Mortal Remains
"Dialogue" & the Character of the Republic
by S. M. Hutchens
A friend complained to me that at present the United States is torn between two parties that seem always to be talking past each other rather than engaging in dialogue, where at least partial agreement on many issues might be reached by people who all have the nation's best interests at heart. He believes that both parties, pretty much equally at fault, should calm down and start listening to each other in good faith.
My disagreement with him begins at the point where he assumes the parties to which he is referring are the Republicans and Democrats of an earlier day: both attentive, from differing political viewpoints, to the good of a single nation. It appears, however, that the concern is no longer for one, but two very different countries.
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S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
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