Commentary by Joel Postman

These are likely the most politically polarized times of the last 100 years. A popular suggestion is that we need to end the divisiveness and seek common ground. There is, however, a tragic and fatal flaw in this notion. 

The dialogue no longer consists of varying views on a particular policy, legislation or political maneuver. More often than not, the conversation starts with anger, name-calling, an outright lie or the assertion of a morally abhorrent point of view. There are not always good people “on both sides.” 

This is an environment in which common ground cannot be achieved, and in fact, the intent of this approach is to avoid doing so. These are not genuine arguments in the traditional sense. They are not entered into in good faith. Thus, this ends the dialogue in which a reasonable person would engage.

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Your Comments Here and There

Scroll down this page with the trackbar on the far right to read Monday’s column on the Trump tariffs, “Where’s the Deal,” in the right column and Sharon Lintner’s “From Tariffs to Tyranny” in the left column.

In Tuesday’s center column, we are calling out DOGE chief and special government employee Elon Musk’s assault on our democracy. Combine Musk’s takeover of the US Treasury, his accusation with no proof of widespread corruption at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and his slander of anyone who disagrees with him voiced on his personal social media plaything, X-Twitter, and it is evident he is pushing the nation’s tech oligopoly into authoritarian-dictatorship territory without the checks and balances that were put in place by the nation’s Founding Fathers.

In short, we are calling out Musk’s threat to our democracy in the neutral center column. 

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