Not long ago, Louis C.K. premiered a show, Horace & Pete, on his site. He wrote, directed and stars in it. You have to pay for the episodes, so I only watched a few (I’m cheap).

The show is set in a bar and revolves around its owners and patrons, kind of like a more existential “Cheers.” In one episode, two regulars start arguing politics.

Another regular steps in and says, “wait a minute. Let me ask you guys something.”

He asks the conservative, “what’s your description of a liberal?” The conservative lists several negative things.

He asks the liberal, “what’s your description of a conservative?” Likewise, a list of several negative things.

The intermediary asks, “if you both have this predetermined opinion of each other, how are you ever going to reach an agreement?”

Another regular laughs and says, “you think they WANT to agree?”

 

That pretty much sums up how I feel about US politics these days. It’s all us-versus-them. I lean to the left, mainly because I’ve always felt that democratic policies were more in line with my beliefs than republican policies.

But I’m willing to meet in the middle. We need to get this big ol’ USA ship righted again. If you can honestly get me to see the light about something, I’ll admit defeat and change my mind. But you should also be big enough to do the same.

In the meantime, all this name-calling and hatred isn’t getting the country anywhere. You know, “united we stand, divided we fall” and all that.

P.S. I still stand by my assertion that the president’s definitely not right in the head. Can we at least agree on that?