"Gosh," professional pundits and pseudo-journalists like Tim Russert and Katie Couric wonder, "how did American politics become so 'polarized?'" One assumes it is a sarcastic rhetorical question. The how and why of America's polarization is after all, as obvious as it was intentional. Most absurd, however, is the way in which the Russerts, Blitzers, and Courics of the world tend to blame the so-called liberals for America's polarized condition.

How America became polarized is simple. More than thirty years ago, the Republican Party set out on a mission to divide the country. Early on they used race-based wedge issues to make inroads into the South. Come to think of it, if the recent senate campaign in Tennessee is any indication, that whole race-based wedge issue trick remains a vital and vibrant part of today's Republican electoral strategy. When pitting Anglo-American against African-American finally failed to get the big results, Republicans turned to the so-called social issues. They rode abortion for all it was worth. Then the Republicans simply declared war. They call it a "culture war," but for them it is a very real war. In some cases, regarding doctors that provide abortions, the Republican war has become a shooting war...and at abortion clinics, a bombing war.

For the better part of twenty years blathering buffoons like Rush Limbaugh, mouth-frothing morons like Sean Hannity, bigots like Michael Savage, and liberal assassination supporting bit...ladies like Ann Coulter have been making it their business to ensure that the "Conservative Crusaders" understood who America's real enemy was. Then along came FOX "News" and before the country knew what had hit, the entire Republican Party propaganda network -- the people that started and declared the "culture war" -- was busy telling the GOP faithful that the LIBERALS were waging a war against CONSERVATIVES ... against "American values," Christianity, and anybody that disagreed with "their secularist agenda."

Boy-howdy damn! If Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly, and FOX News's listeners and viewers didn't get their butts in gear the liberal horde was going to burn down their churches, make their children engage in "home-ah-sectial" sex, force conservatives' daughters to become impregnated by black men and then make them abort the babies. This insanity started more than twenty years ago and continues on through to this day. The media, of course -- the Russerts, Courics, Blitzers et al -- pretends that this very real and pervasive GOP propaganda network either exists in a vacuum or isn't related to the Republican Party.

"Hmmm...just how did the country become so polarized," ask the so-called journalists.

Nobody on the left, liberal or otherwise, has ever declared a war on fellow Americans. If anything, the left didn't take the threat seriously until Bush came to power and made it clear -- Crystal clear? Crystal clear, Sir! -- that the "culture war" was real and that Republicans were playing for keeps.

Once that realization finally struck home, people on the left had no option but to fight back. True enough, so-called liberals wanted legalized abortion to be a choice women could exercise so that they didn't have to hire Crack Dealer Karl and his handy wire hangar and end up bleeding to death in a dark alley, but nobody ever said women had to have an abortion. Yet, Republicans have made abortion the "central front" in their "culture war." Unlike pro-choice advocates, conservatives want to tell women what medical procedures will and won't be available to them.

It is the same situation regarding publicly displayed religious symbols. People on the left view publicly displayed religion and religious symbols, as the government explicitly supporting that particular religion at the exclusion of all others and the Constitution/Bill of Rights prohibits such practices. At no time ever, has a so-called liberal said that snake worshipping evangelical Christians couldn't practice their religion (if you are wondering, there are real sects that do worship snakes). All anyone has ever said was that the government shouldn't be in the business of being perceived as supporting Christianity over Judaism over Islam over Hinduism or any other religion or non-religion. There isn't a single liberal that has ever called for limiting the free practice of any religion.

Reasonable Republicans and the Republican Party knew these things to be the case, but they didn't care. The GOP knew people on the left weren't going to try and outlaw religion or force abortion on people. Republicans willfully and actively created and exploited these non-issues in order to "polarize" the country and win a few votes. But the insidious part of this is that Republicans really and truly want to limit Americans' options.

Whereas the left only seeks to limit religious intrusion on fellow Americans, the Republicans want to impose their religion on all Americans. Whereas the left only seeks the right for women to make their own choices about their bodies and futures, the Republicans want to tell women what they will do. And that is a huge difference.

Still, not even hot-button social issues could truly raise the ire of most people on the left. No, that didn't happen until President Bush and the Republican Party started labeling environmental groups as being "terrorist" organizations, started spying on American citizens that didn't support their policies and political objectives, began illegally eavesdropping on phone calls, and passed legislation that gave the government the right to enter homes without warrant or warning. That is when the left really realized that Republicans were dead serious about this thing they called a "culture war."

Whereas the left only seeks reasonable limits on the government's powers, the Republicans believe the government should have unlimited power to do as they please and when they please. And that is a huge difference.

The how and why of America's political polarization is obvious. That the Russerts, Blitzers, and Courics pretend not to know the answers or to understand what brought the nation to this point is absurd. Just incase the answer continues to elude them, here it is: America became polarized when the people on the left realized that the Republican Party was serious when they declared war on fellow Americans. The left had no choice but to engage in that war. History is littered with the mass graves of those that didn't take seriously the threat of war declared upon them by their fellow countrymen.

If by chance the so-called journalists feel an urge to smirk and roll their eyes - just ask Keith Olbermann, Tom Brokaw, and Democratic politicians if they didn't feel seriously threatened or under siege when they opened the envelopes stuffed with anthrax-like white powder. Ask the people working at abortion clinics that have to check their garbage for bombs or the doctors that have been shot by the Republican "culture warriors."

This country is polarized all right, but only because that is how the Republican Party wanted it to be. After all, it was the Republican Party that actually declared war on fellow Americans. War is inherently "polarizing" is it not?

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