Welcome to PurpleAmerica!
The Yellow Line in the Middle of the Road
My Fellow Americans, We need to have a talk.
You see, it has become completely accepted as law that there is “Nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and roadkill.”1 For some reason, the humor of the statement seems to persuade people of its truthfulness.
And that is the world we live in today. We laugh at Jon Oliver and talk about it on Mondays with co-workers. We read a meme on Twitter and retweet it to all of our followers, almost as if to say “This is what I stand for!” We accept everything an entertainer, sports figure or twitter meme says without considering what was misstated, propagandized or flat out omitted. This is unfortunate, and a major problem with the state of this country.
It wouldn’t be so bad if each side could summon up the courage from time to time to just consider it from another point of view.2 But each side is openly resistant to doing so. For a Republican to consider not advocating for a tax cut on the principle of it being inflationary would get them branded as liberal as AOC. For a Democrat to say perhaps Affirmative Action is no longer needed would ostracize them from MSNBC and branded a racist. It’s the idea that not being a proponent of any position immediately results in the marginalization of 180 degrees to its antithesis that most people would say they hate about politics (but they do it anyway nonetheless).
Which is why I started Purple America. As a country, we are not as divided as our politics suggest. Take abortion, for instance. For decades, our two parties have distilled it into a binary issue; you were either pro-life or pro-choice, no exceptions. Most people though have varying degrees of considerations on this issue. They may oppose abortion in their own lives, but be in favor of allowing any other woman to make their own choice. They may be in favor of allowing abortion in the first trimester but not the third after the fetus has become viable. They may want the right for women to choose abortion to be legal, but may want regulations for it. Over 65% of Americans agree on this last point, but you’d never know it based on the dichotomous debate we’ve had for over 50 years.3 To disagree with that binary was to get one branded an apostate.
There is always much more to an issue than the black and white, red or blue. There are Republicans in the most urban, cosmopolitan sections of Manhattan and Berkeley. There are Democrats in the most ruby red GOP strongholds. Not only that, but a Democrat in NY is very different than a Democrat in Kansas. A Republican in Colorado or Utah is very different than a Republican in the Villages in Florida. These labels we use to describe the in/out nature of our politics is just branding to discuss a wide spectrum of ideas, positions, and differences we all have. It’s only when we see ourselves only as Democrats or Republicans that these walls appear.
Purple America is meant to get us thinking about these issues and practical, pragmatic solutions to them. To get us talking like normal rational people again. To think about considering compromises and the middle of the road as opposed to just dismissing some as the “Crazy MAGA uncle” or the “Oberlin Liberal Marxist”, particularly when the label doesn’t come close to describing them.
So my Fellow Countrymen, Welcome to PurpleAmerica.
PurpleAmerica Cultural Criticism Corner
This is a small segment in which I usually comment on a random event, not necessarily about politics, but about something occurring in everyday life I want to kvetch over. Could be crypto. Could be football (for the record, I’m a Packer fan; my son, who is a Viking fan asked me straight out why I didn’t call this “GreenAmerica” and I had to tell him it sounded more like an environmental site). Could be about films, books or television. Who knows.
As the initial one, I am going to offer something political though. Back in the late 90s, I was a fan of stand up comedians. Steven Wright was hilarious. George Carlin was a straight up God. And there was also Richard Jeni. Jeni was a funny guy, often making appearances on late night, and on Bill Maher’s show at the time, “Politically Incorrect.” He offered one of the best dissections of American politics ever, and it still holds up true today.
Jeni sadly left us in 2007, but this still stands the test of time.
Tweet of the Week
This is where I usually highlight a tweet someone posted. As a rule, these tweets don’t necessarily push an isssue; usually just focus on something absurd, ironic or noteworthy.
In this case, on the 2nd anniversary of 1/6 when a mob of insurrectionists overtook the Capitol with violence, this took place on the House floor.
We have to do better as a country. The floor of the House is a sacred forum. It’s time to get back to treating it as one again.
That’s it for now. Please feel free to post a comment about things you’d like to see, and items you’d like to discuss. This is just the beginning and the best is yet to come!
I’m not sure who first said this, but one of the most colorful people ever in politics, Jim Hightower, once had a book with a similar title.
Emapthy is an important aspect of understanding the world, and no matter how much I hear liberals blather about “being empathetic,” in practice they can be as stubborn and narrow minded as the people they ridicule.
Interesting note is that the original Roe v. Wade decision was a 7-2 case when it was first decided and almost non-controversial at the time. It only became one with the rise of the evangelical right which became a cornerstone of GOP politics. Oh, and one of those that voted against it?— That was Justice William Rehnquist, who went on to become Chief Justice