our national cold war

For 40 years, the Soviet Union was our nemesis. We hated them; they hated us. We spent huge amounts of resources trying to outgun, outbomb, and outmissile each other instead of talking, which brought us to the brink of war on certainly one, if not more than one, occasion.

I only vaguely remember the Cold War, but I do remember thinking that the Soviet Union could decide to rain missiles down on us at any moment and that all the bad guys in the spy movies were always Soviet spies.

In 2006 I worked as an English teacher in a former Soviet country and one of my students was in the Soviet military. During the Cold War, he was the enemy.

I asked him what it was like to be in the Soviet military during the Cold War and he said, “It was scary. The U.S. could drop bombs at any moment.” Both sides had the same fear.

Now we have a new version of the Cold War within our country. The United States is starkly divided between red and blue. If the Democrats made an espionage movie, it would be a Republican sitting in the looming black chair in front of the tank of rabid sharks, laughing maniacally as he lowered the Democrat into the tank.

But all that drama doesn’t get us anywhere. Is it possible that Democrat and Republican politicians will be able to work together, or will they continue their political cold war, trying to outgun each other with a growing arson of underhanded tactics?
They need to stop their tantrums and do their jobs. If they start working together they may realize that they’re not that different. Ultimately they want the same things and they have the same fear—that we will falter as a nation and the American Dream will become unachievable.

Instead of clenching their fists and refusing to speak to one another, Republicans and Democrats should end the standoff before their childish obstinance brings us to the brink of destruction.

The election is over. The people have spoken. It is time to move on and work together, but can we do that?