By Steve Cave

Daniel, I think this internal conflict in America, and the us-vs-them mentality, might be unavoidable. Here’s why – you point out that America is very good at absorbing people from all ideologies, nations, backgrounds, whatever. That’s true, and it’s a great source of strength for us. But then, you expect all of these people to agree?

It seems to me that if any country should fight among its own people, it would be America, simply by the nature of this country.

It doesn’t mean it has to be ugly, but when you truly believe in something, and you think it’s important, and you see someone else attacking it … well, getting ugly is pretty natural. In the wild, there would be teeth, claws and blood. In civilization, we slander, insult and undercut.

I think that to a point, that’s just what happens. We call ourselves a melting pot … does that sound like a comfortable place to be?!

And yet, I firmly believe that this is also one of our greatest sources of strength. The fact that we are forced to see new world views all the time, and that we feel the right to speak out – these things make America stronger in the long run. I think they already have. It’s a strangely violent way to do things, but that’s freedom!

I don’t worry about it. We fight like this every four years, and while this election seems pretty bad, I’m sure it’s largely perspective. We’re in crisis right now. There are new race and gender issues to deal with in the race. But I’m sure it’ll all blow over, and once we get a new president, it’ll be back to us all uniting against him, like usual.

This week's previous posts (most recent first): Socialism Rules, The Politics of Destruction