Assume a sweeping, almost radical political movement were to take hold in this country. What would it look like? And what would it feel like?
What if tomorrow, people in America decided that this nation should be energy-independent by 2020. What would I see from my perspective, living in a city that has the sometimes too-close-for-comfort front row seat to American politics. Would I hear politicians from across the spectrum talking about the need for change, doing their best to rally their disparate supporters to the cause? And would other politicians make adjustments, large and small, to their messages until it resonated with the broadest or most strategic swath of the people in their camp?
I’m at a loss for how to gauge what is happening in American politics right now — today, in fact, as “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire goes to the primary polls. I am getting caught up in it emotionally because everything I hear coming from Barack Obama makes so much sense. But how to approach a situation like this, one that hasn’t really happened in my lifetime (as far as I can tell)?
My perspective is so narrow when compared to the range of views that people hold in this country, and when I hear Obama talk about a “post-partisan America,” I have to recognize that this resonates with me because it’s my belief that the United States should be post-partisan, especially since I know first-hand about the damage that the Politics of Division has created.
But who am I? Just one person — a person recognizes that we’re all going to have different views, different beliefs and different perspectives, and that it’s ultimately foolish to hold on to any view as this is just the basis for even more suffering.
Still, I wonder, what exactly is it that I (and apparently a lot of other people) am feeling right now?