Are people across the political divide tearing each other apart because

[CoffeeAnnan]

they sense that our economy is going down the tubes and opportunities for people are becoming scarce? I think a case can be made that what looks like irrational behavior may,in fact, be rooted in hopelessness about the future.Bush and his cabal may well have planned it that way to heighten economic insecurity and,in the process, set off a divide-and-rule strategy.I think the growth of outsourcing, the tax cuts and the war are all parts of that plan along with the incitement of the religious crazies.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. well of course but

that has been going on for a long time. What is new is that the fascist theocracy, having acheived its goal of establishing a permanent state of war via the external threat of mooslim terrsts, is now busy establishing the internal threat that will justify the overt consolidation of the fascist state.

[xchrom]

2. perhaps in part... but conservatives have been going after the u.s.

for more years than what your scenario describes.

you have to go back on two different tracks that eventually merge.
one is the supreme courts decision to take prayer out of public schools and to desegregate.

the other is corporate exertion of power during nixon's term.
the cover attack for this is the antitax crew.
this is the crew that formulates the cover attacks for going after government.

these two groups ''marry'' during the reagan years -- with conservative christians raising the kind of dust storm that keeps average americans from experiencing the kind of wealth and power disparity that now racks the country.

there are others here more eloquent and better educated about the specifics -- but that is a rough time line for the conservative take over with the virulent over tones that you are talking about.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Tight economic times are definitely to blame for the racists type

comments that I hear from my husband's side of the family. It's always a minority who gets the job they wanted, and when the job cuts come within the company, it's always, "they went after white men first."

Dwindling resources, fewer good jobs.

But personally, the hate talk was there before this happened and it will be there even after we fix the problem of fewer jobs. You have a society here in the U.S. that believes that it's okay to be Christian and racist. They don't see the cognitive dissonance.

[bryant69]

4. I think that is a big part of it

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[dbt]

5. Reagan and Limbaugh.

The former gave the message that it was again okay to hate certain groups. The latter picked up the ball and waddled straight to the end zone with it.

Twenty years or so later, political/moral/religious differences have become blood sport.