Political hatred

People today act like if their candidate loses the election that the world will come to an end. I believe, and so did George Washington, that we are Americans before we are ever Democrats or Republicans:

"In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discrimination's, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection."

"They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. " - George Washington in his Farewell Address 1796

The world of George Washington was very different from the world of today but his ideas are still as current as if they were spoken yesterday. Blind allegiance to a particular party or ideology is more rampant than ever. People are angry and scared that if their candidate or their party does not win the election, it is the end of the world. People are openly spewing venom and hatred at our President which was unheard of, or at least less public, in the past. He is OUR President. This is OUR country. No matter how bad it has become for you under the other party's leadership...it is not as bad as it is in other countries who are not as free as we are. In some countries the loss of the party you support means maiming or death. Attempting to vote for your party could lead to a similiar fate.

Even in the worst of times, we have it better than most of the world. Our disagreements and political beefs are nothing compared to people in other countries where at every sunrise your chances of making it to sundown are slim. The poorest people in our country still benefit from our immense success and infrastructure. A FEMA trailer and a soup kitchen would be extravagant luxuries in most of the rest of the world. And, yet, we squabble over ideas and minor differences. It is our country's great success which makes us so comfortable, and so cushioned from the harshness of the real world, that we have the luxury to argue minute points of disagreement. I challenge you to find many pro-life or pro-choice supporters in the famine ridden countries of the world. Go to the poorest countries in Africa and see what their opinion is on gun control or greenhouse gas emissions.

My point is: we have it pretty good and we still have similiar base beliefs, for the most part. We are a country. We are in this together. We need to work together. Democrats need to respect and work with Republicans, Republicans need to respect and work with Democrats, and above all of our squabbles and disagreements, we need to remember that we need each other!