THE POLITICS OF MAYBE

All over the web, I see the most extreme, angry and ugly comments concerning politics.  There is never any attempt to understand anyone with a different idea and of course, we only like those who think just like us.  Anyone else is a complete idiot.

People of both ideologies accuse the other of being racist, fascist, evil and un-American.  And both Bush and Obama were compared to Stalin, Hitler and the Antichrist.

And while we are busy with our petty jealousies, arguing about guns, debt, abortion, God and all the other convenient distractions, so certain that we are the "good" ones, our government steals the world from us.

So I dare all of you to consider something terrifying and completely unheard of: Consider that maybe the other guys are right.

Maybe our government has gotten too big, maybe it's not big or progressive enough.

Maybe Boehner is a real patriot and maybe Obama is too. Or maybe they are both liars and idiots.

Maybe our families are crumbling because we have turned away from faith and maybe we need to let go of ridiculous biases based on fantasy, fear and hate.

Maybe the GOP is trying to save us from ourselves and maybe the Democrats are trying to keep us from repeating the failures of our past.

And maybe, just maybe we should all dial down the hate and intolerance for just a moment and consider that we are all Americans, that liberals and conservatives put freedom and God before differences and built a nation that rivaled those of old, that white men died in the Civil War to free black men and black men died in all the subsequent wars, boldly defending the nation which had once enslaved them.

We are the heirs of that great and heroic nobility and no matter how flawed, this is still our country.

Maybe we need to remember that.

©2013