A recent nonpartisan Pew Research Poll finds our knee-jerk partisanship has increased dramatically.
This road were on will lead us step-by-step to an extreme: either an autocratic government that functions, or a dysfunctional anarchy. The petty squabbles, bilge in the name of party or principle, will dissolve our self-government.
Abraham Lincoln felt no foreign power could ever defeat the United States. He said, “From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never…No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”
Were pointing a pistol at our heads. A government of, by, and for the people requires that people talk to people, that we can agree to disagree but do so in civility. If we let the politicians and those who report dictate our discourse, then our course will be dictated.
Why am I alarmed? Because two “scandals” — the IRS tax-exempt inquiries and the Department of Justices tapping of reporters phones — have become lynch parties. And the congressional investigation of Benghazi may become a scandal in itself.
The IRS scandal has sparked bipartisan outrage that should require a bipartisan solution. The director who oversaw this was a Bush appointee who was confirmed by a Democratic Congress. Even Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein says he doubts very much that Obama was involved.
We, the people, need to stay focused on facts, causes and solutions.
MORE: Opinion: If democracy dies, we will have killed it – CNN.com.