A Ragged Democracy

Today I'm thankful for democracy.  I think.  Gets kind of dicey when you're not sure about whether your fellow citizens are fit to vote, doesn't it?  Or you are sure their sources of information are  wholly unreliable and maybe sinister.  Then you're not so sure abut letting everyone have an equal vote.  

Over and over yesterday, as I worked the election polls, I heard people make the comment that it was wonderful to see so many people out voting and that more people needed to make every effort to go vote.  But it was obvious from their other comments that they were sure all those other people were going to vote like THEY did.  There was a sense that they were going to show the other side what the people REALLY wanted.  

Well that didn't happen for either side.  No matter how the elections eventually turn out, no side is dominating.  No political party is representing any clear majority of people.  We really are a country of people with divergent views.  We seriously disagree on quite a few things.  

Can we live together in peace anyway?  Can we respect the other view and live with the tension of the disagreements or are we going to demonize the other side? 

Some people are prophesying a civil war, but they are also the people who are demonizing the other side the worst.  They are fanning the flames to create the event they are prophesying.  They may feel like they represent the majority and are protecting their people, but they are not.  The other side is also America, not some outside people or force.  There isn't a majority. 

So this puts the very concept of democracy on shaky ground.  We have a system of government by the whole population, not a monarch or a small group of rulers.  Are we really willing to let everyone be a part?  Even the ones who have polar opposite views?  I think the next few years will be a real test of whether a democracy can work.