By Patrick F. Cannon

Dorothy Lamour said those words under hypnosis in the silly Bing Crosby/Bob Hope 1947 film, Road to Rio. I won’t go into the reason she said them; you can look it up for yourself. I quote them because they seem to have become the anthem for our age. In almost every aspect of society – social, cultural and political – there is not only a great divide in opinion, but real animus, and actual hatred.

I’m old enough to remember a time when political compromise was possible. Members of Congress could disagree about policy, and fight their side passionately, but found it perfectly possible to have friendships across the aisle, and to enact legislation that might just be good for the country as a whole. The Senate cloakroom was a famous venue for these discussions. I understand it’s mostly empty these days.

Apparently, the country is divided between the so-called “educated elites,” who live on the coasts; and the “traditional values” folks who occupy the heartland. If you’re in one or the other (obviously these categories are only handy simplifications), you are inclined to think that the folks on the other side are not just misguided, but malignant.

Abortion is clearly one of the issues that divides the country. It rarely occurs to pro-choice supporters that people who oppose abortion might be doing so for sincerely-held moral and/or religious convictions. Yet, aside from some politicians who oppose abortion altogether or would place severe limits on it simply because it helps to get them elected, and not because of any real conviction (see Donald Trump), there is a significant percentage of Americans who really believe that all life comes from God, and is thus sacred.  If we can start a discussion by granting the sincerity of the other side’s opinions, might we not have a more rational discussion?

On the other side, devout religionists need to recognize and accept that not everyone shares their beliefs, and that there is some wisdom in the old saying that “you can’t legislate morality.” As it happens, nearly 70 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal for at least the first three months of pregnancy. Instead, many states have or intend to pass laws forbidding abortions after six weeks, or even banning it outright. While I normally believe states should decide most issues locally, this is not one of them. But will the Congress step up and provide clarity? Not a chance.

A few days ago, a poll showed that more than 50 percent of possible Republican primary voters support Donald Trump. Despite multiple indictments (or because of them?), his support is actually increasing. Given this, it’s unlikely that Republican members of Congress will suddenly defy their voters and reach across the aisle to work with Democrats on anything, much less abortion. This is not the same kind of  Republican leadership that told Richard Nixon he had to resign or would certainly be impeached and convicted.

(In my ideal world, decisions like abortion would be left to the individual, but that world doesn’t and never has existed. And let me point out that most people who are so worked up about “wokeness” live in communities that are mostly fast asleep.)

 Animus on both sides of the aisle also prevents any meaningful immigration reform. The far right demonizes immigrants from Mexico and Central America, taking their lead from Trump, who called them rapists and murderers. These are the same rapists and murderers who did the landscaping at my former house and still do the same at my condo and where I play golf; who largely cook and serve the food at the nation’s restaurants; and who clean my condo twice a month. If they didn’t do this work, who would? I don’t employ them directly, so I don’t know if they’re illegal or not. And, by the way, including even the so-called Native Americans, all of our forebearers came from somewhere else. My father, for example, was born in Ireland. And, believe me, not everyone was happy he came.

If we were rational, we would confront two issues: what to do with the 11 or 12 million illegal immigrants who are living and working among us; and how to prevent that number from constantly rising. While there might not be any perfect solution, doing nothing because of the presumed political cost, is just that – nothing.

I see that there is another third-party effort underway under the “No Labels” banner. I frankly don’t think they should run a candidate for president, even if we’re stuck with Trump/Biden again. They would be wise to start locally, to see if voters really are as fed up with the current parties as they claim to be.  It would be interesting to see what would happen if they could win even 20 seats in Congress. Talk about being in the catbird seat!

Copyright 2023, Patrick F. Cannon