One third of Americans are in denial. Some of them are relatively close acquaintances of mine. The phone conversations I have with them are deeply unsettling to me. I never could have imagined the gulf of misunderstanding possible between fellow American citizens.

I’m referring to the Left vs Right political barbarity, the Republican vs Democrat chasm, the Illogical pro-Trump vs Anti-Trump feud, the Trust in Government vs Mistrust of Government, the credible acknowledgement of Biden as President vs the Utter Rejection of Biden as President.

It has taken personal conversations with my acquaintances to bring home to me exactly how deep this divide is. I have asked myself why this is so. I’ve tried to filter the thoughts my acquaintances have expressed and make sense of them. I have not come up with a rational answer. What strikes me about this situation is that relative to available facts, each side of the argument is not really listening to and understanding the other’s reasons for their individual beliefs.

When 2 is added to 2, one side arrives at 4, and the other at 3, or even 5. I’m not talking about real numbers, of course, but about differing philosophical and psychological values applied by each party to available facts. A personal example of what I mean is the issue of: Homeless Americans. I, for instance, trust that almost all American Homeless would like to be able to extract themselves from the dire conditions they find themselves in.

My belief is that they absolutely are capable of re-establishing  themselves – but only with the full hearted financial assistance of those of us who still remain relatively sound financially. Acquaintances of mine on the other hand totally deny them the intelligence and will to do so, even with our help.

One acquaintance told me he does not believe America’s Homeless want to extract themselves from their situation. He expressed the opinion that all they really want is to be free and on their own. I wish I had recorded that answer. I didn’t, except through my ears to my memory.

I doubt my acquaintance would agree he even said it. It is that amount of mutual disagreement that I believe exists between the Left and the Right. I believe we have gotten to the point that there simply is no communication existing between the two viewpoints. We’re all just babbling.

Republicans allow themselves to remain tied to Trump because he has 33 million dejected American voters on his side. It does not concern them that his claim the election was stolen, has been repudiated by most every established voting institution and its executives.

Democrats, on the other hand, successfully engaged enough votes to defeat Trump in the last election. No credible facts have surfaced anywhere to support the concept that Democrats were even capable of stealing an election.

Republicans are intellectually and ethically impaired, while Democrats are basking in a triumphant rapture. And never anywhere anyhow, it seems, can the two sides find enough mutual maturity to stop the infantile political bickering paralyzing the country.

As an independent, I give the Democrats the current benefit of the doubt. They were at least wise enough to see that what 2/3 of us in America wanted was a president with at least enough political experience and human sensitivity to – hopefully – bring some kind of order to things.

One Democrat friend of mine told me he thinks the entire world economy is about to tank. I don’t share that view. The entire world’s national economies are intricately intertwined. I trust that nations and people will indeed weather the rough patch of problems we are all facing.

I think so, because we have no other choice. The world situation is forcing everyone to become pragmatists. We have to find solutions to refugees, global warming, pollution, sustainable energy, pandemics, stupid wars. A lot of people are going to continue to be hurt. That is quite evident.

People are not very sensible until forced to be. I think we are now being forced to become more sensible. Should we end up being dumb enough to not collaboratively grapple with the issues that face the human race, the Universe will get on quite fine without us.

Better, perhaps.