Time to take out the trash

I am an historian by training. I'm a writer by vocation. I'm an armchair psychologist by avocation. The point is I like to observe others and muse awhile on what used to be called "the human condition."

Billy Joel said it best. "The good ol' days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems."

True. But, alas and alas.

I'm tired, sick and tired, of poisonous partisanship. It's happened before. 1800. 1824. 1856-60. 1868. 1876. 1952. 1964-74. 1994-now.

But something is missing, something is gone. Civility, maybe. Manners, certainly. Common sense, definitely.

Disagree? Well then, you're not just wrong, you're a traitor, or a Communist, or a conservative wingnut or a liberal elitist.

What! You think? Listen to the news! READ BOOKS FOR PLEASURE?

No, no, no. We can't have that. You live in an ivory tower. You need to be ignorant and proud of it.

Or you're just some crazy conservative, clinging to God and guns like Linus' security blanket.

Enough with the stereotypes. Give it up.

Let's sit down and sup awhile. Who knows? We might learn something from one another. One thing I do know: You can learn quite a bit by listening.

I am conservative on some issues, liberal on others. My positions change from time to time. I hope that means I'm using my brain. (Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. I'm a flip-flopper.)

Pete Hamill wrote once that a stench came back over from Vietnam and has never left. Seems like that's right.

I smell it at least once a day, shake my head, and muse a minute on what the hell happened to the America I thought I'd inherit.

Is this the best country on earth? You better believe it.

But whatever bloody era this ends up being, I won't remember it as a vintage wine from a very good year.

It's more like the soiled stench from a garbage heap that has been piling too high for too long.

It is time, way past time, to take out the trash.