from the Joplin Globe

Our View: Stop America’s breakup

The United States has become two nations in one land, and it seems to be poised for a breakup.

We don’t trust each other. We don’t like each other. Each side sees the other as a petty and untrustworthy partner who probably is cheating. Sometimes it even seems as though we have become enemies.

Our relationship had been a productive one. We used to be able to work together. We got things done. We took care of each other. We created the National Park System, Social Security and Medicare together.

We have overcome a lot: depression, recession, war, terror attacks and millennial fears. We carried each other through and bounced back from each setback.

We’ve had our disagreements, but we were able to set them aside in order to do what needed to be done.

Our devotion to our union was stronger than our differences of opinion or our loyalty to our side.

But things changed. The trouble has been brewing for a while now, and it just seems to get worse. Politics stopped being the art of the possible. Governing stopped being about what could be accomplished. It became a game of tit for tat. The concept of the loyal opposition disappeared.

Each side has insulted and abused the other. The friction has left raw spots, bruises. These hurts have been nursed by each partner into resentment and even hate.

Each side has made mistakes. Each side has tried to go it alone.

The Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act without the other side. That was a wound the Republicans swore to rectify. Now they are in the middle of another mistake, attempting to dump “Obamacare” without reasonable debate or input from the other side. But that effort is foundering. And that offers an opportunity for America to change the tune.

We must tell our senators and representatives to stop, to reconsider, to reach out to the other side to make common cause for the public good.

Sen. Claire McCaskill and Sen. Roy Blunt, you come from either side but represent one state — our state. You should lead the chorus. Start talking, introduce co-sponsored legislation, stop singing the breakup song. Join your voices, show that you love our state and our nation by proposing and debating a health care measure that can solve the problems with the health care law. It doesn’t matter what you name it, just get started.

We don’t want to see this union torn apart. Let’s do what it takes to strengthen it.

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