Irreconcilable Differences

According to Glenn T. Stanton, as quoted at smartmarriages.com, the number of adults who have been divorced quadrupled from over 4 million in 1970 to over 17 million in 1994. It is likely that more than a few of those adults cited "irreconcilable differences" as a justification for their divorces.

Today America is polarized, there are clearly some irreconcilable differences between certain political pundits. What is a citizen to do when he or she would like to divorce themselves from the political antics and power plays by one party against the other?

I believe that Republicans, who clearly are more willing to fight for our security and safety in these states should be awarded the home, the car and custody of the kids. I plan to explain why I have come to this conclusion.

I'd wager all of us have heard of a jealous wife who believes her faithful husband is guilty of having an affair, no amount of pleading and explaining will cause that wife to believe her husband. He can give her the details of his day, he can call her throughout the day but this jealous wife is convinced that sometime in between the dry cleaners and the office, or the office and the house he stopped at a sleazy hotel along the way and met an imaginary mistress who is twice as beautiful as she, twice as young and much better in bed.

Eventually the husband will either have an affair because his wife expects it and all her dreams (or nightmares) will come true or their marriage will simply end in divorce because she continues to believe the worst of him, regardless of what he says or does. In essence she lies about him, she lies about him to all her friends, her family, oftentimes even her church family, all the while convinced he lied to her when he never lied at all.

So is the love/hate affair/marriage of George W. Bush with the jealous Democrat party. So does the Democrat party lie about him, wrongly convinced that he first lied to them and there seems to be nothing that he or any Republican could ever say to convince them otherwise. I suggest we simply put this behind us, grant the Democrats the divorce that they make inevitable and move on. We'll cite irreconcilable differences and we'll be expecting child support and health insurance. If the government needs to garnish their wages or raise taxes on the Democrats to meet the costly demands of these righteous judgments, that suits me just fine. Democrats like higher taxes anyway, and everyone knows with their bleeding hearts they should be happy to provide for our needs.

There is a way out of this inevitable divorce between the citizens of our great nation. We can use the techniques utilized by a marriage councilor. We can acknowledge that we hear one another. We can stop assuming things about each other and we can seek to mend our broken hearts, the broken trust of our nation.

I cannot speak for Democrats and I don't claim to be able to speak for all Republicans, but here is the beginning of what I hope will open a dialog between us. Let me warn you that much like that angry husband who has been accused of cheating for ten years and is ready to scream in the face of the wife, I am at my wit's end. If I appear to be angry at the Democrats, my "other half," it is because I am angry, I'll not pretend otherwise. I am throwing down the gauntlet. I am telling the jealous wife that if she doesn't stop with her insane hallucinations that there will be no reconciliation.

Here is what you must do to appease your angry husband, and I acknowledge that you are as frustrated with your husband as your husband is with you:

1). You must lose your defeatist attitude.

2). We have heard your message that you are unhappy that we went to war in Iraq. Well, some mothers are unhappy when their child is diagnosed with an illness but it doesn't mean she can or will disown her child. Neither can you disown your country, or the war we are engaged in, in Iraq.

3). We have heard you say that we are losing the war in Iraq. We do not want to lose our hope for victory there, we are optimists. We believe America can win the war in Iraq and the broader war on terrorism but we need your help. When your son got in trouble the other day you expected your husband to stand behind you as you meted out punishment, whether it was to ground him, to take away his video game, to remove the television from his room, whatever it was you delegated as punishment, you had the right to expect that your husband would support you even if he disagreed with your punishment, even if he questioned you. He could question you in private but before your son you rightfully expected him to "have your back." So it is with us, we can rightfully expect that even if you don't like the war in Iraq you'll still have our back. Disagree with us in private, not before the international community. Don't air our dirty laundry in public!

4). We have heard you when you complain Bush hasn't done enough to secure our nation at home and many of us agree with you. We want our borders secure. We want to see less pork barrel spending in Congress, we want to see "conservatives" act conservative for a change. We want to see better security at the airports. What are your ideas? You criticize but you don't give us alternatives. I've even had some of you complain you just simply don't have to offer an alternative, that it isn't your responsibility, that you aren't the "party" in control of this nation.

Excuse me? Someone elected Democrat leaders in Washington and while you are busy excoriating the Republican leadership for doing all the wrong things and making all the wrong decisions they happened to have been elected by you and have a responsibility not only to you but to all of us, to our nation. Why would you not expect them to give your viewpoints a voice!? You cannot actually be proud of them, can you!?

You claim you have the right to dissent, the right to be heard, the right to offer criticism but with criticism comes a certain amount of responsibility. Not simply responsibility to those in your own state or community, but to your nation. You may live in Missouri, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, I don't care where you live or where your representatives came from, they owe it to you and to your nation to serve them well, to give 100 percent to our country. Together, our representatives and Senators collectively make up the government of the United States of America and as their constituents we are reliant on them to give voice to good alternatives and solutions rather than simply disagree with the actions and policies that are being followed.

Yes, your leaders have a responsibility to put forth a reasoned alternative approach to be discussed, it is a very important part of constructive criticism. Without it you and your leaders, as your representatives, are destructively criticizing our country and undermining the war against Islamic fascism. That, of necessity aids the enemy of our nation. It is simply a fact and cannot be denied. There is nothing wrong with dissent, there is nothing wrong with constructive criticism, there is everything wrong with destructive criticism and you and your leaders are unwilling to even aid their own country by offering an alternative policy, instead leveling politicized rhetoric in a political power play which has absolutely nothing to do with the best interests of America and everything to do with an upcoming political election. To be honest with you I feel no particular tie to the Republican party, though I am a registered Republican. I plead with you, give us some good ideas for how to achieve victory in the war in Iraq and the broader war against terrorism. You owe us that much if you really want to reconcile our differences.

Democrats, you have a choice, if you do not like the way you are perceived then you can step up to the plate, by not offering a solution and by only offering criticism what you do offer speaks for itself. If you do not like being called or known as "un-American" "traitors" stop with the destructive criticism and offer a viable alternative plan to win the war in Iraq and the broader war on terrorism.

Your husband seeks reconciliation. What can you offer? Are you so convinced that your lie is the truth and our truth is a lie that we cannot patch things up? Can we move beyond irreconcilable differences and discuss solutions yet?

If we cannot, I see no recourse but to start the divorce proceedings. I have had the same argument with you for the last five years. I have explained myself over and over again to you. I am not having an affair. I only want what is best for our marriage, our country. I will not be incessantly replying to the same arguments you have offered me the last five years for the next five years. You claim you have a right to be heard, well so do I!!!

Do you have anything left to offer this "marriage?" If you have nothing left to offer your country, perhaps it's time for a divorce. I forgot to mention earlier, we will be claiming you as dependents on our income tax returns.