Fractions Multiply

"I belong to no organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

 -- Will Rogers

   The Democratic Party has long been fractious, unlike Republicans, with their tradition of tight loyalty. Those roles have been reversed this election season, however, and few bookies have begun to calculate the odds of whether the split among Republicans will cause a permanent division, or even the end of the party.
   It wouldn't be the first time that a major political party in America has lost its mandate and expired. The Whig Party was quite powerful until the Civil War era, when it broke up and the Republican Party was born. And a split in the Republican Party led Theodore Roosevelt to form the short-lived Progressive Party. 
   Meanwhile, we're watching ripples of unrest accelerate to near earthquake proportions among Republicans, as traditional leaders refuse to follow the leader designated at the convention as the party's nominee for President.
   Ironically, there seems to be more unity among liberals and Democrats than among conservatives and Republicans.
   Traditionally, liberals ask why things as unfair and demand answers, while conservatives maintain that the system is fair, especially when they benefit within the system. And some go so far as to cover their claims with the blessings of Divine Providence.
   As noted here last June, in trying to preserve their "betterness," those of the self-perceived elite manipulate the fears and emotions of others in order to reinforce their own power positions. And as stated by George F. Baer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1902, "The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men of property to whom God has given control of the property rights of the country."
    Sound familiar? Faint echoes of that attitude still resonate in some areas of American politics, even as the phrasing is far more subtle.
   At the same time, journalists are caught in the middle as they try to maintain some neutrality in reporting who said what, where, when and why. Most reporters strive toward the goal of describing what is, not what should be, and they leave the latter to the opinion pages.
   That, however, doesn't prevent some political candidates from attacking as "unfair, biased and phony" any news report that doesn't agree with them.