ARE THESE STATES OF MIND COMPATIBLE?

Our political system appears more and more to be drifting apart into two camps, marked most prominently, perhaps, by each camp’s view of ‘others.’

The FEAR and HATE camp are grounded in anger, jealousy, misunderstanding and a mistaken misbelief that bad people are ‘out to get them’.

Their CONFIDENCE and LOVE counterparts are grounded in trust, self-confidence and appreciation.

Obviously, there are lots of reasons that different people slip into the two camps noted above, and it’s important to note that neither is better than the other.

Once a person slips into one camp or the other, a self-fulfilling prophecy begins to take effect, so that both camps become stronger and the bristles and sparks between the two begin to be more aggressive and hostile.

Feeding on itself, the phenomenon grows and spreads, the schism grows wider and more virulent.

That America is slipping into this quagmire is unquestionable. The divide has been aided and abetted by the Internet and social media, some organic but some the work of malicious actors and nations (Russia).

Our First Amendment makes us understandably leery of government regulation of social media. But this problem is very different. The First Amendment protects the free speech of U.S. residents. In Russia there are no such rights AND has Russia has proven itself capable of and willing to circumvent our rules to its advantage.

In the face of such threats, stronger protections and tighter regulation of the social media giants is nothing less than a matter of national security.

The Russians seem to have ‘captured’ Trump, if to no other effect than to leave them alone to continue their festering of dissent and division in American politics. Trump, too, benefits from that, of course, and has shown no inclination to favor national over his personal interests.

So, this black tunnel into which are descending is being further extended to suck us all the way in. No one can know for certain how this all might end — perhaps with Putin seeking our Presidency in 2024?