I didn't watch the inaguration either. Not because I feel as despairing about the country as you do - I'm pretty depressed myself - but I'd heard Trump's first inaugural and I had no desire to see a rerun.

I respect my country. I don't love it because I don't think that loving your country is an abstraction. I have a difficult time knowing whether I love other people. Institutions, too big for my thinking.

Everything you said in this article is completelty accurate including how so much of the MAGA movement and the lack of coherence of anything resembling a counter movement leaves no room for a middle ground which is where I truly believe the rest of the country is.

I'm going to be writing about this extensively on my own column about where we went wrong. I think one side is proud for the good things to be an American and ignores the bad things and the other sides focuses entirely on the bad things and ignores the goos. I think both sides are equally toxic for the body politic and the fact that neither can see that is one of our biggest obstacles.

I do think there are ways our country can move forward. And I deeply respect you for staying in this coutnry despite it's flaws. I've read more than a few articles where people said regardless of the results of the election they were planning to leave America. THOSE people I have no use for because it shows at the end of the day they the priniciples they claim to fight for are little more than hobbies.

It is when times are darkest - and they are particularly dark now, I won't pretend otherwise - then our character is the most important. If you choose to leave, it says a lot about you. If you choose to stay, it says more about you and frankly better things.

By the way, if you write articles like this, people might actually hate you MORE then when you argue against the left actively. You're not full-throatedly condemning the horrors of America and when you say we've made progress since 1960, well, that goes against the myth of the counterculture. I'm writing about that myself but...another time.