By Selwyn Duke

In the netherworld of vacuous political discourse, near the nadir of utter nonsense, even below blather about "experience," are platitudes about being a "uniter, not a divider."  Quite fittingly, the one who specializes in empty political rhetoric grandiosely delivered, Barack Obama, mentioned something to this effect in his Iowa victory speech. 

As you may know, the uniter-not-a-divider mantra was something originally disgorged by the left for the purposes of demonizing President Bush.  It’s as if he asked 50 percent of the country to vote against him in 2000.  But, as far as I’m concerned, the problem is that Bush isn’t divisive enough.  Heck, if I’d been in his shoes, I would have divided the illegal aliens from the United States.

What really bothers me about the uniter-not-a-divider line is that it’s an insult to the intelligence of anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together.  Yes, we are polarized.

In fact, we’re downright balkanized.

That’s the whole point. 

At issue is a deep philosophical and ideological chasm dividing groups as different as light and darkness.  While many of us understand abortion to be the murder of an innocent, many others believe it’s simply a matter of "reproductive choice"; many understand that homosexual behavior is sinful, while others want to legally sanction homosexual unions; many understand that destroying the nation’s Christian foundation will collapse the edifice, while others believe the faith is the bane of man; many want socialized medicine, while others recoil at the thought of turning the health-care system into the post office.  The list goes on and on.

No politician has created this cauldron of discord (although many exacerbate it), and, the idea that some slick demagogue in an expensive suit can snap his fingers and eliminate division born of deeply held and disparate sets of principles is preposterous.  Any politician putting forth this idea is a propagandist.  Any voters who believe it are suckers.   

Politicians aren’t mainly responsible for this profound division because it isn’t mainly political, but cultural and spiritual.  That’s why this battle is called the "culture war" and why I’m wont to label it a spiritual one.

After all, think about it: Why do you believe what you do?  Is it because of a political party, or something deeper?

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