The British made a serious miscalculation when they began to tax the colonies in America for their defense without allowing the colonists token representation in the British Parliament in return. The British had expended serious resources in finances, men and material to defend the colonies in the Seven Years War, as it was known in Mother Britain (the French and Indian War here). In the minds of the British government, it wasn’t unreasonable for the Americans to pay something for their own defense. It was in that war that future American commander George Washington got valuable military experience and was severely tested under fire. In fact, George Washington applied to be a regular British officer. He was seriously considered. His war record was almost impeccable, and he was once responsible for taking over a British command when the senior, regular Army officers were killed or so wounded as to be incapable of command and then saved it from annihilation, pulling out a “tie” when a massacre seemed a real possibility. The British turned his request to be an officer down. While he had served well, he was considered too provincial and too “unqualified” for regular service. That was a decision the British would live to regret. Washington was embarrassed, humiliated and never forgot this slight to his character. In 1775, his chance for revenge and redemption came.

There was a committee designated to write the Declaration of Independence and like all committees, one person did the work – Thomas Jefferson. What we see as the Declaration of Independence in our history books, pocket Constitutions and under glass (the original) at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. is a result of several drafts and editing, most of it by the suggestion of another committee member – Benjamin Franklin. Jefferson, while he owned slaves, was passionate for the abolition of slavery. DNA tests proved 150 years later what had long been rumored, Jefferson had marital relations with a slave Sally Hemmings. She was a teenager and he in his late 30’s when they first got together after his wife Martha had passed away. Franklin argued that the Revolution was precarious enough without injecting the slavery debate into the mix and so the abolition of slavery was dropped from the Declaration of Independence. By the way, when Jefferson died the slaves he freed in his will were Sally Hemmings and her children, slaves with skills who could make a living on their own and those who could pass as white. The rest Jefferson felt his estate owed an obligation to take care of, in the hostile white world of Virginia.

Slavery festered. The matter was similar to pregnancy – either you’re pregnant or you’re not. You were either for slavery or you weren’t. Some, like Abraham Lincoln, tried to split the difference by holding their collective noses about slavery where it was already legal while trying to ban it from new territories. Eventually, sides began to coalesce into two hard line positions. On the one hand were the abolitionists – no slavery, anywhere ever and on the other, the white supremacists with slavery being legal everywhere always. Compromise was attempted and the center held for a while but ultimately Civil War broke out and people, like Lincoln, were forced to take one radical side or the other.

As a history teacher, the times we are in now remind me of the 1850’s. That’s when compromise over slavery was still possible but getting incredibly difficult to achieve while opinions and positions around slavery were hardening into implacable, irrevocable battle lines.

Gallup did a poll and found that 20% of the country today considers themselves very conservative with no desire to “compromise” their “values” while 13% of the country classifies themselves as very liberal with the same attitudes. A growing number of Americans, disturbed by the two extremes fanned by Fox News on the one side and liberal media like MSNBC on the other are identifying themselves as Independents (49%). While those might seem like reassuring numbers, they’re not really. The American Revolution was as much a civil war as a War for Independence. About 20% of the colonist were Revolutionaries and another 20% were die hard Loyalists to the Crown. That led to revolution, war, death, displacement, neighbor fighting neighbor, destruction, devastation and chaos before independence, restoration and recovery. Those are roughly the same percentages of hard liners we see unwilling to compromise with the other side today. The folks in the middle were unable to stop either the American Revolution or the Civil War. I take no comfort in the number of people in the “middle” today either.

The University of California at Davis participated in a study published under the title, “Views of Americans Democracy and Society and Support for Political Violence” and found that roughly 7 million American adults believe that political violence is always justified. A further 18 million American adults professed themselves willing to kill another American to advance their political goals, under the “right” circumstances. Another 60 million Americans would engage in violence to “preserve their values” even at the cost of other Americans’ lives with whom they disagree or their values “clash”. Those values include LGBTQ issues, abortion, gun control, the death penalty, issues of public spending – debt and spending priorities, terrorism – domestic and foreign, other “moral” issues and the political direction of the country. That doesn’t leave much room for compromise or coexistence between Americans who fundamentally disagree.

A YouGov poll found that 30% of Republicans and 11% of Democrats agree with the statement, “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” That same poll found that 40% of Americans surveyed believe they will see another civil war in this country in their lifetime. Political scholars say that as long as conspiracy theorists and outright lies are promoted by politicians and “reported” in the press, the risk for political violence will only grow in this nation.

I’ve served previously on the Mitchell City Council for nine years and in the State Legislature for twelve years (eight in the State Senate and four in the State House) and I can tell you there aren’t two sides to every story: there’s more like six sides to every story. Your perspective colors your view of things. Your emotion clouds your judgment. I’m sure there is a Socratic “TRUTH” out there somewhere but, as humans, we’ll never find it. We’re too wrapped up in our own point of view and perceptions. When we talk about “TRUTH” it really is only our own truth and one often at variance with others. I’ve found in politics that what is “RIGHT” is often unclear but what is “WRONG” often is crystal clear, but it is the middle ground where action must take place that is so murky. Not every issue is a moral issue. Not every issue is a “life or death” issue. Even when a question is a moral, life and death issue like abortion there are grey areas – massive birth defects that will lead to death shortly after birth, rape, incest, life of the mother – that complicate what seems to be a black and white subject.

We all need to remember the First Amendment is for everyone, especially for those we disagree with. Having a different opinion or political party shouldn’t be a death sentence in the United States – for anyone. Take a breath, count to ten and remember we are all on Team America.