By Matt Rooney
_
“Healing” is the big buzz word right now, Save Jerseyans.
Politicians use it out of habit. Normal Americans use it because they’re completely exhausted and desirous of some calm. Understandably so.
–
I hate to be the bearer of bad news: before healing can happen, some hard truths need to be confronted and addressed.
For one? There are profound, growing, and problematic differences between Americans at the moment. Even in the past when we reached low points in our history of public discourse, most Americans believed in the same God, had similar ideas about family and community life, supported the notion of keeping what they earned, respected the sanctity of property and the right to defend it, etc.
No longer. The extremes (and the cultural “extremes” are no longer fringe factions in terms of raw numbers) agree on precious few of the big things. I don’t need to give you a full list. You know.
We can’t even settle on the correct number of genders.
An Irish immigrant in New York circa 1864 had more in common, culturally, with a landless Southern tenant during the Antebellum period than a small town electrician shares with NYC yuppie in 2020. That’s nothing to celebrate. It’s not judgment, either. It’s just the truth.
The cultural gulf separating us is the elephant in the room, folks. It’s real, it’s profound, and it’s growing daily fueled by our politics, our media culture, our educational establishment, and the growing trend of “voting with ones feet” to self-associate with similarly-minded Americans.
Ignoring it isn’t a real answer. You can’t skip to healing as nice as it sounds. Take it from your favorite divorce attorney, folks: these problems usually don’t go away on their own. They fester.
Take this seriously. Put on your thinking caps. Be willing to listen and display a little humility. Listen more, talk less. Work on our national marriage in good faith. If we’re going to continue living together, something that isn’t only in our own best interest but that of the entire world? We need to have some difficult conversations. Honest conversations.
As if this week hasn’t made it obvious enough, you need to know that there isn’t an Abraham Lincoln waiting in the wings at the moment. They may be out there, but they’re not on the scene. Fixing this starts with you and me. Get busy.
_
Save Jersey’s Founder and Blogger-in-Chief, MATT ROONEY is a nationally-noted and respected New Jersey political commentator. When he’s not on-line, radio or television advocating for conservative reform and challenging N.J. power-brokers, Matt is a practicing attorney at the law firm of DeMichele & DeMichele in Haddon Heights (Camden County).
–
