There is no denying it, America is split almost down the middle. And it is supposed to be that way, but maybe not to the extent that it is right now. But I want to focus on one aspect of so many of the issues that divide us. And that aspect is simple. It is empathy.

Many key issues involve some sort of moral element. And that is where empathy, the ability to put yourself in the shoes of someone else, to feel their pain or frustration, comes into play. And, not to put too fine of a point on it, but some republicans, many republicans, seem to come down on the wrong side time after time.

It is like nothing matters unless it directly impacts them or their families.

Everybody, no matter what their mental state, should be able to have as many of whatever kinds of guns they want to have. Nobody I care about has been shot accidentally or on purpose… yet.

Nobody different from me should be able to move to this country, because my family already moved here.

Homeless people should just disappear, because I have a house.

Jobless people should stop getting help because I have a job.

Women shouldn’t be able to have an abortion, because nobody in my family has ever had to make that horrible choice… yet.

We should make it harder for some people to vote, because my vote matters.

I should have the freedom to tell you what freedoms you can have.

People with other sexual or gender orientations should just stick with what makes me comfortable, because… uh… it makes me uncomfortable.

It is totally fine to storm the Capitol to overturn an election, and attack the police defending it, because I don’t like the way the election turned out, but you really need to stop making such a fuss over the police killing people who probably deserved it. And your protests are just bad and wrong.

I don’t want to wear a mask or get the vaccine, because I don’t even know anybody who died of covid.

You just need to get over it, all of it, so I can go back to waving my Confederate flag and complaining about the election being stolen, and reading up on what Q has to say between looking for clues about how Hillary got people killed in Benghazi and whatever it was that Hunter Biden was supposed to have done.