Culture Clash of Left and Right

Sadly it seems the left & right are at a cultural Waco, each side believing the other to be the fanatical David Koresh and his crazed Branch Davidians. Yes, we’ve arrived at an ideological Cuban Missile Crisis, each side believing it’s JFK to the other’s Nikita Khrushchev. Wait, did I just use 2 examples of conflict 31 years apart? I did. Why? To illustrate that we have been here before.

…back in the 60s and early 70s people would flat brawl in the street over the Vietnam War.

In this age of “Herr Trump,” as the left would call him, the woeful and hapless MSM would tell you political rancor has never been higher! True? Not remotely. What is true is that there are more people than ever with mortgage payments that depend on you believing it!

Whiskey and Irish Jokes

I am old enough to remember how Tip O’Neill loved to try and bend Ronald Reagan over his desk legislatively, yet the two were known to share a whiskey and crack Irish jokes at the end of the day. So in all fairness to AOC and her squad, Bernie The Old, and Liz The Persistent (noise!), they couldn’t carry Tip’s flask or his briefcase of accomplishments in denying a president! See, we have been here before.

“Okay, but what about schools and what about all of these shootings?” you ask. “Surely a child has never been stressed like this before, yes?” Oh, really? We were in Vietnam for a decade plus, and I don’t recall anyone being stoked about getting their draft card to go get shot at by strange little brown people they’d never met right in their backyard. That seems kind of stressful.

And what of little children? Surely their childhood was idyllic, yes? I guess so if you consider the fun cartoon from the Civil Defense Department featuring Bert The Turtle teaching little kids to “Duck and Cover” in case of a Soviet nuclear attack. Nothing at all stressful about a national program designed to traumatize children into civil obedience in the face of mushroom clouds covering the landscape.

We Really Have Been Here Before

I haven’t even mentioned the Civil Defense sirens that were tested monthly, screaming their way through school lunch hours for my entire education. No, those never caught anyone off guard, never once caused momentary panic that this was it! So yes, school has always found a way to be scary and stressful without having anything to do with acne, braces, puberty, or social awkwardness that preoccupy most children and teens. Really, we have been here before!

Finally, what of the people? Have people ever been at each other’s throats like today? Actually they have. Literally. Today people bicker and troll one another on social media, which has become an orgy of speech intolerance and thought bubble-ideological Borg creation…but…back in the 60s and early 70s people would flat brawl in the street over the Vietnam War. Bikers next to hardhats battling with hippies, peaceniks, and university swells more vicious than AntiFa/ProudBoy matches or MAGA hat beatings by millennial thugs in shopping malls. Once again WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE!!!!

The point, I suppose, is to be hopeful and to be resolved. We’re humans, and we’re Americans. We are very much creatures of conflict and we’re good at it. Don’t shy away from your heritage, embrace it. We’re built for this on both sides. The right tends to play by rules unrecognized by the left. The right tends to have boundaries and decency, but when needed we’ll open the bomb-bay doors and flatten their hut on Christmas. Go ahead and engage. You can buy them a whiskey later.