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A Divided Nation

By Shaik Ubaid

08 November, 2004
Countercurrents.org

One of the things that has become clear with the 2004 elections is that today America is a country divided against itself. President Bush and Senator Kerry both have vowed to work towards bridging the divide. Chances are they will not succeed as healing takes both time and efforts. Without efforts time can actually make some psychological wounds fester.

This national divide is a bitter one. Those on the right consider the Democrats to be out of touch, unreligious if not anti-religious, elites who care more for spotted owls and gay-marriages than they do for their fellow citizens. Those on the left view the Republicans as religious extremists whose shortsightedness and intolerance are exploited by greedy and inhuman multinationals. This kind of stereotyping leads to demonization of the other side.


Neither characterization merits unqualified attestation. A more realistic surmise would be that the primaries based American electoral system has enabled the radical wings of both parties, lavishly financed by powerful lobbies of vested interests to gain disproportionate influence and therefore dictate the agenda for the campaign within their respective parties.


The entire election campaign was conducted in a negative atmosphere. Fear was pitted against anger and being a more powerful drive, fear won. Religious conviction was brought into play against part-time idealism and conviction carried the day. Rural America scored over metropolitan America and aging America won over the once-again-no-show young America.


In this closely contested election where the pundits were repeatedly forced to eat dirt and where even the exit polls were proven wrong, one person got it right. Karl Rove, who the President referred to as the "architect" of his victory, firmly believed in the reality of a divided America and converted that belief into successful campaign strategy. He pitched the fear factor to charge and mobilize the Republican base, the Christian conservatives. Fear of the terrorist, fear of America being taken over by gay-marriage-loving liberals, fear of changing leadership during times of war, fear that the eleventh commandment- thou shalt amass assault rifles - will be abrogated, were all brought into play and orchestrated to great effect.

The Democrats believed that it would suffice to whip up the anger that their liberal base has been nursing ever since the last election was “stolen” from them. Their other calculation that went awry was that a larger number of registered younger voters would counter the fear factor driven vote.

The pundits believed in the conventional wisdom that increased voter turn out is a natural anti incumbent phenomenon. This notion added to an undue faith in the exit poll results led them to presume that Kerry would sweep the battleground states. They failed to reckon with the war time fear factor.

Precisely at a time when the widening divide demands heightened efforts to reach out to the other, it is worrisome that the parties are not going to be run by their moderate wings. This might well mean a lukewarm response at best or as is more likely a complete disregard to acknowledge and address the need for such efforts.

The Republican leadership is already claiming a mandate to proceed with its right-wing policies. In all likelihood they will attempt to do so causing more anger among the Democrats. It is only inevitable that the radical left will exploit this anger to gain ascendancy within the Democratic party. The vicious cycle of negativity will thus continue. After all in the reactionary laws of sociology and politics every reaction will have an increased and opposite reaction.

The democrats have been attempting to stem the rightward tilt of the country by aping the economic policies and the social agenda of the right. What is needed is that they reclaim the moral values while sticking with their traditional plebeian policies in the areas of economics and sociology

What we need here and now is an element of moral progressiveness to come into play. We need individuals with a strong belief in morality and traditional values enhanced by a progressive outlook on issues of poverty, healthcare human rights and the environment.

The call must go out for such individuals in the Democratic Party to assert themselves. They will have eight years to prepare for the battle at the national level. I say eight years, because John McCain most likely will win the presidency by a landslide in 2008 with support from all sections of the society. He may have to face a determined challenge from his Party's right wing in the primaries but he can and will overcome it. After taking office he will surely attempt to heal the nation. In spite of his proven bipartisanship it may not be possible for him to prevail upon the right wing leadership of his party. The nation will remain unhealed.

But this impasse might prove to be an opportunity for the moderate and true “compassionate conservatives” to gain a very desirable ascendancy in the Republican party and the “moral progressives” to assume leadership among the Democrats. The ideological divide will still be there but the political discourse will thus become civil and positive.

If today the moral progressives respond to the call of history in the making and recognize their role as leaders and organizers, by 2012 they will definitely stand a fair chance of being in a position to initiate the healing process in this country.


 

 

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