Finding Agreement Between the Left and Right

If the election has accomplished anything it has show us just how bitter and divided of a nation we are.  No parties exchanged power in either house of Congress, and a president who was elected overwhelmingly 4 years ago barely won the popular vote as he won a tight reelection in which he received barely more votes than his opponent in 2008 received.  Both sides are still pitted against each other refusing to give an inch as we face the nation's difficult economical and fiscal problems.

Before the election I saw something very humorous on facebook.  Two people from very different backgrounds liked the same article about a political issue, and both had almost identical sentiments about the article.  The first is my good friend Pat Hall.  She has worked tirelessly for many liberal candidates on the local level.  She strongly supported Barack Obama in 2008, and 2012.  She supported the Occupy Wall Street movement from the beginning, and can't stand the Tea Party, Fox News, et al... because they are too conservative and destroying the country.

On the other hand is Donna Holt.  She was Tea Party before Tea Party existed.  She lead the Campaign 4 Liberty movement in VA from the beginning as she has worked tirelessly to promote help Ron Paul win the nomination in both the 2008 and 2012 election cycles.  She was under 1% away from unseating someone endorsed by practically every Republican leader in the state in the race for Republican National Committeewoman this summer.  While I don't know this, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox News is too liberal for her.

While both these are tireless political activists as a result of their deep love for their country, they are seemingly on opposite ends of the political spectrum.  Last month they both shared an article entitled 10 Bankers Thrown Behind Bars.  Pat Hall commented, "let's keep this up but I don't see any of the biggies yet."  Similarly Donna Holt commented, "Too little, too late if you ask me."   



While there will always be disagreement in a political world, seeing this made me wonder what other issues could the left and right find common ground on.  Only by working together can anything be accomplished.  I bet there are a number of issues where 60+% of the nation agree.  What issues can be found where people from both sides can work together?  What solutions to problems can we put forth that a broad spectrum of people would agree with?    We will always have differences, but when we can focus politically on what we agree about instead, we will be able to accomplish things and reduce the bitter partisanship that is destroying the present political climate.