Democrats shocked that their efforts to divide America have resulted in a divided America

The following is a comparison of the philosophies of Nietzsche, Aristotle, and Taylor Swift. Those less inebriated than the author (which is nearly everyone) are encouraged to seek enlightenment elsewhere.

As a conservative in personality and ideology, I understand the Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Conflict can be healthy, but chaos rarely is. A small group discussing ideas is often healthy; mob violence rarely is. I look at the world today, and I see conflict evolving into chaos. To my eye, a lot of things are changing very rapidly right now.

We have immigrants to America who either have no interest in becoming Americans or actively wish for the destruction of their new home. This refusal to conform is not limited to immigrants. We can’t even conform with each other.

The left often depicts conservatives as selfish individualists, while they paint their fellow leftists as a friendly group of community-minded, selfless intellectuals who think it’s better if you “spread the wealth around.” Introspective and thoughtful liberals in America (…which are much less numerous than their latest darlings, the transgendered – I’m not sure that I’ve ever met an example of either one…) may be surprised that our lurch to the left over the past 50 years has resulted in a society which is not only more divided and conflicted, but shows much, MUCH less interest in cooperation.

Leftists view non-progressives with disdain, if not thinly disguised hatred. And I regret to observe that there are signs of such tendencies developing on the right. Discussing politics in social settings was once viewed as impolite. It is now nearly impossible.

As noted modern political philosopher Taylor Swift observed, “haters gonna hate.” If an observer finds your ideas or behavior objectionable, it is not because your ideas or behavior might be objectionable.

The problem is with the observer. He is a hater. Nice people don’t judge or criticize. The left demands that the right not only approve of transgender marriage (or whatever they have come up with this week), but actively praise it. If a conservative does not play along, then that conservative is not considered worthy of debate – he is beyond polite society – he is a hater. His ideas are not discussed or engaged; they are scorned and ignored.

This neglect of opposing viewpoints makes progressives stupid (they never learn how to argue their points), but it also makes conservatives seem like the new counterculture. Which they are.

Aristotle: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

The Democrat party (which is HALF of the political influence in the most powerful country in the world) has decided to gain influence primarily through leveraging sympathy for approved minority groups. First women, then blacks, then gays, then illegal immigrants, then transgendered, then – who knows?

People are grouped into tribes of one sort or another, and criticism of favored tribes is strictly forbidden. This gives a political party impenetrable power in the realm of ideas – to the point that that party no longer feels the need to even discuss ideas, they just amass more and more power by creating one sympathetic group after another.

This is why the recent conservative pushback against political correctness is more important than most people realize. It also may explain the increasing conflict and vulgarity in our political discourse. Friedrich Nietzsche said, “In individuals, insanity is rare, but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”

However, I don’t understand how Trump and Biden fit into this.

Why would Republicans turn down several ideological conservatives to nominate a bombastic lifelong Democrat who emphasizes a cult of personality over character and ideology?

Why would Democrats nominate a fake socialist (Joe Biden), more interested in personal enrichment than he is in “the movement,” when they had a real socialist (Bernie Sanders) without all the legal and financial issues available?

You would think that in times of such partisan divides, the parties would select partisan ideologues, but they didn’t. There must be a reason for those seemingly inexplicable decisions, but I can’t imagine what it might be.

The increasingly dramatic and vicious divisions in our society are very concerning to me. Other societies around the world are going through very similar experiences right now, which is even more concerning. We are approaching a point at which I think it will be very difficult to gracefully back away from the precipice. I hope these issues do not turn out to be as destructive as they appear. I really hope I’m wrong on all this.

I don’t think I am.

Maybe just one more glass of bourbon will make all this better…