We may stand on opposite sides of the partisan divide, but we should all believe it is better to search for solutions together than to remain divided. I’ll listen to reason from both sides, but it’s been in short supply for decades.

There are a number of positions the Republicans have taken and there are just as many positions the Democrats advocate that make no sense to me. Both parties have desecrated democracy, so what am I supposed to do?

I’ve had friends ask me how I can defend some of the things Republicans have done. I readily admit that I can’t. I ask them how they can defend some of the crazy actions Democrats stand for and endorse. Most stubbornly agree they are not in lock-step with their liberal and progressive agendas either.

It’s true that politics can be full of surprises. Adversity is almost always the result of unpredictable events. When did Americans lose the ability and willingness to work things out without all the animosity and vitriol?

Who could have foreseen the Covid pandemic, the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the whammy of 10-percent inflation, the southern border invasion crisis, economic and social unrest. Elected officials are constantly walking a tightrope dealing with abortion/reproductive rights, climate change issues, voting fairness and integrity, student loan forgiveness, gun rights, law-and-order rights and the Trump love/hate relationship.

I believe there are representatives on both sides of the divide who want to find a way forward but they know they will be punished by their respective tribes if they appear weak. That needs to change. We must reward those men and women who do what’s right.

The political infighting is not unique to the United States. The United Kingdom is working to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi was forced to resign. France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz better watch their backs.

The discord in America is not all President Joe Biden’s fault. Americans are divided by urban and rural, the east-west coasts and the fly-over states, by assimilating minorities and by income-wealth inequality. Nearly every part of our lives are being disrupted.

It was the Democrats liberal agenda that gave us Donald Trump as president, then it was Trump’s obnoxious behavior that elected Biden. Voters didn’t necessarily want Biden to be president, they just didn’t want four-more-years of Trump. Polls show that voters do not want a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024.

I’m sure it would be a radical act to speak of our political class with gratitude and magnanimity rather than bitterness and resentment. Our leaders have adopted the following Monetary Policy: we will borrow whatever amount of money necessary to pay just the interest on the $31 trillion National Debt that we acknowledge we can never pay back.

Americans are frustrated. Nothing is sacred. Author Joseph Epstein recently wrote: People are sick of the idea that to be woke we must redress injustices of the past by cancelling our heroes such as Columbus, Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln.

Those legendary historic figures held views or acted in a manner incongruent with the high moral standards of today’s self-righteous. What makes their political views not merely correct but deeply, morally righteous? They come across more like snobs, he said.

Many people I talk to can’t see a civil end to the problems we face. Is there no middle ground? Can we start with the things we do agree on? Maybe if I can bend a little here and there, maybe you can compromise on a few of the other issues? Or, is it already too late?