Tough to compromise when you think the other guys are evil

Sometimes it's difficult not to think our political system is falling apart.

A system like ours really only works if the opposing parties have at least a modicum of respect for each other. Each side wants to be in power -- and they relish it when they are -- but they can't see it as disastrous for the country just because the other side beats them in an election.

During the years America worked well -- the post World War II era -- the two parties managed enough respect for each other to get things done. There was a basic civic consensus on both left and right that the government had a role to play in Americans' lives. Democrats thought its role should be bigger, Republicans thought it should be smaller.

But no one in the mainstream saw the government as the enemy, except for maybe some of the wealthiest Americans, who didn't see any reason they should pay higher taxes to educate people or to feed the poor.

These folks, many of them people who inherited their wealth or who expanded it through government contracts, never saw themselves as anything but self-made men.

Their fathers had opposed Social Security and they fought against Medicare as if we were taking down the Stars and Stripes for the Hammer and Sickle.

But even a moderate Republican like President Eisenhower admitted that Social Security had become such a part of our country since its inception in 1935 that anyone who proposed doing away with it would find he had no future in politics.

Ditto with Medicare. Before it passed, Ronald Reagan said Medicare would turn our country into a Communist dictatorship. But even the most anti-government types now -- the Tea Party protesters -- made a point out of leaving Medicare alone.

Things sort of collapsed politically in the early part of this century. George W. Bush took office in 2001 after a highly disputed presidential election, and benefited greatly in a political sense from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Although Democrats didn't like him, they basically supported much of what he was doing and at least didn't obstruct him.

All that changed when Barack Obama was elected in 2008. The first words out of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell's mouth were that his only goal over the next four years was to prevent Obama's re-election.

Republicans did everything they could to obstruct Obama, and the bad economy had people more nervous than usual about their lives. Add to that millions of dollars in political donations to start the so-called Tea Parties and the controversial fact of the first non-white president in our history, and you had almost a perfect storm of protest.

It certainly didn't help any that the media had become so irresponsible. Cable networks like Fox News allowed people on their shows to continue making accusations about Obama even after they had been disproved. Huge numbers of people opposing the president supposedly believe he wasn't born in the United States, that he is actually a Muslim and most amazingly at all, that he is the Antichrist.

Liberals aren't that imaginative. They just thing the people who believe these things are idiots.

It's tough to find any consensus for the good of the country when you think your opponent is an idiot, or even worse, when you think he's one of Satan's minions.

Can we get past all this? I have my doubts.It's one thing to disagree over how high taxes should be, but you try telling the ultra-religious that no, you cannot turn America into Bible-vania. How are they supposed to compromise with what they see as evil?

I've written this before, but it seems to me that over the last 40 years or so, we have undergone an unfortunate devolution in our respect for the opinions of others. Can you imagine a Teabagger today saying, "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Actually we've gone way past that, passing through "You're wrong" and "You're stupid" and winding up in the worst possible place -- "You're evil."

Where can you go from there?

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It's maybe the best time of year to be a sports fan. Baseball is working up to the World Series in another week or so, pro and college football are in full swing, the hockey season has started and pro basketball is approaching opening day. Baseball is what makes it the best, though.

I don't know who Manny Schwertz is, but he has an interesting piece about why he is no longer a Republican.

I watch a lot of movies on DVD, generally while I'm doing something else on my computer. But I found one thing that doesn't work when I'm not giving the screen my full attention -- watching silent movies. I was watching "Wings" for the first time, but I realized after about 30 minutes that I was missing dialogue cards, who sort of came out of nowhere.

I don't think the government shutdown affected the three federal employees to whom I'm related. My brother is an essential employee in his office, and my two children are both consular officers in embassies outside the country. But there are all sorts of families who aren't that lucky. I'm glad for their sake it's over.