By ROBERT WALLACE MEYER
Those lyrics, (seems like from the ‘70s, then again more recently) apply to what is going on in neighborhoods all over America. Neighbors do not want to discuss politics, economics, foreign policy…nothing– and will turn on their heel and walk away or just go silent.
We used to get into animated discussions about these things and still remain friends. If someone was wrong about eighty percent of the time, that means he was correct for twenty percent. I can learn from that twenty percent. But I must first hear it. What I do hear and see now is screaming in the streets, punctuated with angry signs waving in my face…not quite a dialogue, that.
Why the big change? Many reasons, but methinks it is partly because politics has become akin to religious beliefs. Therefore, my thoughts on balancing our budget or proper policing policy seem to the other side as if I were challenging the Holy Trinity or Virgin Birth. Folks react accordingly. Politics has become a very personal religion. A pity, that.
Back in the mid-1950s, I was struggling to hold my spot on our high school football team. We proudly featured an old-style single-wing offense, “three yards and a cloud of dust.” I begged the coach to do some more modern split-T stuff, and he listened with interest—though he could have just said, “Meyer, go run ten laps and take a shower.” But we soon ran some of the newer plays, perhaps better suited to our smaller, lighter guys.
Fast forward ten years to see a new Second Lt. Meyer stopped by a crowd in front of an air base in Northern Italy. A cheerful Italian approached holding a big “VOTA COMMUNISTA” sign. “Buon giorno, Teniente. Vota Communista!” I reply with a smile and a wink, “Si Giorgio, Io vota Communista. Adesso, voi passare?” He helped part the crowd and I inched forward, greeting several friendly faces. Italians, generally, are very nice people who do not take their Communism too seriously. (I would not try the same maneuver in New York, Seattle or Portland these days, however.)
What has happened? Perhaps folks have made their political beliefs so personal that any doubt or rejection wounds them more deeply than it should. Perhaps it has become a part of “Persona.” Maybe we should not let slogans enter our psyche. After all, they are largely proposed and promoted by self-serving politicians and operatives that we probably would not hire if we ran a business. Many are only in it for themselves, and are simply not worth the grief we suffer by promoting them. Perhaps we should be more like the Italians.
“Ciao”