Well, the 2018 midterms are almost a wrap. As expected, the Democrats took control of the House, the Republicans maintained control of the Senate. And sadly, Trump is still president.
Watching the results come in last night, I was reminded of something else I already knew. This country has a serious problem. So many of the elections were won by relatively slim margins, less than 10 points, many closer to 5. And the divisions between those two halves of the population are often fairly extreme, especially with the Trump takeover of the Republican party and the drift of the Democrats toward Progressives. When a populations is divided in so closely to half, you would think that anyone taking office would try and reconcile the differences and show some interest in the half that voted against them. After all, they are supposed to represent the totality of their constituents. But with the side drawn so far apart, those who win elections feel indebted to their voters and afraid of losing their slim majority if they show any signs of compromise. This makes for an very unproductive government, since there is so little agreement on even the most benign needs of the citizens. Any sign of reaching out is seen as a liability and pounced on by those waiting in the wings for the next primary for their party.
Our government has been in bad shape before, but never in modern history. And the world is a different place, with instant news, news that openly takes sides, social media which promotes tribalism, an armed citizenry with many quite willing to show their displeasure in catastrophic violence. People don't believe anything that doesn't agree with their perceived beliefs, regardless of fact checks, easy access to information online and in libraries. I fear for our country, if not the world. For we are not alone in having these problems and they are growing.