As it gets ever uglier, there’s a real chance for fighting in the streets

I got an email in response to my last column from a reader who identified himself as an 81-year-old white male who is frustrated with the assumptions people make about him because of his age, race and gender. Specifically, they assume that he must be a President Donald Trump supporter and freely extol the virtues of our current president and trash all who oppose him, wrongly assuming that this gentleman agrees with every word.

I feel his pain. There have been many occasions in the last three years when people I associate with rave about the great job President Trump is doing and question the patriotism and moral fiber of anyone who doesn’t support him just as fervently as they do.

Some of these people are not aware of my low opinion of our current president but some of them read my column and know that I am most definitely not a fan. In fact, I think in some cases that’s why they want to get in my face and sing his praises. Some people seem to be on the lookout for a target, eager to unload their frustrations about the evil doings of the “other party” on someone they believe is sympathetic to their enemy.

I used to engage in discussions with people who did this to me, hopeful that if I presented my point of view sincerely and grounded in facts I might change their mind. You can guess how well that worked out.

Not once have I had a Trump fan concede a single point I tried to make about his incompetence and malfeasance and none of them have been able to convince me that I’ve overlooked any of the supposed wonderful qualities they admire so much about the man. We all seem to have made up our minds about which side of this great divide we stand on.

I know this isn’t just a problem in Middle Georgia. Similar divisions have caused tension between friends and families all across the country.

Recent polls show that more people are expressing unwillingness to socialize with, live near or date people who don’t share their political leanings. I even saw one poll that said that 10% of both Republicans and Democrats say that violent resistance would be an appropriate response if the other party claims victory in the 2020 election.

There are over 300 million people living in the U.S. right now and roughly a third of us identify as Democrats and another third as Republicans. That means about a million Americans in both parties say they are ready to take to the streets and set stuff on fire if they don’t like the results of the next election.

I believe the chances of violence will greatly increase if the election is close (which I believe it will be) and if there are charges of election fraud by whoever loses (also a good possibility.) And if the person declared the loser is the man currently sitting in the White House and that person refuses to accept the results of the election and vacate his position I think we could be looking at chaos and violence on a scale that none of us have witnessed in our lifetime.

I’ll be honest – I’m worried. And I’m not sure there is much to be done about it. Although there is little to no effort being made on either side of the political divide to be more civil, the most vicious attacks are coming from the man at the top. Even Trump’s fans would have to admit that he goes after anyone who opposes him with great gusto, and his attack-dog way of dealing with his enemies has inflamed the divisions between left and right to record levels.

As long as we keep up this give-no-quarter way of communicating with each other our divisions will only get worse, and we could find ourselves threatened with violent upheaval every time power swings from one party to the other.

Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.