Fifty miles outside of New York City, D.C., LA, Boston and certainly “un-Holywood,” the political climate changes abruptly. Rhetorical hot air and intolerance inside shift to the cooler breezes of reason and tolerance outside.

Why write about this in an ag medium? Because rural America is still the bedrock of our society and economy and largely outside of the inside. And being forewarned is part of being forearmed.

The electoral roll call of states after the 2016 presidential election provided clear proof of it. Trees, grassed hills and mountains temper the political air as much as the climatological. Those differences have erected an invisible wall separating our nation as sharply as a rocky mountain ridge.

My question for you is: On which side of that ridge do you want to live, work and raise your family? I’m betting that most of the U.S. (us) strongly prefer to live outside, not inside, that 50-mile perimeter.

If you’re already there, count your blessings and keep your political powder dry. No war of reason can be won by direct head-on engagement with the unreasonable. As frustrating as it is, it’s time to settle down – not settle up, and engage in building up rather than tearing down.

We can hope our nation’s president gets this message. But we must remember that President Trump was elected based on his promises to fix big government and return power to the people. To do that, he’ll make many enemies of those inside and in power. Just a month into his term, he’s already succeeding, but not yet winning.

Remember, though, we’ve had at least eight years of left-leaning political activists and extremists rampantly infiltrating federal agencies. They’ve been protected by metropolitan media who poll almost exclusively inside that 50-mile fence — and didn’t see the “Trump truck” coming.

Three U.S. senators from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York have greatly contributed to negative insider influence by feeding the media with misinformation (lies), gross embellishment, even crocodile tears. We, however, need to call it what it really is — barnyard crap disguised as political posturing — which insiders seem to hungrily eat up.

That may be good for those seeking re-election or to climb even higher on Uncle Sam’s ladder. But do even insiders really want to be represented by childish, power-seeking tacticians?

Our nation’s leaders must be of exemplary character. Spoon-feeding misinformation isn’t exemplary and won’t enable our nation to heal.

Power has always been intoxicating and additive, even in the media. Today’s 24-hour news cycle encourages enterprising communicators to make news, not report news — hence, varying degrees of fake news. And politic aspirants love to feed them. That’s why we’re at where we’re at.

Where we are in the civility cycle
Lack of a solid moral foundation in any society gives way to intolerance which breeds lies, which breeds hate, which breeds viciousness, which breeds anarchy, which breeds tyranny, which cycles down into decay.

Wait a minute, you say: That’s not a cycle. You’re so right. The only thing that makes it a cycle is a redemptive process that re-establishes a solid moral foundation. And I hope you understand what that is. Unfortunately, there’s a much-repeated alternative historic sequence that makes it a cycle — a dictatorship. Don’t believe it? Then study history, starting with the fallen Greek and Roman empires, the French Revolution and Hitler’s Germany.

There’s a reason why this often-used wisdom — “United we stand; divided we fall” — dates back nearly 2,500 years.

I welcome your reactions.

Bite-sized morsel
Smart people are supposed to learn from the past — not repeat it.