A common refrain among what passes for media these days is that America is more divided than ever. Those who did not sleep through their American history classes in school should know there has never been a time when our country was not divided in one way or another.

Even during the Revolutionary War, estimates run upward of twenty percent, some 500,000 colonists, many quite influential, who were against armed conflict with Great Britain. The debate on the Constitution is what created political parties. And, of course, opposite views on slavery are what brought about the Civil War.

And so, it went all through our country’s history. There have been numerous issues that Americans have taken very strong opposing stands over the past couple of centuries, such as monetary policy, foreign policy, economic policies, immigration, voting rights, state boundaries; the list is endless.

Yet, the United States stayed “united” because there were certain values that were always agreed upon. These include the rule of law based on the Constitution, moral virtue from a biblical perspective, private ownership of property, the value of learning and education, etc. The highest value was freedom, freedom of opportunity, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, and freedom of speech.

The one who could make the strongest case based on American values would establish the moral high ground for their position. This is one reason why Americans could never quite decide about abortion for decades after the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1972. Abortion advocates argued from a position of pro-choice, freedom of liberty, whereas abortion opponents argued pro-life, freedom of life. Since the Declaration of Independence itself opens with the words of preserving “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” neither side could claim higher values than the other.

What is different today from our past history is that we have lost our common values. Instead of unity, the new mantra is uniformity. To disagree with ‘political correctness,’ the established truth of those who control the avenues of information, is not just wrong but dangerous. It must be extinguished. Thus, the only commonality becomes hate from both sides of the political correctness spectrum; those who advocate for it and those who absolutely stand against it.

Hate has always existed, and it is a very powerful weapon. George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by the slimmest margin, and his approval ratings through the year 2001 were barely over fifty percent. Yet, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and President Bush’s visit to New York City, his approval rating went over 90 percent. They did not necessarily like Bush better; they simply rallied around him when faced with a common foe that they hated. When that threat went down, so did his approval ratings.

Today, the hate is not pointed toward foreign terrorists but against our own citizens. Our entire history is now seen through a prism of hate. Statues of former presidents and leaders must be abolished because they do not match our current sentiments. Even worse, anyone advocating a position that does not agree with the current political correctness must be silenced or “cancelled.” Even a teenager must be listened to if they spout justified hate. What is now known as Cancel Culture has resulted in anyone who wishes to dissent is automatically a ‘hater’ and must therefore be silenced.

Seventy-five million Americans voted for Donald Trump, yet their voice must not be heard. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and other sites that at one time were a source of a wide variety of views and opinions are now highly censored to ensure that only the ‘truth’ is presented as it is defined by those who control these sources. And when a site like Parlor comes along that opens its doors widely; the censors move in quickly to ensure that this voice cannot be heard.

Those who are smiling right now that this is the way things should be, that those wild and crazy Trump supporters are getting what they deserve, should be aware that loving hate never has a happy ending. The great British author C. S. Lewis described it best, “Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second, then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on, we shall wish to see grey as black and then to see white itself as black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed forever in a universe of pure hatred.”