The Unmentionables

The Myth of a Divided America

The premise of the Homespun Bloggers' Symposium this week is:

Is the division in America important to you? What will be necessary to heal it? What part do you see Bloggers playing in that discussion and how will you personally contribute to it?

First it must be said there is no "division" in America . That phrase is the media construct of disgruntled news journalists who discovered the hard way they no longer control the debate on a national scale. Grasping at straws to retain their relevance, they somberly announced we now live in "a America divided" to 1) discredit President Bush's overwhelming reelection, 2) to give themselves something--anything--to talk about other than why their favorite son lost, and 3) to provide a framework for their agenda over the next four years.

Pockets of spoiled brats, clustered in the media centers of LA and NY, have the megaphones to screech their discontent far and wide. Sadly, many average, well-meaning Americans hear only pieces of information delivered by soundbites from the talking heads. "Somewhere in America a child has died from inadequate medical care" resonates in America's compassionate soul, fueling demands for free childhood health care (John Kerry's newest clarion call). Busy working and living their ordinary lives, too many Americans never stop to think who will pay for that health care and how it will burden the economy in general and their own pocketbooks in particular. We don't have to look at the abomination of Canadian health care to see the even-more-tragic results of such policy. We only have to take a long, hard look at the Tenncare program (now in the process of being dismantled) to see the consequences of enacting any  emotion-driven legislation.

Average Americans live their lives as libertarian/conservatives. They believe in working for a living. They want to keep the money they earn and donate it wherever they please without coercion. They want their children well educated not indoctrinated. They would never encourage their daughters to use abortion as birth control or have their sons test their virility on every girl in the senior class. They want to go to the doctor for a check-up without having to spend the next month undergoing a battery of tests that serve no purpose except to protect the doctor from a potential lawsuit. They don't want nanny-state regulations from either the FCC or the EPA. If pressed, the majority would admit they really only want two things from society and government--common decency and common sense.

So in terms of being important to me, this mythical "divide" is only valid when viewed as a prism through which news and opinion is delivered to the public.

Bloggers have become the Paul Harveys of the news--the people who find "the rest of the story." When the MSM--or talk radio--attempts to lie by omission (as opposed to just plain lie á la Dan Rather) the blogging community will find the facts and present them in all their raw, frequently unpalatable reality. The sore losers of November 2 blame bloggers for undermining Kerry's credibility and electability, forgetting it was also bloggers who orchestrated Trent Lott's demise.

Principled bloggers can deliver information on a previously unheard of scale. They can debunk the pseudo science used to scare the public into supporting disastrous environmental policies such as Kyoto. They can strip away the façade of holier-than-thou theologians, including major denominational leaders, fundamentalists (of all religions), atheists, agnostics, pagans, and secular humanists. They can expose the greedy, self-serving agenda of minority activists, radical feminists, gay rights organizers, and environmentalists, all of whom need money from suitably alarmed Americans to keep their bank accounts flush.

My own contribution is negligible, but I do know from experience that a single voice can make a difference. It is not necessary to trumpet opinions on a national stage because changing minds and hearts takes place one person at a time. It's a long, slow journey that I began over twenty years ago.

Nice to see the rest of you catching up.