Actor Richard Dreyfuss, most well known for his roles in “Jaws,” “What About Bob?,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and one of my personal favorites, “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” recently warned that if more Americans do not get more educated concerning the Constitution, American history, and other issues related to civics, our nation is in big, big trouble.
And you know what? He’s totally right.
Dreyfuss made these comments during an appearance on “The Rubin Report” hosted by Dave Rubin, according to the Daily Wire.
“We got so far away from that in such a short amount of time,” Dreyfuss went on to say during a discussion of the core values held by the American founders . “By not knowing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration [of Independence], by not knowing the birth tale of America, we cheat ourselves tremendously, and we change the values that are so important and so unique to us. Opposing views—what other country cherishes opposing views like we do?”
The actor went on to say that both sides of the political landscape were “equally nuts,” noting that extreme partisanship makes everyone “bitter and ignorant.” Dreyfuss has made an astute observation here. The more far left and far right everyone becomes, the less chance we have of becoming united by commonly held values, which is how our nation was founded and how it thrived and existed up until recent years.
“For us to deny that or walk away from that, or feel in some way compelled for either side, conservative or liberal, to have to put down the other side, it’s not enough to disagree with people, you are called upon to put them down personally,” he state during the interview. “There are people who wouldn’t consider it a good day if they hadn’t put down some liberals as idiots.”
“That’s nonsense. It’s horse-s**t,” he added. “We should grow up and stop it.”
“I found at a very early age, that most of the partisanship in American politics was nonsense, and I’ve always felt that way,” the “Jaws” actor said. “At the height of my partisan politics I was a Democrat or a liberal. But I wasn’t really, and would never have voted a straight party ticket.”
It’s rare to see someone in Hollywood with the accolades that Dreyfuss has earned over the years come out and take such a moderate, common sense approach. He’s right. There used to be a time in this country when we could be friends with people who believed different things. This enabled people to have more nuance in their positions on the important issues of the day, both left and right.
Radical progressives have been working around the clock for years now to make that impossible on the modern political landscape. We have to be bitter enemies. No more common ground. That’s what they want, and boy, they have done a very good job of accomplishing that mission.
Can we ever find our way back across the chasm to each other and a reestablished and unified America? I’m not very optimistic.
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