A call to reason.

This has been an extremely divisive year for our country. Whether you are right or left you know what I mean. The Sander's, Trump’s, Clinton's, Stein's, and Johnson's of this great nation have left us exhausted. Running a campaign of rhetoric, and not really offering any answers to the questions that we have as a whole.

We face a slew of problems. From crumbling infrastructure, and entire cities going bankrupt, to falling standards of education because of funding issues on the state level. Undocumented immigration, and lack of jobs that pay well enough to live on, increasing amounts of police brutality, and hate crimes against the alternative sexual communities have undoubtedly made us uneasy about the country we live in. Making us think that what we learned in school might not be correct. That the United States of America maybe not quite as great as we were taught in school. I'm here to tell that it is. However by coming together as a whole we can make it even better.

This election cycle has not made any more sense of these fears that we have. Instead it thrusts our fears into our face, pandering to our deepest primal instincts. Telling us that if you were not born in this country you stole a job from somebody who is, or that owning a gun instantly makes you a murderous raving lunatic. Nothing but fear mongering all around. Then the mudslinging starts, and leaving anything about emails, walls, racism, and misogyny aside there is no structure, no answers from either side.

Oh! The third party candidates are possibilities some might say, but in the current political atmosphere, I think that's about a likely as North Korea successfully nuking New York. First of all in most states Jill Stein won't even be on the ballot, and although more of a possibility Gary Johnson, like Stein, still isn't allowed at the debate's. Which is where most of the population gets their ideas of who the legitimate candidates are. With this serious flaw most of the country won't hear about either of them.

Now, I digress the point I'm trying to make is. Whether you are G.O.P., Democrat, Libertarian, or Green we can vote in a better way than just at the polls. We can put down our memes and actually listen to what each other have to say. Come together and vote with solid action. Show that we the people still care about our neighbors, our minds, and our community. We need to fix our crumbling infrastructure to give the children of our friends and family a better world than we were given to fix.

These solutions are so simple, but hard to put forward fully. Investing in local businesses, instead of going to chain stores. Hiring local tradesmen, and seeing what local artists put out instead of the stuff the whole world knows about is a great start. We can take this a step further with community gardens all over, and arts groups that offer free instruction to anyone willing to pick up a brush or instrument. Coming together to accomplish goals that nobody can write into a law will make the country something beyond great. We would at that point be together, which as a population is something we haven't been since 2003 or 2004.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” Abraham Lincoln

How we stop this division is going to be something of a great undertaking however. I suggest open community forums, where anything pressing to any soul can be discussed. A place where environmentalists and the workers of the fossil fuel industry can talk about a sustainable future together. These places would become someplace where grievances can be voiced and solutions found before they become national issues. Debated and over thought, then solved by the people they affect most all over dinner and some good wine. Making us more than just civilians we would be the huge dysfunctional family we really are.

We all share the same fears failure, loss of loved ones, death and the unknown. If we take greater steps towards understanding we would live in a much less scary world. The solution above would be the most American way towards understanding. Plus you might make a few friends along the way, what do we have to lose.