Tine to come together AKA A plea for sanity to return

[Diana Michelle]

The people have spoken and the election is behind us. Both sides can and will say they won and both did but both lost as well. It is time to put the rhetoric and inflammatory talk away and come together to solve the problems facing our great nation.

We have seen enough of the attitudes of politicians acting like a 3 year old who don't get her way and taking her toys and going home. Rather than starting from the corners we all need to meet in the middle and find common ground we can work from. Not everyone is going to get what they want but the time has come to stop treating bipartisanship and compromise like four letter words.

[CharLee]

Maybe now that the Dems hold control of the congress, maybe the Republicans in the Senate will finally get a pair of " balls " and hold Trump accountable for the lies he tells and get down to the real issues that the American public want resolved.

[Diana Michelle]

CharLee, this is exactly the type of attitude I hope gets buried. It is not about lies or Fake News or Blue Waves or Red Waves anymore. First and foremost we are all Americans and need to come together. Let us hope the next two years doesn't become mired down in investigations and he said she said. Instead it is time to come to together and address the issues both sides have kicked the can down on the road for years like LGBTQ rights, infrastructure, immigration, DACA, and others. The time has come to cease the running to our respective corners and come together and have open, honest, and fruitful conversations about the things that truly matter unless you desire the United States of America to become the Divided States of America.

[CharLee]

Diana I agree with you, what I meant is now I hope that Republicans dan now sit down with Democrats and get things done without fear of Trump's reprisals. Lets hope that now both parties can reach across the aisle and deal with the important issues at hand.

[Diana Michelle]

You are correct CharLee it is time to get to work and solve the important issues facing us. However while the deadlock and partisanship seems to have come to a head under the current administration it has been festering for years. Long gone are the days of Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill who could disagree without yelling, ranting, and threats. People who were once friends are now at odds over political beliefs. Families don't dare discuss politics at family get togethers. Even our educators are under attack if they utter anything not in the middle let alone express an opinion. The tribalism must stop and it must stop now!

I beseech all of you to contact your representatives and senators on federal, state, and local level and demand they put aside party politics and get down to what they are elected to do, lead! All of them on all sides have kept delaying addressing issues preferring to point fingers and say "Its his fault." The time has come for action for actions speak louder than words.

[SilverLady(SO)]

Diana, I agree with your posts in this topic, maybe not 100% but fairly close to it.

That said, I will remind everyone that political discussions are no longer permitted at this forum *unless* they are solely about LGBT issues. That said, as long as this particular topic remains a 'general discussion' - as Diana intended - then this topic will be allowed to remain.

Maybe now that the Dems hold control of the congress, maybe the Republicans in the Senate will finally get a pair of " balls " and hold Trump accountable for the lies he tells and get down to the real issues that the American public want resolved.

CharLee, please stop with all the name-calling, crude comments, and rhetoric, all of which is aimed at fueling and creating more dissension among Americans.

Further, you need to get your facts straight. Democrats do not 'hold control' of Congress, they have only obtained the majority in the House, and this type of 'flip' is considered normal for all mid-term elections, no matter who is POTUS. Republicans have retained - indeed, they increased - their majority in the Senate. And why is this distinction important?

* The House cannot pass any laws, but they can initiate investigations and have 'power of the purse'.

* The Senate is responsible for all federal judicial appointees and especially SCOTUS, and they have the power to impeach (or not).



- SL and Virginia

[Diana Michelle]

I am well aware of the ban on political discussions but thank you for bring it up SL. My reason for this post was not to attempt to place blame or pit one side against another for both sides are guilty of that. My hope is finally we can put side the party labels and start to come together rather than drift yet further apart.

Two things though SL you failed to mention is while the House cannot pass laws neither can the Senate, it takes both houses to pass a law before it goes to the President's desk. Secondly if memory serves me the House is responsible for initiating the budget process thus controlling the government's purse strings.

[SilverLady(SO)]

Diana -

Everything you just mentioned I had already addressed in my post, although not in the same terms you did. Further, I never said that the Senate could pass laws, because I know they cannot.


The point I was making is that, contrary to CharLee's comment "... Dems hold control of the congress...", because they do not.

Neither political party has 'control' of Congress right now, because each party has the majority in only one of two sides. "Control" would be that one political party holds the majority in both the House and the Senate.

I was trying to put it into terms that CharLee and others would, hopefully, understand because we all know that while Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), understanding what one reads is more important.


- SL

[Bernice]

I'm with Silver Lady on this. I also am offended whenever anyone says or writes "both parties" as though there are no third parties. I don't understand why people in the D and R parties have so much contempt for those of us in the Libertarian party. We Libertarians have much in common with the D party and with the R party. However, we are ostracized like as if we were crossdressers or something. Oh wait... Some of us are. In fact, I believe that crossdressers and LGBTQ have much higher market share in the Libertarian party than they do in the two largest parties.

Please stop the hate, at least until you know more about us.

Hugs,

Bernice

[Ralitsa]

I'm 100% with Bernice on this!!!!

I don't consider myself to "belong to" a party (as if they owned me and my vote), but I tend to go with the Libertarians more often than not. It's amusing almost, how often I hear people bemoan "our two party system" which is a fiction - and then when I mention that they have more like a half dozen choices they have a whole list of excuses why that's not practical.

So I don't consider "the government" to be the problem. Last I heard we have a government of the people, by the people, for the people. To me that translates into: the people are their own problem, if there are any problems. Yes, contacting our elected representatives will help, but that is only one piece. More importantly, each of us needs to take personal responsibility for the behavior of our employees. The public servants who carry out the functions of government at all levels, from the town chairman up to the supreme court justices, are our employees. They are NOT our leaders, we hire them to carry out our instructions. The people, i.e. voters, taxpayers, citizens, are the supreme authority in this country and I worry that most people seem to forget that.

As far as all the hate and noise and bickering - I just don't watch TV. It seems like they go out of their way to find the most outrageous craziness to broadcast, most of which is only slightly true and all of which is hugely exaggerated. All the people that I talk to in my daily life are not like that at all. I do not know a single person who really hates all those @^#&! people in the other party. Mostly what I hear people talk about is sports.

The news media makes their money off attracting viewers: more viewers = higher advertising rates = more money. And manufactured controversies attract a lot of attention. So when people stop watching, they will stop doing it. My advice is, if you don't like what you are seeing on TV, then turn the stupid thing off and read the newspaper.

[Diana Michelle]

Interesting this subject has become active again. Yes there is a wide variety of political parties out there some broadly based and some narrowly focused however most fall into the two major parties or independent which is where I fall.

My original plea to come together is perhaps even more relevant today than it was when I originally posted it. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said something to the effect of a house divided cannot stand.

I implore all of you to think about how you look at and treat those who differ with yiu. Take a few minutes and have a conversation with someone like that. That conversation need not be about politics or religion or your differences but rather a shared belief or like or even a dislike you share. You may find you have more in common than you imagined.

Be it LGBTQ rights or politics or religion or driverless cars the time has come we start having open honest conversations now before it is too late. Please note I said conversation not shouting match! You may not change their mind nor they yours but you may find common ground you can with from if you allow yourself to.