I am not political because I really do not believe that politics can solve problems. Yes government can solve some problems and sometimes it stumbles into a consensus that allows it to happen. Mostly politics is “who will control the applecart” and neither side wants to upset the applecart, just control it. Control the applecart and you have access to power and wealth. The zeal of gaining or keeping control has led to some serious splits in our country as we have all been pitted against each other in many ways. To maintain the divide and hold on to the power our political factions have reduced their opposition to caricatures. Surfing the Sunday morning talk shows the left is talking about a right that is the caricature of the right it created, and the right is talking about a left that is similarly imagined to be something that it is not. For sure – the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, or even talking about. Our healing and reunification will come when we stop trying to talk to the caricatures we have invented and realize we all really want the same things. All we have to do is cooperate in making them happen outside politics. Dialogue begins when we stop fearing the fictitious caricatures we have created of each other.