It's time, I think, for a New American Civil War.
Oh, I'm not calling for American citizens to take up arms and storm the White House and Congress. Instead, I'm suggesting we all need to step back, take a deep breath, and reexamine the entire concept of political and social discourse.
America is embroiled in an uncivil war - a battle defined by coarseness, division, bitterness and rancor. We substitute name calling for debate, anger for rational thinking and hate for understanding.
Our country sinks under the weight of partisanship, crippled by the spreading paralysis of divisiveness and consumed from within by a cancer of polarization.
Republicans call opponents "democraps" while Democrats assail the other side as "repukenuts." A common ground, if indeed one can be found, is buried beneath a mountain of self-destructive hetoric.
By DOUG THOMPSON
