Enough Is Enough

Recently, I reconnected with someone who had been a good friend, in fact one of the best. We began a dialogue of phone calls and emails to get caught up with each other. Then he remembered that I was a "liberal." The calls stopped. Messages went unanswered. I had become the enemy. The truth didn't matter. Our prior relationship didn't matter. Has nobody noticed how foul the atmosphere has become in the United States? Did it happen so gradually that we became accustomed to it? Do we not become outraged because there's a fresh, more outrageous outrage every day? Enough is enough. Presidential candidates compete to see who can make the most heartless statement. They make thinly veiled threats against minorities. They insult everyone who isn't like them. They say their top issue is "beating Obama" despite the worst economy in generations. And they get applause for this behavior. Enough is enough. Politicians who are stupid enough to dispute climate change are fouling their own nest. They take money from the oil companies (or anybody else) and say what they're told to say. They put politics and their own careers ahead of the well-being, possibly even the survival, of humanity. Enough is enough. The arguments over "class warfare" and "wealth envy" are ridiculous. I don't hate the wealthy because they have money, I hate them when they abuse the power that money gives them. Making money is not an end in itself. Operating under the assumption that it is gives rise to amoral behavior. Excusing that amorality has become just another theme of the endless media circus. Enough is enough. When did religion become part of politics? Not just in the #1 distraction issue of abortion, but in the whole good-versus-evil, no-compromise, take-no-prisoners attitude towards every issue. We seem to have forgotten that politics doesn't work without compromise. Pretending they can get everything they want is childish. Enough is enough. I am angry. Complaining about things in a blog is no longer enough. Writing pointless letters to Congress isn't enough. Casting pointless votes isn't enough. I have to find a way to make a difference. When I do, I'll post it here.