Why are we a divided Nation?

Gay marriage is not a privilege, as non-homosexuals also can marry.

Gay marriage breaks old conventions. This is a problem for some. Especially for religious people.

 

God. We are all doomed.
Eat drink & be merry, I say.

 

Fire and the Wheel, the whole nine yards

 

I just resent the stereotype that everyone residing outside the city limits is living a non-musical version of "Oklahoma" Ever since rural voters were instrumental in giving Trump the Presidency there is a revival of the old idea that "country folk" are gifted with the wisdom of nature since they live closer to it. I have lived in the "country" all my life and I can tell you from experience, there are no real "country folk" any more, (if they ever existed) and they most emphatically are NOT smarter than anyone else.

 

How does allowing gay marriage cost society anything?

 

Christians should follow Christ's dictum as to God and Caesar for homosexuals, OTOH they also might think twice about their enthusiastic support of a man who was "whoremonging" while his wife delivered their child. (and then robbed his political supporters to pay the whore off)

Are all you moralists really that mentally deficient? Are you truly incapable of understanding the difference between adults and children? Adults can give informed consent and in a free country that means the government has no real business in regulating their consensual behavior of a sexual nature. Boys under 18 cannot give such informed consent, so those who would sodomize them are incipient rapists; see the difference? Seems a simple enough distinction to me and just about everyone else I know, why some have such a problem with it is beyond my understanding

 

Unfortunately, food and drug companies have their friends in the FDA.

 

The nation is divided because everyone has their own biases and prejudices and politically gravitate towards those who appeal to said biases and prejudices.

 

It's hardly a "negative" stereotype that people in the country grow their own food. And if you are referring to the real countryside, I think it is quite fact-based.

If anything, most people I know -- no, EVERYONE I know -- envies those who do large scale vegetable gardening. So I can't relate to your grievance, unless you refer to people putting down country people for being unsophisticated or something.

I have done a good bit of large scale gardening myself, though at my age it's harder and harder to stop to weed and dig potatoes, etc. If muh rumatiz gets much worse, I may just load up the truck and move to Beverlee ...

Hills, that is.

 

Why are we divided???
Here is the answer.. regardless of which side you are on, this opening Monologue is the core of the division in this country..

 

Marriage is a collection of public benefits that originally was designed to regulate and manage relationship between man and woman.
For no reason those benefits were awarded to same gender couples engaged in strictly private activities such as mutual genital stimulation.

 

Nothing has been changed and never will. Heterosexual relationship needs government regulation while homosexual does not.

 

Nonsense. The world is full of very poor and uneducated people who practice personal responsibility. Look outside of the First World.

 

Is this a joke? Brown rice and beans can be bought anywhere on the planet, in bulk if necessary. The rest, anyone can grow .. especially those outside of cities, who have access to land/space. Grow vegetables, run a few chickens for eggs, mix that lot with your rice and beans and you have a VERY healthy diet, costing next to nothing.

Just admit that crap food is a choice.

 

The point is that you CAN grow your own food, while city dwellers can't - at least, not easily. If you don't grow food, then that is your choice. No one is forcing you to shop at a supermarket.

 

Well, if they're working class or poor and choose to stay rural (or move from a city to a rural area), then they clearly are smarter.

 

Actually, no, most people can't, not to any degree that is practicable as an entire food source. I grow Heritage Beefsteak tomatoes which are Ambrosia. I have enough that I can give them to friends and can some, but I can't raise pigs to make BLT

 

Not really, If you're young and strong country's practical, If you're old and decrepit like myself it can be a real bitch.

 

Why can't you raise pigs?

 

Life is a bitch if you're old. That what younguns are fer.

 

Looking in as an outsider, the divide is no longer a simple difference of political opinion. There is no longer a common set of facts and a trustworthy source of said facts that both sides can agree on.

And that applies to almost all exchanges on this site as well. Someone posts a news article from a source they trust. Some will agree it's from a trusted source while the other side will immediately discredit the source of this information as being "biased", and as a result absolutely none of the information can be trusted. Both sides dig in. They preach to the choir and scream into a void. Nothing is gained as there is never a debate. Everyone is simply looking for confirmation of their existing views. Very few of you actually want to be challenged if it deviates from your existing worldview.

That's not how science works. If we approached it this way, we'd still think the world is flat and medicine was witchcraft.

Rupert Murdoch did much to commercialize and subsequently remove any remaining objectivity from the news, realizing that sensational headlines sell better than headlines that are true. But he certainly wasn't alone, many news organizations jumped on the bandwagon when they realized it would make money. And before you know it, serious journalism get thrown in with complete and utter nonsense. Fox news is much maligned, but it has respectable journalists such as Chris Wallace with a slight conservative bent. However many of their other talking heads are engaging in propaganda. To a lesser degree, other channels also do this.

Various newscasts will trot on a respected and capable expert and then wheel on an "alternate" point of view in the name of "balance" from someone who is neither an expert nor has unclouded motives. The two should never be equivalent. Denying scientific consensus from experts whose work has been published in peer-reviewed journals is a lot like claiming light switches only work sometimes or that the very device you are reading this on is witchcraft. Social media's free for all then just pours oil on to the fire.

You literally live in different realities. You have started to hate each other more than your true enemies. And make no mistake, the Russian and Chinese governments want you weak and divided.

The only way this can ever change first off, you need to stop calling each other lib-***** and Trumptards. They are your fellow citizens and they are people trying to get by, just like you. If you can restore civility and actually really listen to each other rather than trying to shout louder, there may be a chance. Otherwise the US will go the way of the most other empires in history.

 

Why are we a divided Nation?

Because politicians put personal agendas ahead of national unity.

 

This is what I tell my friends who don't want to be a "burden" on their children. You're MEANT to be a burden on your children, they were sure enough of one on you.

 

Finally, somebody actually answered the question. Thank you.

 

Tried it once, I turned them into pets. They're rather intelligent and charming creatures in their own way.