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President Obama told the press yesterday that he has "not contributed to" dividing the country.
He said, "One of my regrets is the degree to which polarization, and the nasty tone of our politics has accelerated rather than waned over the last 7 1/2 years."
Most agree; America is more divided today that at any time since the Civil War.
It is important to know who or what is responsible for the condition of our country, but much more important that we learn from past mistakes and get it right going forward.
The past 8 years are very revealing.
NBC, in attempting to explain the deep racial division in America---and most likely trying to prop up President Obama, says, "Obama has tried to be a unifying figure in terms of race." But in their own report, they find themselves quoting the president, who is saying, "There's no doubt that there's some folks who just really don't like the idea of a black president...Now the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I'm a black president."
That is hardly a unifying statement.
But there are other---some feel even deeper divisions in our beloved America today.
Yesterday, President Obama told the press he has "not contributed to" dividing this country.
So who did it?
Well, with Canada's newly minted far Left secular progressive Prime Minister standing by his side, he said blame lies at the feet of Republicans and Obama-critical media outlets.
He said, "I do all kinds of soul searching in terms of, are there things that I can do better to make sure that we are unifying the country."
"But I also have to say," he continued, "that objectively it's fair to say that the Republican political elites and many of the information outlets, social media and news stations, talk radio, television stations have been feeding the Republican base for the past seven years a notion that everything I do is to be opposed, that cooperation or compromise somehow is a betrayal, that maximalist, absolutist positions on issues are politically advantageous, that there is a 'them' out there and an 'us' and 'them' are the folks who are causing whatever the problems you're experiencing and the tone of that politics, which I certainly have not contributed to."
Could there be any other reasons why our country is so divided?
Terence Jeffery has a much more coherent notion of what is wrong, and more importantly what we must do to fix it.
He wrote an article yesterday titled, "Three Changes America Needs."
He says it's common knowledge in this primary election that voters in both major parties are angry at the government and driven by anti-establishment sentiment.
He also says, "And on its current path, the United States is headed toward multiple crises."
"If our nation continues to trend downward economically and culturally---and moves away from its heritage as a place where people could live freely under a constitutionally limited government that protected them rather than threatened their basic God-given rights---then our politics will become more, not less, volatile," he says.
If we permanently abandon the fundamental principles that made this nation uniquely prosperous, free and secure, then we will no longer be uniquely prosperous, free and secure.
I will be talking more about this on the radio today. We will also be talking about last night's Republican debate. You may join me live on the radio from anywhere in the world at 9 AM PST or rebroadcast at 7:30 PM PST. Here is how.
The following is a summary of Jeffery's thoughts:
Three Changes America Needs:
1. America needs to turn back toward individual responsibility and self reliance---and away from government dependency.
2. America needs a government that will once again protect the God-given rights of individuals and respect, rather than attack, traditional values and the traditional family.
3. America needs a foreign policy that seeks to prudentially advance freedom, security and prosperity of this nation rather than change the nature of other nations.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.