Division Politics - Clear and Present Danger [View All]

[Steely_Dan]

Okay, we all agree that the primaries are battlegrounds. There are a few of us here that have been calling out a warning that if the bickering between the two front runners continues at the current pace, we may start to see a genuine divide created within our party. Others have called this warning so much BS and that those who forward this belief are nothing other than Chicken Littles with too much time on their hands.

True, mudslinging and name-calling have always been a part of primary politics and for the most part, the waring factions and their supporters come together in the end to unite the party for "victory." Normally, I would assess the current state of affairs as no different from the past.

However, over the past few weeks something has been gnawing at me concerning the parameters of this battle. I couldn't put my finger on it. But the bickering and mudslinging had a different tone to it when put into context.

So, what makes this particular round of false accusations, name-calling, etc. etc. different?

Here's my fear.

It seems to me that the support for each of these candidates is starting break down along ethnic and gender lines. This is dangerous and could in fact create irreparable harm to our party. If not, it certainly can create a gap that would not close for a very long time.

Here we are supposedly the party of inclusion, the party that is always there for the underrepresented, the poor and underprivileged. Because of our society and racism in general, these tend to be people of color. We never thought that "race" would ever be a divisive issue among members of our party. How could this be...After all, we a Democrats.

Only under the current scenario, could the issue of race and gender be a centerpiece of the current battle.

What does this all mean? It means this...

This isn't a normal primary. Race and gender are an essential part of the decision making process for many Americans. We'd like to think otherwise, but it is true.

Today's primary is going to tell us a lot about how divided our party is. It is my belief that these two candidates should have seen this coming. They should have put their party and this country first...and NOT their presidential aspirations. They should have seen that any attack on each other that went beyond "the issues" and became personal would send us down a slippery slope. They should have seen that any attack on each other was an attack on all of us.

Will we continue down this slippery slope? I believe that it is already too late.

-P