A divided America

Last night, I went for dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Sandy Springs.   Regretably, I live in the middle of Republican territory, so I should not be surprised.  But the conversation two booths away left me feeling that we are so hopelessly divided -- by different sensibilities, different ideas about what "America" means, and different sets of "facts" -- that I see no hope of reconciliation after this election is over.

Two nicely dressed older couples -- probably in their 70s and obviously comfortably situated but not wealthy -- were discussing politics.   One of the women chimed in, stating as fact that "they have made it their mission to overturn these voter ID laws so that just anybody can walk up and vote, no matter who they are or whether they have already voted three times."

She went on, shifting to "I mean, what this 'fair share' of taxes that they keep talking about?  Already 1% of the population pays 90% of the taxes.   So, when they talk about paying your fair share, what's fair?"  I wanted to go over and explain to her that, even if that statistic were true, those billionaires paying 90% of the taxes are still paying a smaller percentage of their incomes than their secretaries.  It's just that they have such huge incomes.  That's why they pay a lot of taxes.

On top of that, they mean federal income taxes.  Many lower income people who "pay no taxes" in their minds are still paying the withholding Social Security/Medicare tax, which can be a big chunk for these people.

Her husband tried to shift to a more general lament, asking the other man:  "Do you remember what America was like when you were young?   These people don't know that America.   They have no idea.  They just want to . . . "

At that point, I covered my ears.  I didn't want to hear.   But then my food arrived and I couldn't keep both hands over my ears and also eat.   So I was forced to listen as the same man said he thought "We ought to just draw a line across America -- let them have their country and we'll have ours."

I wanted to shout:  "Good riddance to you  !!!!   Just make sure we're in different halves."  Instead, I decided it would be better to get up and move to another spot on the other side of the restaurant, so I wouldn't be forced to listen to this crap.

But about then, they began getting up to leave.   As they were walking out, the other man said (perhaps with a note of impatience in his voice?), "Oh, come on.  You're preaching to the choir."

I bit my tongue to keep from calling out:  "No, not all of us are in the choir, Sir."

Once my rage cooled down a bit, I thought:    They probably believe that crap just as much as I believe my version of "America," and they'll be just as upset when Obama wins as I would be if Romney/Ryan should win.   They're probably not bad people -- just badly informed by the conservative media (Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and worse.)

Is there any bridging of this divide?

Ralph