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Chair column for February, published in the Kenosha News

For the past few years, it has bothered me that so many people are working to divide the people in this country by fear and hate while special interest groups come out as the only “winners”.  In a discussion with my partner, David, he defines modern politics (mainly driven by the far-right) as collision politics.

Looking at a few issues, we can see how collision politics work in dividing us based on emotion.

Abortion – Thanks to collision politics, you can only be pro-life or pro-choice.  There is no middle ground anymore, even though many of us have feelings that align with both sides of the argument.  Most of us would agree that third trimester birth is preferable to third trimester abortion.  In addition, most of us favor the option of abortion in cases of rape, abuse, medical issues, or incest; but not Republicans.  Where we differ the most is in the first and second trimesters of whose rights are more important, the mother’s or the fetuses.  Thankfully, Democrats don’t have as an extreme view as Republicans, including when it comes to stem cell research.

Marriage Equality – Collision politics have turned something the government should simply stay out of while simply ensuring equality to every citizen.  Republicans were successful in avoiding substantive issues with the backing of the AFA and the FRC.  Democrats believe in the separation of church and state, and they believe in equality through civil unions.

Immigration – This collision has huge consequences.  The KKK and neo-Nazi-like groups have backed our Republican legislators instead of Bush on immigration, and the KKK’s membership is up 63%.  Despite the fact our government cannot export 12M to 20M Hispanic immigrants; we’re building a Berlin wall to keep them here instead of letting the issue solve itself with appropriate employment legislation.  Looking at our huge border with Canada, what does a wall have to do with terrorism?

Terrorism – This is collision politics at it’s best, fear.  Republicans support the entire Patriot Act, which infringes on our first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and fourteenth Amendments in our Constitution.  Should we change these Amendments too, or should we require judicial oversight versus unlawfully wiretapping domestically, investigating U.S. citizens without probably cause, or accuse you of any crime they wish and detain you for periods of up to six months without judicial review (according to the ACLU)?  This is a clear differentiation of Democrat versus Republican, not to mention torture and obeying the Geneva Conventions.

Amidst the onset of collision politics, we’ve exported millions of jobs, grew our military to 3.5% of GDP, ignored healthcare solutions, abandoned education with unfunded mandates, exploded deficit records, and had an unjust criminal war which spawned fraud, war profiteering, over 3,000 dead and over 23000 wounded U.S. citizens, and the death of thousands of Iraqi’s.

Thank you America for electing a Democratic House and Senate.  Wisconsin, we need to see the forest through the trees and continue to elect Democrats so we can solve problems instead of creating new ones.