Opinion : Time to stop the out-of-control political fighting

I’m a Trekkie. In other words, I love the TV show Star Trek. That’s the original one, not all of that spin-off nonsense.

Anyway.

One of my favorite episodes was called “Day Of The Dove.” The premise was that 40 crew members of the Enterprise crew were trapped on board with 40 Klingons, and a creature that was forcing them to fight. All of their weapons were turned into swords, and no one could die. Then, just for fun, the ship was out of control, hurdling through space at Warp Ten. In the end, only the realization by both sides that the creature was there, and that to save themselves that they had to make peace with each other, saved them from an eternity of endless combat.

With that, I have just summed up American politics in 2011.

It is sadly ironic that today, just days from the 10th anniversary of the horror of Sept. 11 – an event that for a time unified this nation as one more than it has ever been in my lifetime – that we are more factionalized and divided than we have been in recent history. Over politics. And like that Enterprise of the future, we are trapped, fighting a never-ending battle and going nowhere at warp-speed.

I am a liberal Democrat. Heck, I might as well be a Socialist. I believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. I believe that we all should pay our fair share in life and that we should share all that we can in this nation. I believe everyone has the right to live their life the way they see best for them, so long as it doesn’t directly interfere with the rights of others. I believe in God and consider myself a Christian, but I don’t hit people over the head with it.

Because of these beliefs and others, I have been told by Conservative Republicans (people I consider friends) that I was:

1. A murderer, because as a Liberal AND a Democrat, I automatically supported abortion;

2. A coward, because I don’t own a gun;

3. Un-American, because I don’t think we all need AK-47s with 100-round magazines;

4. Anti-Christian, because I believe everyone should have the right to marry and share their life with whoever they want to;

5. Anti-Christian again because I don’t see all Islamic people as terrorists, and;

6. A Communist because I don’t think corporations are more important than workers.

Wow. I’m really evil.

But in fairness, I have been kind of rough of my Conservative friends lately on Facebook. I have called them:

1. Holier-than-thou for slapping me around with their superior Christianity;

2. Violence freaks for having to be so heavily armed at all times;

3. Bigots, for wanting to discriminate against anyone;

4. Robber-barons for putting the needs of Corporate America ahead of the needs of Middle America.

Wow. They’re really evil, too. But the thing is, I was wrong. Not for my beliefs; I will not apologize for them, and will stick to them and defend them to the end.

Where I was wrong was not in what I believe. Instead, I was wrong for verbally assaulting others for their beliefs. I was wrong because instead of meeting in the middle and finding a common ground that will allow us all to move forward, I chose to set my feet, grab my sword and blindly lash out at everyone who didn’t believe what I did. And, standing opposite me, were those whose views I opposed, and they were doing exactly the same thing.

This is America today. We should all be ashamed of ourselves. All of us.

The last session of both the U.S. Congress and Iowa Legislature are perfect examples of this. In both cases, both sides were intransient. No matter what the issue, if one side supported it, the other side had to vehemently oppose it. One side could have been in favor of giving every child in the country/state a free puppy and the other side would have wanted to euthanize every one of those puppies.

And the thing is, the politicians voting for these proposals don’t necessarily believe any of the things they are voting for or even publically supporting. But they HAVE to support them. They really don’t have any choice.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties have been taken over by the extreme ends of their parties. We Liberals don’t think we’ve been tough enough on the Republicans for what they did over eight years of the Bush presidency. We don’t want anything in the state of Iowa that Terry Branstad wants. The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party refuses to give in to anything the Iowa Senate or President Obama wants to accomplish. There can’t be a middle ground anymore. We have to get our way, keep fighting, NEVER compromise and be willing to take the whole thing down in flames if need be. But we will NEVER surrender.

Yeah, that’s working out, isn’t it? Right now, our nation is faced with an economic crisis that isn’t far removed from the Great Depression. Millions are unemployed, and there are no jobs for them.

At the same time, we have been through a series of natural disasters that left billions in damage, and have only underscored the need we have nationwide to upgrade our infrastructure.

Tonight, President Obama will address the nation and a Joint Session of Congress and – reportedly – will propose a jobs plan that will put millions to work and rebuild our infrastructure at the same time, and a cost of roughly $300 billion.

It’s a good plan, probably one of the best I’ve heard in a while. But what is sad is that it will never pass. What is sad is that a clear majority in both the House and the Senate probably, deep-down inside, believe it’s a good plan. But in the end, all Democrats will vote for it, all Republicans against it. Then, later, the Republican leadership will come up with a different plan – probably just as good -- and every Republican will vote for it and every Democrat will vote against it. Our elected officials have become so partisan that they are unable to think for themselves; they just blindly follow party lines.

And in the end, everyone in Congress will be able to say, “I held true to my party’s convictions! I didn’t compromise!” And, in the meantime, millions will still be out of work, there will still be no jobs and our infrastructure will still continue to fall apart.

Is this really what we are about in this nation? Have the politics become so important that nothing else matters? Are our leaders – the ones we elected, you know, the ones who work FOR us – so caught up in partisan politics that they can’t reach agreements for anything?

Next year we will have an election in this nation. We will elect everyone from school board members to the President. How about instead of negativity, partisanship, and rancor, we elect only politicians who are willing to work with one another? How about instead of concentrating on the things that separate us, we concentrate on the things that bring us together?

I, for one, will pledge to no longer attack those who I disagree with. I may debate, I may cajole, but I will not attack. And I will pledge to listen to all ideas from all sides, and help to find a middle ground. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we can at least agree to move forward.

Right now we are hurdling through space at 10 times the speed of light, with no course, no direction and no plan. And all the while we are fighting a battle that no one can win. Stop the fight, regain control and together let us set a course to find the answers we need. We are running out of time.