Common Ground?

Some folks talk hopefully about finding common ground ... at this point in the unfolding debacle of American History, I'm wondering about such pollyanna dreams.

Was there common ground in the run up to the Civil War?

Was there common ground when lynching and burning-crosses were de rigueur?

Was there common ground at the Edmund Pettus Bridge?

Was there common ground when Sen. McCarthy was fomenting fear and hatred with his alcoholic rantings?

Was there common ground when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers?

And let's take a trip to Poland, 1939 - was there common ground when Nazi bombers pummeled the Polish People?

Was there common ground when the Nazis built the death camps?

Sure, maybe things aren't quite that bad, so let's return to the States.

What about common ground in Charlottesville?

Common ground at the Border where children are snatched from parents and caged?

Common ground with those who believe that LGBTQ persons are the spawn of hell and the death of America?

Common ground with those who believe that women have no right to choose their own level of health care?

Common ground with those who believe in White Supremacy?

I don't know ... I'm really sad about all of this.

What it means to me, however, is to keep on trying for some common ground, but not to be fooled by illusory prospects, nor to lessen my own commitment to justice and the things of a better world, as I see it: marriage equality, universal health care, abortion rights, environmental commitments, DACA, abolition of student debt, support of unions and collective bargaining, tight regulation of Wall Street and banking, full funding of public schools, the repair of our infrastructure, job re-training, renewal energy, and a ton of other needful things.

The divide is deep, the divide is real.

Maybe you can help me here.