My view from the street
The 2016 election has divided families, friends, and country into hostile camps of warring zealous devotees and opposition unbelievers. We shout and brandish fists across a deepening, widening chasm. We’ve lost all capacity for civil, reasoned discussion or compromise. We insult “enemies” who are our family members, our friends and neighbors, our community. We become “unpatriotic," and “un-American," because of political disagreements.
Authoritarian propaganda tells us to avoid and disbelieve legitimate news sources. We limit our news sources on current events and ignore the lessons of history — if we ever bothered to learn it. Elected officials reject the art and science of governance to wall themselves off behind extremist positions. Party loyalty and ideological purity come before responsibility to country and constituency. By incessant fear mongering, the public is kept in a heightened state of alarm, susceptible to distortions and disinformation.
The primary goal of governance set out in the Preamble to our Constitution — to “establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...” — is overridden by political ambition for personal power and enrichment. Congressional members are refusing requests to meet and talk with their constituents in town halls. Hanging on to their seats by appeasing large campaign donors and powerful party bosses has priority over legitimate concerns of constituents and rules out moderate compromise with the opposition.
The Preamble’s aspirations are forgotten as lawmakers promote the interests of powerful corporations and the wealthy while ignoring the plight of the common man. The “general welfare” of the sick, the young, the old, the poor, the unemployed, the hungry, the disadvantaged, the homeless has little weight. Choosing to degrade and defund social safety nets, restrict civil rights, and rescind environmental and consumer protections to relieve dubious business burdens is easy when weighing the powerless against the limitless influence of the wealthy and powerful.
We’ve lost compassion and humanity. Except for the native peoples here before the arrival of the white man, we’re all immigrants. By deliberately instilling fear of immigrants and refugees, partisans weaponize the apprehensive “us” against the vulnerable “them” — the Muslim, Mexican, and Central American families fleeing war crime, violence and poverty.
A growing nationwide Indivisible movement and similar groups of concerned citizens are staging peaceful opposition protests to cruel, dangerous, foolhardy policies that threaten compassion, tolerance, equality, human rights, and economic security. For stunned moderates wondering what’s happening to our nation — get involved. Find an activist group like Indivisible, start talking to your neighbors and work together to make your voices heard.
Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch — stop hiding and step up to the plate. Schedule town halls throughout Idaho. Listen to your constituents, engage with them and learn from them. Reach across the aisle, work to craft a middle legislative road that does the most possible good for all and repair the partisan damage you’ve helped create.
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Carolyn F. Mattoon is a resident of Hayden and a member of North Idaho Indivisible.