The Ongoing Saga of Vindictive Politics in the US

Although this is a poll, it is also somewhat of a commentary about US politics, though it is an op-ed. 

For the past two-plus years, the people of the US have been inundated by a parade of partisan politics based almost solely on hatred. We have a duly elected president, chosen by the people, and he has done many great things for America. Unlike many past presidents, he has also kept campaign promises, repeatedly. He has helped minorities, women, and the US in general.

The problem is that the man doesn’t belong to the Washington DC establishment, he isn’t controlled by that establishment (aka The Old Boy’s Club or Swamp), and he can’t be bought. This has infuriated the opposition party to the point of hatred. 

In fact, repeatedly, that opposition party has done whatever it could to block legislation and actions that they, themselves, were in support of before the president was elected, just because the president supports the legislation and actions. The politics involved are transparently driven by nothing more than the hatred they have for the person who was elected. 

That hatred has blinded them from doing the job they were hired or elected to do.

Mind you, this is nothing new in US politics and both parties have been guilty of it. However, it has never been taken to such extremes as it has been in the last two years. 

As a single example, many of the same people who’ve said repeatedly only a few years ago that there was an emergency at our southern border with all the people entering or trying to enter the country illegally now say that there is no emergency and that it is all being made up. Why have they done such a total flip-flop? Because the president has acknowledged that the emergency exists and has pledged to try to do something about it.

The numbers don’t lie, either. The number of people trying to enter the country illegally over the southern border has increased significantly. That de-legitimizes immigrants, those who are already here and roughly another million per year, who enter the country legally. Not only does that create safety concerns for the people trying to enter illegally, but it also highlights the drug-smuggling, sex-trafficking, and child-trafficking that is going on there. At the same time, it has caused a profound increase in crimes, including violent crimes, in US towns near the border. This is obviously a crisis and an emergency. None of it is made up. 

The crisis is confirmed by people who are directly involved. The numbers are official, too. The impact doesn’t just have to do with towns along the border, either. The sad fact is that not everyone who tries to cross the border illegally is caught. Those who aren’t caught normally try to ‘blend-in’ by moving north, east, and west.

Yet, despite all the proof that the emergency exists and the fact that so many in the opposition party have openly said that there was an emergency, those members of the opposition party continually try to prevent anything from being done about it. They now claim that there is no emergency, though the majority of Americans believe that the emergency exists.

This leads to today’s questions.