the planet. Yeah, THAT guy is A-OK.

It leads people to become mental contortionists to support Roy Moore-excusing his pursuit of underage girls as somehow acceptable. Why? Because they like his politics. That makes everything O.K.

People will believe talk show hosts over scientists, when it comes to climate science. Why? Because they just don't like Al Gore or those liberals. They can't be telling the truth. So partisanship overcomes science and reason.

For many of you, myself included, we're going to hear it all tomorrow. Fake news, Russia is a hoax, that Melania Trump sure is a classy woman, the Clintons are horrible people, why should people who don't work get health care, dangerous Muslims, ungrateful NFL players-you know the drill. It's all going to be served up with turkey and gravy. Yum.

Partisanship has robbed our nation of its critical thinking skills. Defend Donald Trump to the death because he's on your team. Dismiss and attack anybody and any information that doesn't comport with your world view. All done from the comfort of your little information bubble. But more than robbing us of our ability to think, its robbed us of our sense of kinship and community and that is dangerous.

If we were a caring nation it would concern us to know about our fellow Americans without access to health care. We wouldn't worry about how an NFL player protests, but we would be concerned about the conditions that led him to feel the need to protest. We would worry about the integrity of our elections-not ignore it because your side won. And you would certainly be able to see through the exceedingly transparent facade to realize that Donald Trump is a truly awful person.

It makes me sick to think that my parents won't be around much longer and I have to feel bad in anticipation of spending time with them. It's just a symptom of a much larger problem. When it's gotten to this level we need to acknowledge that our country is in deep trouble. For any number of reasons. The least of which is that it tears at the fabric of our society and what holds us together as a nation. We can debate what the cause is, but at this point does it really matter? What is the solution? I don't know, but if we don't figure it out quickly, the outlook for the U.S. is not bright.

I'm going to give my mom and dad a big hug and a kiss tomorrow. I'm going to be happy to see my siblings and their kids. But underneath it all, there's just going to be a sadness. Because this disease of the mind and soul affects us all. I just wish I knew how to fix this.