The Charade They’re Winning

Don’t let the dining room table become dangerous. It’s that time of the year when we’re more combative than usual. We see a sign we don’t like, a point we disagree with, a person we’re told to despise. To be fair, maybe we all have a point, at least in our own heads. But ask yourself if they’re your own thoughts and opinions or ones imported unintentionally.

This piece was published in The Times-Tribune, the Citizens' Voice, the Standard-Speaker, and the Republican Herald as Letter: Don't let so-called leaders divide us on June 2nd, 2026.

I don’t disagree that we all need purpose—a fight to join or a cause to support. But our modern political landscape has turned friendly debate into community combat. We’ve become comfortable with cutting ties with people we know—people we love—all at the direction of elites who wouldn’t spare us five minutes of conversation.

Some points of debate are reprehensible, sure, but to quell the fire of discussion is to seal the fate of our democracy. Part of me feels that this is the ultimate goal of our modern political system. Isolating us from those we really know and love. A strategy as old as time: divide and conquer.

I don’t write to prove a point or to win an argument. I write as a friend and neighbor. We can’t get anything meaningful done if we’re busy fighting over pejoratives.

Consider this: The people we elect to be our public servants condone the charade—benefiting from the chaos.

Life’s too short for constant bickering over politicians that, regardless of party, are trading the same stocks and attending the same parties. They share the same donors, and their kids are the best of friends. We common folk are left with the political war zone and the same problems our politicians promise to solve.

Is it left versus right or is it really the common versus the connected?

Is it left versus right or is it really the common versus the connected?

Joshua K. Burke — The Charade They're Winning